Welcome to the Dollhouse (album)

While serving as the opening act of Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics Tour, the group announced that they were beginning work on their second album. For Welcome to the Dollhouse, 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. The video featured cameos from Missy Elliott, Qwanell Mosley from their fellow Bad Boy Records band Day26, and Talan Torriero of the MTV show Laguna Beach. 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. "Bad Girl" marked Danity Kane's last single as a group before their early 2009 breakup. It peaked at number 85 on the US Billboard Pop 100. ==Critical reception==

Welcome to the Dollhouse received mostly mixed reviews from critics. At Metacritic, 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. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine called the album "a solid collection of appropriately vacant party jams, slinky come-ons, and modern, urban balladry." Billboards 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." Prefix found that the tracks on Welcome to the Dollhouse "are pretty effective R&B/pop numbers with a strong roster of producers, such as Danja and the Dream [...] Danity Kane has what it needs in serving up radio-ready R&B: good singers with a hot look and some of the best beats around." Entertainment Weekly 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." ==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 Billboard 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 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). 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==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Welcome to the Dollhouse Technical and production • Victor Abijaudi – engineer • Voyce Alexander – vocal producer • Marcella Araica – mixing engineer • Shannon Bex – vocalist • Mary Brown – backing vocals on "Bad Girl", vocal producer • Jim Beanz – vocal Producer • The Clutch – producer ("Sucka for Love") • Bryan-Michael Cox – arranger, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, programming, strings ("Sucka for Love" and "2 of You"), producer ("Sucka For Love" and "2 of You") • Sean Combs – producer ("Damaged", "Lights Out" and "Is Anybody Listening") • Danja – producer ("Bad Girl", "Pretty Boy" and "Strip Tease") • Steve Dickey – engineer, mixing assistant • Paul J. Falcone – engineer • Aundrea Fimbres – vocalist • Flex & Hated – producer ("Lights Out") • Fridolin – producer ("Is Anybody Listening") • Brian Gardner – mastering • Andy Geel – engineer • Giz – mixing engineer • Koil – engineer • Shannon Lawrence – vocal producer • Akeem Lee – producer ("Lights Out") • Ken Lewis – mixing engineer • Bernard Malik – mixing engineer, producer ("Ain't Going") • Fabian Marasciullo – mixing engineer • Daniel Mitchell – assistant engineer • Aubrey O'Day – vocalist • Harve Pierre – vocal producer, producer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse") • Dawn Richard – vocalist • Rockwilder – producer ("Make Me Sick") • Romeo IX – producer ("Flashback Interlude") • The Runners – producer ("Ecstasy") • Donnie Scantz – bass guitar, drum programming, keyboards ("2 of You") • Scyience – producer ("Key to My Heart") • Adonis Shropshire – vocal producer • Tiff Starr – vocal producer • Jahi Sundance – bass guitar, drum programming, keyboards ("2 of You") • Stereotypes – producer ("Damaged") • Matthew Testa – mixing engineer • Sam Thomas – mixing engineer • Antwan Thompson – producer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse") • Jeff Villanueva – engineer • Kevin Wilson – engineer • Mario Winans – arranger ("Secret Place", "Picture This" and "Is Anybody Listening"), producer ("Damaged", "Secret Place (Interlude)", "Lights Out", "Picture This (Interlude)", "Poetry" and "Is Anybody Listening")7 • D. Woods – vocalist • Wyldcard – keyboard, strings, producer ("Sucka for Love" and "2 of You") Managerial and imagery • Sean Combs – executive producer • Conrad Dimanche – associate executive producer, A&R • Rodger Erickson – photographer • Julius Erving – management • Hughes Felizor – A&R coordinator • Rod Gold – art manager • Shannon Lawrence – A&R • Kenneth Meiselas – legal representation • Daniel Mitchell – A&R coordinator • Gwendolyn Niles – A&R administration • Mark Obriski – art direction and design • Harve Pierre – co-executive producer • Ed Shapiro – legal representation • Kamala Salmon – marketing • Marni Senofonte – styling • Francesca Spero – Bad Boy Films/Making the Band 4 executive • Carolyn Tracey – packaging production • Sharon Tucker – A&R administration • Eric Wong – marketing ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==