Singers with Unique Voices: Melanie Martinez (The Unique Voices Club #16)

Every Friday, I write a post about singers with unique voices not commonly heard in mainstream music in an effort to educate emerging artists and music lovers and inspire them to embrace their own quirks. This week I'm writing on Melanie Martinez.

Photo by Adam Elmakias

Melanie Martinez is way too famous for this blog frankly, but since she was one of my selections on the radio version of this back in the dark ages, I'm briefly writing about her. Because when this gap-toothed girl with half of her hair bleached shows up playing the tambourine with her feet and giving Britney Spears a run for her money, of course you're going to want to pay attention.

In case you're very old or listen to anything other than alt-pop, Melanie's discography consists of three albums and a bunch of EPs, with regular and deluxe editions, all of which follow the story of the character Cry Baby. Her debut, Cry Baby, describes her dysfunctional home life with a drunk mother and adulterer father, while her next album, K-12, has Cry Baby narrating her experience in school along. Her latest album, Portals, follows her death and then reincarnation as a fantasy creature. There are crazy events described in these albums such as Cry Baby being kidnapped and later killing her assailant, throwing a birthday party no one comes to, attending a school where the principal medicates students a la The Queen's Gambit, and gaining supernatural abilities. All of which sound like stuff in horror movies. And since Melanie loves them, it makes sense that most of her songs sound like they belong in one too. I mean, she even wrote and directed the surrealist horror film K-12, that has all the songs from that album.

While I can't really stomach horror films (watching the supernatural horror series The River in a dark classroom courtesy of my horror-obsessed 10th grade English teacher already did the job), Melanie and I have a similar writing process in that most of our songs come about with a larger storyline or from our personal lives. But if there's ever going to be a horror musical like Beetlejuice or Sweeney Todd in the future that isn't going to be a movical* or TVcal** or some retelling of a story everyone already knows, I could definitely guarantee that Melanie would have the artistic brainpower to come up with a wholly original story. Together with toy sounds and other distorted things to keep the audience glued to their seats. Her early stuff with the acoustic guitar sounds like it could work well with Anais Mitchell, who wrote and composed Hadestown, which has some horror elements what with its depict of Hell and whatnot. And since she's also written a few books, maybe she and Stephen King could come up with the scariest fantasy horror novel ever, provided he's not retired yet. She has said she wants to work with Tim Burton though.

Photo by Getty Images

Despite listening to a lot of hip-hop growing up, her voice has a whispery quality like Bjork and a haunting quality like the psychedelic folk pop group CocoRosie (more on them in a later post). I'm not gonna lie but singers with unique voices that are as soft with a small range as Melanie tend to be underestimated on televised singing competitions like The Voice and Amercan Idol. Yes, I'm going to point out the one-sided Christina Aguilera VS Melanie Martinez feud that came from the show since Christina is obviously going to vouch for people who can belt through the stratosphere like her. And joke's on Christina now because the level of unconventionalism it takes to succeed when creating art is totally underappreciated at first. But it's a way to keep a loyal fanbase that will lap up whatever you create. Even if it is a fantasy horror film about a girl who later resurrects as a bug-eyed fairy. And having a breathy tone can be as scary as being loud and shredding.

So yeah, go listen to Melanie Martinez if you have no idea who she is. Don't need to tell you where, because like I said, she's famous. She's everywhere.

(*Movical = movie musical, meaning a musical based on an existing movie like Back to the Future. One of my college professors coined that term, I think.

**TVcal = TV musical, by which I mean a musical based on a TV show like the SpongeBob musical. Coined during the pandemic by me, and the same aforementioned professor decided the term should be in regular usage. So, here it is.)

And that is all for this week on The Unique Voices Club, firebirds! Go check out any earlier posts you might have missed. And if you believe in the power of noncomformity especially when it comes to making art and having a creative career in these times, go subscribe to my Patreon. Or do a one-time donation here. Help me educate the next generation with singers with unique voices like Melanie Martinez, and others.

Stay educated,

Alexia