"Pity Party" is a song by American recording artist

Melanie Martinez Melanie Adele Martinez (born April 28, 1995) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, New York, Martinez rose to fame in 2012 after appearing on the American television vocal talent show '' The Voice ...

based on the 1963

Lesley Gore Lesley Sue Goldstein (May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015), known professionally as Lesley Gore, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At the age of 16, she recorded the pop music, pop hit "It's My Party (Lesley Gore song), I ...

hit " It's My Party". It was released as the third single from her debut album, '' Cry Baby'' (2015), on June 2, 2015. The music video was released on June 1, 2015. It impacted

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

on March 22, 2016.

Background and composition

alt-pop Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

and electro track, the song uses the chorus from

's " It's My Party" released in 1963, as an

interpolation In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...

, 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 Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, having sold 500,000 copies. Regarding the song, Martinez 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 An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

noted how both "Pity Party" and

Grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

's single "

You Don't Own Me "You Don't Own Me" is a popular song written by Philadelphia songwriters John Medora, John Madara and David White (musician), David White and recorded by Lesley Gore in 1963, when Gore was 17 years old. The song was Gore's second most succe ...

" are based on Lesley Gore songs, saying "there seems to be a revival of the late ore'smusic 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.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Release history

''Pity Party EP''

''Pity Party EP'' is Melanie Martinez's second EP, released digitally on May 6, 2016 in Ireland, Mexico and the UK.

Track listing

Notes

References

{{Melanie Martinez 2015 singles 2015 songs Melanie Martinez songs Atlantic Records singles Songs written by Melanie Martinez Songs written by Wally Gold Songs written by Kara DioGuardi Torch songs Songs written by CJ Baran Songs about birthdays Songs about birthday parties Songs about parties Songs about loneliness