''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' is the second studio album by American

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Danity Kane Danity Kane was an American girl group whose original and most well-known lineup comprised Aubrey O'Day, Aundrea Fimbres, Dawn Richard, Shannon Bex, and Wanita "D. Woods" Woodgett. Its most recent iteration included O'Day and Richard as a duo ...

. It was released by

Bad Boy Records Bad Boy Records (or Bad Boy Entertainment) is an American record label founded in 1993 by rapper Sean "Puffy" Combs. It operates as an imprint of Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. It has been home to many artists, including ...

and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

on March 18, 2008 in the US and March 25, 2008 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

.Reid, Shaheem (January 30, 2008)
Diddy, Beyonce, Ne-Yo Make 'Spotlight Live' New York's Hot Tuesday-Night Ticket
MTV. Accessed February 20, 2008. Danity Kane recorded the album in under five weeks, while filming the second season of ''

Making the Band 4 ''Making the Band'' is an ABC/MTV reality television series that exists in separate iterations, each focusing on a specific music act. It spawned musical acts O-Town, Da Band, Danity Kane, Day26, and Donnie Klang. Except for the first iterati ...

'' with fellow label mates

Day26 Day26 is an American male R&B music group formed in August 2007 by Sean "Diddy" Combs in a handpicked selection at the end of MTV's ''Making the Band 4.'' The group consists of Robert Curry, Brian Angel, Willie Taylor, Qwanell Mosley and Micha ...

and

Donnie Klang Donald Joseph Klang (born January 23, 1985) is an American singer. He won ''Making the Band 4'' and was awarded his own solo contract by Diddy. He released his debut album, '' Just a Rolling Stone'', in late 2008. Life and career Klang was b ...

first in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, then in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. As with their self-titled debut album, Bad Boy consulted a wide range of producers to work with the band on the album, including

The Stereotypes The Stereotypes are a production team created in 2003, comprising Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Ray Charles McCullough II. In June 2010, they were listed among the "Top 10 Songwriters and Producers to Watch" in '' Billboard'' magaz ...

, The Runners and Flex & Hated as well as previous collaborators such as

Bryan Michael Cox Bryan-Michael Paul Cox (born December 1, 1977) is an American record producer and songwriter who is notable for his work with artists such as Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Toni Braxton. Among his most notable productions are "Be Wit ...

, Danja, and inhouse producer

Mario Winans Mario Mendell Winans ( Brown; born August 29, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer best known for his 2004 song " I Don't Wanna Know", which reached number 2 in the United States and number 1 in the United Kingdom. Wina ...

. The album earned a largely mixed reception by music critics, many of whom were divided on the question whether ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' was superior to 2006's ''Danity Kane''. It became the band's second consecutive album to debut atop the US ''Billboard'' 200, with first weeks sales of 236,000 copies. Spawning the US top ten single " Damaged," the album was eventually 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 ...

Recording Industry Association of America 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 ...

(RIAA). The group intended to open for

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

Rock Witchu Tour Rock Witchu Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Janet Jackson, in support of her tenth studio album '' Discipline'' (2008), and her first in nearly seven years, following a total blacklist of the singer's music, due to ...

for promotion, but label conflicts forced them to withdraw. ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' was Danity Kane's last album released before the group broke up in early 2009, and it was also their final album to be released as a

quintet A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

Production

For this album, all of the girls had written and/or produced some kind of song, that they thought was suitable for their second effort. As mentioned in interviews, Danity Kane has stated that they came up with the name of the album when they all had brought in their own material into the studio to see which tracks would make the cut. They also expressed, that it felt as if they were in a music box, hence getting the name, ''Welcome to the Dollhouse''. Each of the girls, also, were given chances to co-write a handful of the tracks that are on the record.

Singles

The album's lead

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, " Damaged," was chosen through an online fan poll., In January 2008, Danity Kane had posted a bulletin on their respective MySpace page, expressing that they were giving their fans the chance to choose their newest single. Fans were given two choices, "Damaged" and "Pretty Boy". Of the two choices, "Damaged" dominated the poll by a vast majority, and thus, became the lead single from ''Welcome to the Dollhouse''. The song debuted on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 64, and eventually peaked at number 10, becoming their second and final top ten in the United States. Elsewhere, it reached top thirty of the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

, peaking at number 26, and the top twenty of ''Billboard''s Global Dance Songs, becoming Danity Kane's highest-charting international single.

