Melanie Martinez is “back from the dead”
By Nevaeh Grant ‘24, managing editor
Melanie Martinez is a singer well known for her highly creative "CryBaby" alter ego. Melanie started off on “The Voice,” where there are four judges who critique other singers and guide their teams of chosen artists through the remainder of the season. Melanie started off with the song “Toxic” by Britney Spears. She went on to pursue her career debuting her song “Dollhouse” on February 9, 2014.
“Dollhouse” was part of Melanie’s first album called Crybaby. The album is portrayed as her childhood. “...You try to explain but before you can start those cry baby tears come out of the dark..” (Crybaby album, from the song Crybaby.) During her school years, she was bullied by her classmates and called her “sensitive” and a “cry baby”. CryBaby addresses the issue of bullying and is seen as a joke for expressing your feelings. CryBaby starts to experience adult-like things that a child shouldn’t really experience, and goes to a road of self-acceptance. Although Melanie did not experience some of these things herself, she believed it was a good idea to incorporate it into her videos. CryBaby continues to grow maturely and learns self-acceptance throughout the album. The album includes the songs, “Crybaby”, “Dollhouse”, “Sippy Cup”, “Carousel”, “Alphabet Boy”, “Soap”, “Training Wheels”, “Pity Party”, “Tag, You’re it”, “ Milk and Cookies”, “Pacify Her”, “Mrs. Potato Head”, “Mad Hatter”, “Play Date”, “Teddy Bear”, and “Cake”, in order.
K-12 is a film, music video, and story all in one about Melanie’s school years where she gets bullied and made fun of for her feelings. Although K-12 is about CryBaby, it shows how CryBaby, who is played by Melanie and her best friend, Angelita, who is played by Emma Harvey, go on a mission to take down an oppressive schooling system of K-12.
“When you listen to Melanie Martinez’s K-12, the album’s themes about bullying, insecurity, and the importance of learning to embrace one’s imperfections are all readily apparent. But when you watch the accompanying K-12 film and visually drink into the story Martinez has created, it becomes a much more powerful fairytale about the lives we lead long after leaving school.” (Gizmodo.com, Charles Pulliam-Moore, March 12, 2020)
CryBaby, who is now a strong and straightforward, yet sensitive girl, is sent away to a school that hides its wickedness underneath a grandiose facade. CryBaby and her friend Aneglita also get bullied by other students. The students in the school are completely in a mind-controlled school environment by the principal and his cruel staff. Along the way, CryBaby and Angelita meet some wonderful magical friends to help them end the school's facade. After a series of events, everyone gets to escape and is freed from their spell. But as Angelita waits for CryBaby to go through the gate to which they are freed, CryBaby looks back, which hints at a sequel.
After four years, excitement reached Tiktok first with the new Portals album. Melanie deleted all of the past of her work on Crybaby and K-12 and added a 30-second video on TikTok that said “RIP Cry Baby” carved into a giant mushroom surrounded by candles at a gravesite. This was a hint that Melanie was “back from the dead.” Melanie has found a new look. This new person she plays as is a pink-skinned,four-eyed fairy that is stuck between life and death on Earth. The music video, “Death,” shows how the half alive and dead fairy ascends from the dead. “My body has died but I'm still alive / Look over your shoulder, I'm back from the dead.” Melanie is on tour with the album, “Portals”. You can find her tour dates on her website at: