The song uses the chorus from Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" released in 1963, as an interpolation, and also employs the iconic repeating-note horns hook from the original song as the recurring theme throughout. On July 28, 2016, the song was certified Gold by the RIAA, having sold 500,000 copies. Regarding her song, she said, "This was during my second session with Kara DioGuardi. It was awesome to write that song because I love music from the 50s and 60s. When I was singing, Kara said my voice reminded her of Judy Garland and artists from that time. I really wanted to write about no one showing up to my birthday party and the song is perfect inspiration for this theme. I love samples, especially older songs because they can put a fresh new take on an old song. So we were really inspired by that and we sampled it for the first line of the chorus and that is how 'Pity Party' came about". Mike Wass of Idolator noted how both "Pity Party" and Grace's single "You Don't Own Me" are based on Lesley Gore songs, saying "there seems to be a revival of the late music afoot".
Music video
The music video for "Pity Party" was released on June 1, 2015. However, the video was leaked 3 days prior to the official release. The video was directed by Melanie herself, she describes it as a "fun experience for her", considering she's the only person featured in the video. A behind the scenes video was released June 17, 2015. Melanie describes her character, "Cry Baby", "She fell in love with someone, she threw a birthday party, invited him, and nobody showed up so she's just like absolutely insane", she said in the behind the scenes of her video. The video begins with Cry Baby writing invitations to her party guests. She then puts the invitations in mailboxes. The song then begins, and the video cuts to Cry Baby waking up for the day. She turns on a record and gets dressed. She goes downstairs, where there are no guests. Near the end of the first chorus, Cry Baby is sitting on her sofa along with several floating party hats, most likely representing her missing guests. The video continues with her entertaining her stuffed animals by inflating balloons. By the second chorus, Cry Baby has started destroying the party, tearing decorations off the wall, smashing her birthday cake, cutting up her stuffed animals, and popping all the balloons with a kitchen knife. At the end of the video, Cry Baby is sitting in the ruins of her party. The house is burning as she blows out the candles on the birthday cake she smashed which is somehow the same as it was before she destroyed it. She then takes a puff on a cigarette, and the video ends.
Track listing
Charts
Certifications
Release history
''Pity Party EP''
Pity Party EP is Melanie Martinez's second EP, released exclusively to the iTunes Store on May 6, 2016.
