Welcome to the Dollhouse (album)


Welcome to the Dollhouse is the second studio album by American girl group Danity Kane, released by Bad Boy Records and Atlantic Records on March 18, 2008 in the US and March 25, 2008 in Canada. Danity Kane recorded the album in under five weeks, while filming the second season of Making the Band 4 with fellow label mates Day26 and Donnie Klang first in New York City, New York, then in Miami, Florida. It became the group's second consecutive album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album was the last album released before the group broke up in early 2009, and it was also their final album to be released with their full original lineup as D. Woods who did not rejoin the group following their 2013 reunion, and Aundrea Fimbres, who announced that she was leaving the group on May 16, 2014 to start a family with her fiance.

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, "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 single "Damaged" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart at #64, and in its second week it shot up to #27.
Erik White directed and Gil Duldulao choreographed the music video for "Bad Girl". The video featured cameos from Missy Elliott, Qwanell Mosley from their fellow Bad Boy Records band Day26, and Talan Torriero of the MTV show. The concept of the video is a graphic novel 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 of theirs after a flash of red light. This is their last single as a group before their early 2009 breakup, and the last single to be released with now-former members D. Woods and Aundrea Fimbres, peaking at #85 on the Billboard Pop 100. One more promo single “Is Anybody Listening?” was serviced to radio with no video.

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 #1 album. Danity Kane is the first female group in Billboard history to have both their debut and second albums enter the main charts at #1. Less than a month after its release, Welcome to the Dollhouse was certified gold by the RIAA as of April 22, 2008. On September 28, 2008, the album had sold over 546,790 copies in the US. Billboard's weekly release of its popular Top 200 Albums, known as the Billboard 200, saw the album's biggest gain in sales for the magazine of October 11, 2008. Welcome to the Dollhouse landed at #75 on the year end Billboard 200.
The group intended to open for Janet Jackson's Rock Witchu Tour for promotion, but had to withdraw due to label conflicts.

Track listing

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

Release history