Erik White Erik White is an American music video director. In 2010, he made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy film ''Lottery Ticket'', starring rappers Bow Wow and Ice Cube. He appeared on the reality show competition ''The Glee Project' ...

directed and Gil Duldulao choreographed the music video for " Bad Girl." The video featured cameos from

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

Qwanell Mosley Day26 is an American male R&B music group formed in August 2007 by Sean "Diddy" Combs in a handpicked selection at the end of MTV's ''Making the Band 4.'' The group consists of Robert Curry, Brian Angel, Willie Taylor, Qwanell Mosley and Michael ...

from their fellow

band

, and

Talan Torriero ''Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County'' (or simply ''Laguna Beach'') is an American reality television series that originally aired on MTV from September 28, 2004, until November 15, 2006. The series aired for three seasons and was primarily foc ...

of the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

show ''Laguna Beach''. The concept of the video is a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

and stays true to the line in the song "When the red light comes on, I transform" as each member transforms into an

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

of theirs after a flash of red light. "Bad Girl" marked Danity Kane's last single as a group before their early 2009 breakup, and the band's last single to be released with now-former members

D. Woods Wanita Denise Woodgett (born July 6, 1985), better known as by her nickname D. Woods, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Woods is the founder and CEO of Woodgrane Entertainment, but best known for her efforts on MTV's "Making The Band 3 ...

and Aundrea Fimbres. It peaked at number 85 on the US ''Billboard'' Pop 100.

Critical reception

''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' received mixed or average reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 59 based on 8 reviews. ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' editor Clover Hope wrote that "these gals are older, more cohesive, and more enchanting than before". She found that while the "made-for-''

Idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

'' ballads "Poetry" and "Is Anybody Listening" impress, Danity's better at cock-teasing over mid-tempo-to-jumpy rhythms. Curiously strong, theirs is more

Altoids Altoids are a brand of mints, sold primarily in distinctive metal tins. The brand was created by the London-based Smith & Company in the 1780s, and became part of the Callard & Bowser company in the 19th century. Their advertising slogan is "The ...

than bubble-gum pop." Sal Cinquemani from ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' called the album "a solid collection of appropriately vacant party jams, slinky come-ons, and modern, urban balladry." In another positive review, ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...

'' remarked that "while DK's quest for pop domination falls short, the club-friendly Dollhouse cements their posh appeal." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s Mariel Concepcion remarked that "unlikely the quintet's self-titled debut, which took a slightly more hip-hop soul approach, ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' features more mid- and uptempo pop tracks." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' journalist Simon Vozick-Levinson felt that with ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' "the group continues to show us precious little in the way of actual personality or soul. On one song after another, they sing about sex with all the feeling of fresh-from-the-factory mannequins."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

editor

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

called the album "a paler, plainer recycling of their debut. All five of the DK girls are blandly, conventionally pretty in their voices (not to mention their looks), and no amount of

melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referr ...

can lend them personality ..Maybe hearing the end results would be interesting if you've witnessed the labors on ''

Making the Band ''Making the Band'' is an ABC/MTV reality television series that exists in separate iterations, each focusing on a specific music act. It spawned musical acts O-Town, Da Band, Danity Kane, Day26, and Donnie Klang. Except for the first iteration o ...

'', but anybody else will wonder why it takes so much work to sound so bland... and why we are bothering thinking about them anyway." ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' wrote that "unlike their modestly appealing and tuneful debut, this disc ..is generic and vapid, seemingly geared more for the strip mall than the strip club."

Commercial performance

''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' debuted on top of the US ''Billboard'' 200, with first week sales of 236,000 copies, making it the band's second consecutive number-one album. This made Danity Kane the first female group in ''

'' history to have both their debut and second albums enter the main charts at the top of the chart. Less than a month after its release, ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' was certified gold by the

(RIAA). By August 2008, the album had sold over 525,000 copies in the US, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. ''Billboard'' ranked ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' at number 75 on its ''Billboard'' 200 year-end listing.

Track listing

Notes * denotes vocal producer * denotes co-producer * denotes additional vocal producer * denotes additional producer

Personnel

According to the album's booklet and the '' BMI Repertoire''. *

Sean Combs Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

–

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

Harve Pierre Harve Pierre, also known by the stage name Joe Hooker, is an American writer, singer, producer, and record executive who is president of Bad Boy Entertainment. Biography Pierre is an American of Haitian descent. Guest appearances Productio ...

