Get to Know Singer Melanie Martinez and Her Gothic Fairy Tale Style

With shows like American Horror Story and Penny Dreadful dominating TV and movies like It Follows becoming cult hits, it’s clear there’s a rise in popularity in pop culture for the dark and gothic. In music, enter Melanie Martinez. The former Voice star had a hit with her dark and twisty “Dollhouse,” her song “Carousel” was featured on American Horror Story promos, and her new song “Pity Party”—off her debut album, Cry Baby (out this week)—is rising on the alternative charts. But she’s not stopping there: The singer stopped by Glamour HQ to talk her new album, what’s to come next, and more.

Glamour: So tell me about the new album! Congrats, by the way.

Melanie Martinez: It’s called Cry Baby, and it’s basically a story throughout—from the beginning to the end. It’s about this girl, Cry Baby’s life and things that she goes through and how she evolves as a person. She’s a little girl, so everything is very childhood-themed, but it’s very dark and mature. When I wrote it, I got into this thing where I think about titles that remind me of little kid things like, “Milk and Cookies,” “Dollhouse,” and “Carousel,” and then I’d relate it to a situation that I was going through. So the actual story and core of the song is dark and relevant to adults, but the titles and references are all little kid-based, so it’s that contrast.

Glamour: Is that a metaphor for losing innocence?

MM: Not really, honestly. I look at music like an art form, so it’s almost like painting for me, you know? I just like that there’s a contrast, and I liked having a theme and keeping it cohesive.

Glamour: Your style shows that as well.

MM: Totally! Absolutely, that’s another thing—I really love music videos and stuff like that. I just love for everything to go hand-in-hand and feel within the same world.

Glamour: So do you see yourself finding a new concept for the next album?

MM: It’s interesting because I’ve been thinking about this. I think I have an idea of what I want to do, but I have no idea what it’s going to sound like or anything like that. But I have this absolutely ridiculous idea that I’m going with, I think. It’s still too soon to say, but I definitely really want it to be this world. I want to create a bigger picture than what this is—like this is just a part of a huge, little weird town. But I don’t know, I’m still figuring it out.

Glamour: So, “Pity Party” is your most first single on the new album.

MM: Yeah, that’s the first single off the album, so it’s super exciting that I got to put that video out because I’ve been waiting a little bit to do it. That was the first video that I got to direct, even though I’ve always been super involved in my videos and always wrote the storyboard, but I always had to work with the director, for “Carousel” at least, and that was…it wasn’t hard, but it was awkward because I have such a strong vision in my head of what I want to execute and obviously other people’s inputs change it and it turns into something that I didn’t have in my head in the first place. But with “Pity Party,” it’s the first time seeing my vision come to life in front of my face. I’m super happy about it.

Glamour: Tell me more about directing it.

MM: It was really fun. I actually just shot another music video for another song off the album. It’s not a single, but it’s kind of a part two to “Dollhouse.” It’s really intense and dark and that one I got to direct as well. I’m just going to direct all of them from now on because it’s just so much fun. I just did that one, and I’ve never had so much fun in my whole entire life. I wasn’t in the video as much in this one. “Pity Party” was different—I wrote out a shot list with what I wanted to get and that’s how I directed, but with this one I wasn’t in the video that much so I was able to stand behind the camera and actually direct all of that, even the camera movements. That makes me so happy because now it’s exactly how I want it.__