Melanie Martinez is an American singer-songwriter and multidisciplinary artist from Astoria, Queens, New York, with Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage. She is also credited as a visual artist, film director, actress, dancer, fashion designer, producer, photographer and screenwriter. Her work is associated with alternative pop, art pop, indie pop and pop, and she is linked with Team Adam and Gap City Music.

Early career

Martinez first draws attention after appearing in the MSG Varsity Talent Show during her junior year of high school. She rises to wider notice in 2012 as a contestant on The Voice, where she auditions with Britney Spears’ “Toxic”. She reaches the Top 6 before being eliminated during the fifth week of the live shows.

Debut releases and the Cry Baby era

After leaving The Voice, Martinez begins developing original material independently. In 2013 she records songs for a planned EP with producers including John Feldmann and Doveman, but that project is later abandoned. She writes “Dollhouse” with Kinetics & One Love in September 2013, which sets the foundation for the Cry Baby universe that becomes central to her early career.

After signing with Atlantic Records, she releases her debut EP, Dollhouse, in 2014. The EP includes the singles “Dollhouse” and “Carousel”, and several of its tracks are recorded during sessions for her debut album. Her first studio album, Cry Baby, follows in 2015 and debuts at number six on the Billboard 200. It is certified Platinum by the RIAA, and each track on the album receives an individual RIAA certification. The album’s visual world, centred on the fictional character Cry Baby, becomes a defining feature of her work.

Expansion of the concept albums

Martinez continues the same narrative approach with her second studio album, K-12, which appears with a 92-minute companion film that she writes, directs, produces and stars in. She follows it with the After School EP in 2020, extending the themes introduced in that project. Together, these releases accumulate more than 2.7 billion Spotify streams, and K-12 becomes the first album to have every track certified by the RIAA without an official single.

Virality and later albums

In 2020, “Play Date” gains a large new audience through TikTok five years after its original release, becoming Martinez’s biggest commercial success and passing 1 billion Spotify streams. Other songs from her catalogue also see renewed attention on social media.

Martinez releases her third studio album, PORTALS, in 2023, with a deluxe edition following shortly after. The album debuts at number two on the Billboard 200 and introduces a new fantasy-inspired visual identity centred on a four-eyed creature representing the rebirth of Cry Baby. It goes on to pass 1.2 billion Spotify streams.

Touring and recent work

After the PORTALS Tour, Martinez undertakes the Trilogy Tour across North America and Europe in 2024, presenting material from all three albums in the Cry Baby trilogy. It is her first arena tour and includes sold-out shows, including consecutive nights at Madison Square Garden.

She returns with the single “POSSESSION”, followed by “DISNEY PRINCESS”, and then releases her fourth studio album, HADES. The album is told from the perspective of a new protagonist, Circle, and explores corruption, capitalism, artificial intelligence, environmental destruction, religion, celebrity culture and other social issues in a dark dystopian frame. It is described as her most politically and socially driven work. “UNCANNY VALLEY” is released with the album, and “THE VATICAN” is later promoted as another single. Martinez then launches The Sacrifice Tour in support of HADES across North America and Europe.

HADES is presented as the first part of a larger double-album project, with Elysium planned as its companion and thematic counterpart, continuing Circle’s story. A feature film based on HADES is also in development and is written by Martinez.