Melanie Martinez, born in Astoria, Queens in 1995, is an American singer-songwriter and director who builds each album around a full character and visual universe. Cry Baby (2015) started it, K-12 (2019) came with its own self-directed film, and Portals (2023) reinvented her again. Dig into Melanie Martinez vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Melanie Adele Martinez was born in Astoria, Queens, New York on April 28, 1995. She gained early attention as a contestant on The Voice (season 3) in 2012. She signed with Atlantic Records and released her debut Cry Baby (2015), a conceptually-unified album following the titular Cry Baby character. The album was expanded with the 2017 EP After School. K-12 (2019), her second album, was accompanied by a self-directed feature-length film of the same name. Her 2023 album Portals marked a visual reinvention, with Martinez adopting a new fairy/alien creature character with prosthetic makeup. She directs all her own music videos.
Melanie Martinez's sound combines alternative pop, art pop, electropop, indie pop, dark pop, and chamber pop with her distinctive vocal delivery, conceptual approach to album-length work and visual presentation (each album linked to a unified character and aesthetic universe), and lyrical content addressing childhood trauma, mental health, identity, and personal experience with nursery rhyme and fairy tale imagery.
Atlantic Records pressings of the Melanie Martinez catalog have been issued in extensive color variant editions and elaborate limited deluxe pressings, with collector demand.
Listeners new to Melanie Martinez typically start with Cry Baby (2015) or Portals (2023).
