Melanie Martinez facts for kids (2024)

Born (1995-04-28) April 28, 1995 (age 28) Occupation Years active 2012-present Musical career Genres Instruments Labels Atlantic Associated acts Signature

Melanie Adele Martinez (born April 28, 1995) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, New York, Martinez rose to fame in 2012 after appearing on season 3 of the American television talent show The Voice. Following the show, she was signed to Atlantic Records and released her debut single "Dollhouse", followed by her debut extended play of the same name (2014).

Martinez later released her debut studio album, Cry Baby (2015), which went on to be certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album amassed numerous commercially successful singles including "Pity Party", "Soap" and "Mrs. Potato Head". Martinez released two follow-up albums, K-12 (2019) and Portals (2023), that were released on September 6, 2019 and March 31, 2023 respectively.

Early life

Melanie Adele Martinez was born on April 28, 1995 in Astoria, Queens, to parents Mery and Jose Martinez, who are of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent. Her family moved to Baldwin, New York, on Long Island, when Martinez was four. She listened to Brandy, Britney Spears, Shakira, The Beatles, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls and Christina Aguilera growing up, and wanted to be a singer from a young age.

Martinez attended Plaza Elementary School, crediting her teacher Mr. Nadien with teaching her how to sing, and in kindergarten, Martinez began writing poetry. Martinez says she had few friends growing up and was a homebody, as she was "very emotional" and found it difficult to explain her feelings, crying when overwhelmed. She practiced photography and painting. Due to her emotionality as a child, she says that others referred to her as a "cry baby", which sparked the creation of the titular character of her debut album, Cry Baby.

At fourteen, Martinez taught herself how to play guitar by studying chord diagrams of songs she enjoyed, which she found online, and wrote her first song by adding her poetry to one of the chord diagrams, but says that playing guitar "eventually got stale". Martinez graduated from Baldwin High School.

2012-2014: Breakthrough with The Voice and Dollhouse EP

In 2012, during her junior year of high school, Martinez participated in the MSG Varsity Talent Show, a televised talent competition. She sang the Beatles' rendition of "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong and "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" by the Four Tops. She was eliminated in the second round.

. Martinez then auditioned for the third season of The Voice. She had not watched the show herself prior to the audition. The initial, untelevised audition was an open call, held at Javits Center. She recalls that while she and her mother were driving to the audition, her mother's car broke down before they reached the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and the two were forced to "hitchhike" a taxicab in order to get there. Several months after the initial audition, while at Roosevelt Field Mall, Martinez received word that she had advanced to the "second round". She then received multiple callbacks until she was finally selected to audition on the show itself. Martinez auditioned singing Britney Spears's "Toxic" with three of the four judges (Adam Levine, CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton) hitting their "I Want You" button. Martinez ultimately chose Adam Levine to be her coach.

In the Battle Round, Martinez competed against Caitlin Michele. They performed a duet of the Ellie Goulding song "Lights". Martinez won and moved on to the Knockout Round. Michele was stolen by Cee Lo Green and also moved on. In the Knockout Round, Martinez was paired with Sam James. She chose to sing La Roux's "Bulletproof". Levine eliminated James, and Martinez moved on to the Live Rounds as one of the five remaining members of Team Adam. In week one of the Live Rounds, Martinez sang "Hit the Road Jack". Public vote saved Team Adam members Amanda Brown and Bryan Keith. Levine then chose Martinez over Loren Allred and Joselyn Rivera to remain in the competition. In week three, Martinez's performance of "Seven Nation Army" finished the voting period at #10 on the iTunes Top 200 Single Chart, causing her iTunes votes to be multiplied by ten. This occurred again in week four, when "Too Close" ended the voting period at #6.

Martinez was eliminated by audience vote in week five, along with the fellow Team Adam member Amanda Brown, leaving Levine with no artists. In response, Martinez said, "I never expected to get this far and this is beyond what I've ever dreamed of. I'm just so glad I got to express who I am as an artist and really touch people's hearts because that was the ultimate goal".

2015-2022: Cry Baby, Piggyback, K-12 and After School EP

On June 1, 2015, Martinez released the single "Pity Party", which sampled Lesley Gore's "It's My Party". This was followed by the album's second single, "Soap". The song reached number twelve on the Alternative Digital Songs chart, and number sixteen on the Pop Digital Songs chart. The third single, "Sippy Cup", followed on July 31. Cry Baby, her debut album, was released on August 14, 2015, to moderate critical acclaim and debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA on February 24, 2017. Martinez went on the Cry Baby Tour to promote the album, which lasted from 2015 to 2017.

In May 2016, Martinez released her second EP, Pity Party, in Ireland, Mexico and the UK exclusively. A month later, Martinez said she had started working on and recording her second album. In November 2016, Martinez released her third EP, Cry Baby's Extra Clutter, a physical vinyl release of the bonus tracks from Cry Baby as well as "Gingerbread Man", a Christmas-themed single which was initially released in December 2015 on SoundCloud but later released as a solo single in January 2016.

In October 2016, Martinez released a commercial for her fragrance, Cry Baby Perfume Milk, noting that the "idea for this perfume has been cultivating in my brain since the moment I finished writing" Cry Baby. The perfume was directly distributed by Martinez's record label, Atlantic, making them the first record label to distribute a fragrance. Martinez also collaborated with cosmetics company Lime Crime, Inc. to release two "exclusive" lipsticks: a blue lipstick called "Cry Baby" on August 17, 2015, and a brown lipstick called "Teddy Bear" on March 9, 2016.

On 9 December 2017, Melanie Martinez released the song "Piggyback" on SoundCloud, believed to reflect on allegations made by her former friend, Timothy Heller. ..... In a review of Martinez's third album, Portals, Sam Franzini of The Line of Best Fit wrote that the album track "Battle of the Larynx" is "a five-minute saga detailing serious accusations leveled against her".

