“Is it true that pain is beauty? Does a new face come with a warranty? Will a pretty face make it better? . . . Do you swear you’ll stay forever/Even if her face don’t stay together?” – Mrs. Potato Head by Melanie Martinez  

Melanie Martinez is an American singer and songwriter, who rose to fame, in 2012, after appearing on the 3rd season of The Voice. Even though she was eliminated, Melanie captured the attention of many with her unique, soft voice and began her fascinating musical journey.  

Many of her songs reflect her personal experiences from depression, and drug abuse, to dysfunctional families and what makes these so unique is that she writes on these themes from a child’s perspective. She also often comments on issues people face in society today, such as beauty standards, as seen in the excerpt above from Mrs. Potato Head.  

One thing that makes Melanie so unique and really draws people in is how her albums are set up. Many of them, from Cry Baby to her most recent album Portals, follow the same story arc of her alter ego Cry Baby. Through the journey of Cry Baby, we can see her face numerous challenges, that many people experience on a day-to-day basis, and how she has grown through all of that and has new perspectives on her past experiences.

So, if she has such a unique story arc how does she make it even more eccentric compared to other musicians? 

Well through her music videos is how. Starting with the Cry Baby album we get many music videos illustrating the struggles Cry Baby goes through growing up. Then when you get to the K-12 album there is an entire hour-and-a-half film of Cry Baby’s journey through school where we see her get bullied and grow and become even more powerful on her journey (This is such a fun film, and you should definitely watch it!!!). Lastly, with her latest album Portals, Melanie finishes the Cry Baby trilogy, by killing off the original character Cry Baby. However, we are shown Cry Baby’s immortality through the rebirth of her soul, just in a different vessel.  

The Cry Baby trilogy is such a unique and beautiful spider web of an intertwined story and truly has so much for the listener/viewer to glean from it. Melanie Martinez is an amazingly talented singer and songwriter, and this trilogy teaches us about death and past life aggression, while simultaneously showing us that even though we die, in our next life we are still the same person at heart. It illustrates that we will evolve as not only a being but a soul as well.