– co-executive producer *Conrad Dimanche - associate executive producer, A&R *Shannon Lawrence - A&R *Daniel Mitchell - A&R coordinator *Hughes Felizor - A&R coordinator *Gwendolyn Niles - A&R administration *Sharon Tucker - A&R administration *Francesca Spero - Bad Boy Films/''

'' executive *

Eric Wong Eric Wong, born in New York City, is the president and CMO of recorded music for Warner Music Group. Career 1997–present Wong grew up obsessed with music and at age 16, went from devotedly studying the ''Billboard'' Charts each week to an in ...

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

*Kamala Salmon - marketing *Mark Obriski - art direction and design *Rod Gold - art manager *Carolyn Tracey - packaging production *Rodger Erickson -

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

*Marni Senofonte - styling *Julius Erving - management *Kenneth Meiselas - legal representation *Ed Shapiro - legal representation *Brian Gardner - mastering *Akeem Lee - producer ("Lights Out") *Antwan Thompson - producer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse") *Bernard Malik Doss - producer ("Ain't Going") *

Bryan-Michael Cox Bryan-Michael Paul Cox (born December 1, 1977) is an American record producer and songwriter who is notable for his work with artists such as Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Toni Braxton. Among his most notable productions are "Be Wit ...

- producer ("Sucka For Love" and "2 of You") * Danja - producer ("Bad Girl", "Pretty Boy" and "Strip Tease") * Flex & Hated - producer ("Lights Out") *Fridolin - producer ("Is Anybody Listening") *

- producer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse") *

- producer ("Damaged", "Secret Place (Interlude)", "Lights Out", "Picture This (Interlude)", "Poetry" and "Is Anybody Listening") *

Rockwilder Dana Stinson (born February 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Rockwilder, is an American hip hop record producer and rapper. A long term friend of Def Jam rapper Redman, Rockwilder got his start producing for East Coast hip hop artists ...

- producer ("Make Me Sick") *Romeo IX - producer ("Flashback Interlude") *Scyience - producer ("Key to My Heart") *

- producer ("Damaged", "Lights Out" and "Is Anybody Listening") *

Stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

- producer ("Damaged") *

The Clutch The Clutch was an American collective of songwriters and record producers based in Atlanta, consisted oCandice Clotiel "Gg" Nelson Ezekiel "Zeke" Lewis, Patrick Michael "J. Que" Smith, Balewa Muhammad and Keri Hilson. They are responsible for ...

- producer ("Sucka for Love") * The Runners - producer ("Ecstasy") *

Wyldcard Kendrick Jevon Dean (also known as Wyldcard) is an American record producer, songwriter and entrepreneur. He has produced or written for 7 GRAMMY Nominated albums to date. Some of his hits include Chris Brown's "Say Goodbye" (Billboard #1), Mar ...

- producer ("Sucka for Love" and "2 of You") *Victor Abijaudi -

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

*Steve Dickey - engineer *Paul J. Falcone - engineer *Andy Geel - engineer *Koil - engineer *Bernard Malik - engineer *Matthew Testa - engineer *Sam Thomas - engineer *Jeff Villanueva - engineer *Kevin Wilson - engineer *Marcella Araica -

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

*Giz - mixing engineer * Ken Lewis - mixing engineer *Bernard Malik - mixing engineer *Fabian Marasciullo - mixing engineer *Matthew Testa - mixing engineer *Sam Thomas - mixing engineer *Adonis - vocal producer *Voyce Alexander - vocal producer *Jim Beanz - vocal producer *Mary Brown - vocal producer *Shannon Lawrence - vocal producer *Harve Pierre - vocal producer *Tiff Starr - vocal producer *Mary Brown -

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

on "Bad Girl" *Bryan-Michael Cox -

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, programming,

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

("Sucka for Love" and "2 of You")* *Steve Dickey - mixing assistant *Daniel Mitchell - assistant engineer *Donnie Scantz - bass guitar,

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mus ...

, keyboards ("2 of You") *Jahi Sundance - bass guitar, drum programming, keyboards ("2 of You") *Mario Winans - arranger ("Secret Place", "Picture This" and "Is Anybody Listening") *Wyldcard - keyboard, strings ("Sucka for Love"** and "2 of You")

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Albums produced by Bryan-Michael Cox Albums produced by Danja (record producer) Albums produced by Rockwilder Albums produced by the Runners Bad Boy Records albums Danity Kane albums