Melanie Martinez rose quickly to fame after she made her debut on the Voice in 2012. Shortly after, she released her first single “Dollhouse”. Due to the demand for more music from fans, Martinez then released her first album Cry Baby.
K-12 is a film and album that follows the dark side of the schooling system. In 2017, she started writing the script for the film. The idea derives from experiences people have in school and real people’s stories.
The film follows Martinez’s character Cry Baby who has great powers and her adventures in her school and overcoming her bully Kelly and her friend group. Throughout the film Cry Baby finds others that are like her. They try to escape the school through sticking together.
The twisted world that she created into film is in it’s own way beautiful.She told AP at the K-12 movie premiere in Los Angeles,“[It’s] such a hard thing for me to do. With the Cry Baby videos, a lot of the time, I had something in my head and could get close, but never that close. I think with the film, it’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to putting something down and actually executing it and finishing it and having it be so close to what I saw in my head.”
She discussed issues that have become topics of conversation world wide. This includes issues such as bullying, people in power, eating disorders and toxic friends. The way she portrays people and the relationships between them is so raw and realistic. Martinez realistically portrays human experiences accurately shows what individuals go through. In this album she talks about very serious problems like feeling uncomfortable in one’s body (Strawberry Shortcake) and teachers taking advantage of students (Teacher’s Pet).
The album itself is an amazing addition to her music and stays true to who she is as an artist. Martinez’s voice is so relaxing and this for me is due to the breathiness in her voice. I love how is just it’s own and unlike any other artist.
Notable standouts from this album are “Orange Juice” and “Show and Tell”.
“Orange Juice” followed the storyline of Cry Baby’s friend, Fleur, and her struggles with an eating disorder. I understand what it is like to struggle with something like this. It shows how kids are growing up to fast, that must be a certain way to be accepted.
“Show and Tell” is similar to “Dollhouse”( Martinez’s first single) the song is about how celebrities are seen as “perfect”. It also speaks on an incident from 2016, where fans were shut down by Martinez after they took pictures of her without her consent. As a person who wants to be an actress, I fear what my life will be like if I ever do make it. The song is telling people that celebrities need personal lives too.
K-12 won’t be the last project Martinez works on. She plans on producing, directing, and writing her next two albums and films. She wants to continue the Cry Baby storyline that shows another aspect of her. There’s no set date for her next project but she explained it’ll take awhile like K-12.
Personally this is her best album yet, the realness and authenticity of her lyrics make the album stand out. The fact that she can see something in her mind and be able to into film is beyond me. This is a must listen to album if your a fan of unique music.