On May 15, 2019, Martinez released a teaser trailer for her second album, K-12 which was eventually released on September 6, 2019, and debuted at number 3 on Billboard 200. The album was accompanied by a musical fantasy horror film, which was written and directed by Martinez. In an interview with People, Martinez alluded to future sequels and visual albums being released. The album was promoted with the K-12 Tour began on October 13, 2019, in Washington, D.C. and concluded prematurely on February 17, 2020, in Brixton, England due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January 2020, Martinez announced she was working on an EP titled After School, which was then set to be released in the spring of 2020 and serve as the deluxe edition of K-12. On February 10, 2020, Martinez released a stand-alone single, "Copy Cat" which featured Tierra Whack, marking Martinez's first feature. Martinez later released a second single from the EP, "Fire Drill", on June 26, 2020, which had previously featured in the credits of the K-12 film. Both songs were not included on After School, which was eventually delayed and released on September 25, 2020.

In April 2020, "Play Date" became one of the top 100 most-played songs on Spotify in the US after gaining popularity on TikTok. In 2021, Martinez featured on Forbes' Under 30 list.

2023-present: Portals

On February 18, 2023, after archiving all her Instagram posts, Martinez teased her third studio album, Portals. The album was released on March 31, 2023, and was promoted with the singles, "Death" and "Void" which charted at number 95 and 61 respectively, marking her first original appearances on the Billboard Hot 100. She embarked on the Portals Tour in May 2023.Martinez was nominated for the VMA's Best Visual Effects, for the music for her single "Void". She was eventually defeated by Taylor Swift in the final round, losing to Anti-Hero.

In November 2023, Martinez announced the launch of Portals Perfume, a collection of four fragrances developed in collaboration with indie perfumery Flower Shop Perfumes. The collection launched in a sculptural vessel modeled after Martinez's four eyed "Cry Baby" alter ego which houses all four fragrances and retails for $275.

Musical style

Martinez's music has been described as pop, alternative pop, art pop, electropop, emo pop, and dark-pop.

Her debut album Cry Baby and second album K-12 were seen to have hip hop and R&B undertones.

The subject matter of Martinez's songs is typically based on personal experiences. Martinez describes her own music as "very dark and honest" and "hip hop/trap inspired beats with creepy nostalgic childlike sounds such as baby pianos, music boxes, and toys".

Martinez's music has been described by The Guardian as "off-kilter, sweary electropop". Rolling Stone described Martinez's music as "twisted lullabies about love, danger and madness", and compared her music to that of "'Coin-Operated Boy'-era Dresden Dolls" and Lana Del Rey. The New York Times's Jon Pareles described her music as "perch[ing] prettily tinkling keyboards and concise pop choruses amid the slow, ominous basslines and twitchy percussion of Southern hip-hop - a candy-coated variation on the dirges of Lorde and Lana Del Rey", and described her mezzo-soprano voice as "whispery, sardonic, tearful, [and] furious". Billboard's Jason Lipshutz also compared Martinez to Del Rey and Lorde, saying, "Martinez is clearly cribbing from the dimly lit pop stylings of Lorde and Lana Del Rey, but while her wispy delivery strikes the same femme fatale poses, she lacks the subtlety of her influences", and that "Martinez is admirably ambitious, but her insistence on sticking to Cry Baby's central idea leaves her contorting into uncomfortable positions". The Guardian called her image "doll-like and decidedly emo...hyperreal", and described her music as "part-nursery rhyme, part tragic life story".

Martinez describes her alter ego and the protagonist of her debut album, Cry Baby, as a "fairy tale" version of herself.

Influences

Martinez has cited the Beatles, Neutral Milk Hotel, Feist, Kimbra, Zooey Deschanel, Regina Spektor, and CocoRosie as influences of hers. Specific albums which have influenced her music include The Idler Wheel... by Fiona Apple and Ariana Grande's albums Yours Truly and My Everything. She attributes the "heavy hip-hop influence" in her music to her father playing hip-hop music in the family's house often during her childhood.

The visuals in Martinez's music videos have been influenced by her favorite visual artists: Mark Ryden, Aleksandra Waliszewska and Nicoletta Ceccoli. She named Tim Burton as a large influence of hers, and has said that to make a movie with him would be her "one dream".

Discography

Studio albums

Cry Baby (2015)
K-12 (2019)
Portals (2023)

Film

Year Title Role Notes 2019 K-12 Cry Baby Also writer, director, costume designer, and composer

Television

Year Title Role Notes 2012 The Voice Herself / Contestant Season 3

Web

Year Title Role Notes 2019-20 Extra Credit Herself YouTube Premium series

Tours

Headlining

Dollhouse Tour (2014-2015)
Cry Baby Tour (2015-2017)
K-12 Tour (2019-2020)
Portals Tour (2023-2024)
The Trilogy Tour (2024)

Supporting

Lindsey Stirling - Music Box Tour (2015)
Adam Lambert - The Original High Tour (2016)

Awards and nominations

Award Year Category Work Result Ref. Alternative Press Music Awards 2017 Most Dedicated Fanbase Herself Nominated Billboard Music Awards 2020 Top Soundtrack K-12 Nominated Nickelodeon Mexico Kids' Choice Awards Challenge of the Year "Play Date" Nominated Breaktudo Awards (Brazilian Awards) Rising Artist Herself Nominated TikTok Awards Vietnam Best International Song "Play Date" Won Dabeme Music Awards 2021 Best Artist of 2014 Herself Won MTV Video Music Awards 2023 Best Visual Effects "Void" Nominated