Back From the Dead
April 12, 2023 2023-04-14 14:18Back From the Dead
Melanie Martinez’s new album
Music is a big part of how people live, and it is incorporated into daily lives all over the world. In most cases it becomes the basis of some friend groups or fandoms. Just recently, American singer-songwriter and filmmaker Melanie Martinez released a new project, which has gotten new and old fans jumping up from their seats.
Melanie first rose to the scene in 2012 at the age of 16 when Melanie appeared on the Voice singing the song Toxic by Britney Spears. Then, in 2014 Melanie released her debut single Dollhouse. Now in 2023, Melanie has a total of three albums and several singles that all made billboard numbers.
Melanie’s rise to fame struck again when her album K-12 was released on September 3rd, 2019, along with the Afterschool EP. She also produced the movie for the album K-12 featuring songs like Detention and High School Sweethearts. The filmmaker gained a lot of fans due to this release.
After years long wait, Melanie’s fans, named Crybabies, finally got a new album to listen to. Martinez is finally back from the dead with the newly released album, Portals which dropped on March 31st, 2023.
For this new album, Melanie has completely transformed. Her persona, crybaby, has died and been reborn. Melanie has produced 13 new songs, along with a deluxe version adding two more. With three additional songs called Powder, Pluto, and Milk of the Siren. She has a movie already planned for this album. However, the movie will not be released for another year.
In Portals, each song ranges tremendous scales from sound to meaning. Melanie Martinez’s songs all have a specific meaning behind them. The songs hold special meaning to the artist and portray certain lessons through storytelling and lyricism. Especially from songs like Leeches and Void.
In the song Void, Melanie uses lyrics and phrases to talk about anxiety, the tendency to overthink, and being overly critical of oneself. The song is about finding oneself in a dark place when overwhelmed with self-criticism and the only way to overcome it is to find the light within. Melanie puts details and meanings into every song. It makes the album deeper and more complex than its face value. In addition to this new album, she has a whole new look.
“I thought Melanie’s new persona and her new look were cool and interesting. It’s very different than what we see these days,” said DBHS sophomore Sondjy Saget.
The new look has shocked millions and has changed the Crybabies’ lives. She has transformed into a fairy-like creature, a nymph, which represents Melanie’s new life, making the persona Crybaby a past life. The whole album symbolizes death and rebirth hence “being back from the dead”..
To coincide with that idea, Melanie is closing out a chapter and will no longer be performing crybaby songs. Melanie has been working on this album for four years and the songs are all based on her love for past life regression and hypnotherapy books. Specifically, the phase between life and death.
After reading transcripts from hypnotherapy sessions Melanie was inspired to connect the dots between different phases documented in the afterlife that people under hypnosis were describing. She used that to inspire the new album, Portals.
The album consists of 13 songs, Death, Void, Tunnel Vision, Faerie Soirée, Light Shower, and more. The songs all fade into each other and connect, forming a lovely story told by song. She has 29 tour dates from May 30th to July 15th ranging from San Fransisco to Washington DC.
Melanie Martinez has shown herself to be an unforgettable face and performer. She is sold out for shows and festival performances around the globe.
