Melanie Martinez is back from a brief hiatus after concluding the PORTALS tour early this year. The hard-working alt-pop phenom has taken the entire world by storm with her creative take on sounds and topics little talked about while offering sweetened lyrical elements in her work.
Throughout her ten year-long career, Melanie has developed three entire chapters of a story she’s woven on a character named “Cry Baby.” In it she conquers topics of growing up too fast, childhood traumas, and the cycle of life and death. And we put this simply because, well… that’s just the start of it. If you’re interested in diving in further into her music, there’s never a better time than now.
Melanie’s latest run, called lovingly the Trilogy Tour, offers a taste of all three of these chapters for fans to witness in a unique form. The experience of the night offered a nearly three-hour performance with immersive props and a loving crowd that at some times were chanting to each word louder than the music itself.
We were very privileged to join in on the festivity of the first night of this tour in Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena. All over downtown throughout the day, you could spot fans dressed in pastel pink and sage with bows, hand-made masks, and custom embroidered merchandise. Fans lined up early and packed into every open seat, as the show sold out long before it could make it to the public sale.
From the start of the performance, dancers dressed in bunny hats came toward the front of the stage. And all leaned in close as the fifth one rose from a platform below stage. There was a moment of shock as everyone realized that the final dancer was in fact not Melanie as she appeared at the back of the stage, heightened on a platform as she started to sing “Cry Baby.”
She continued through nearly every track of the first album, and especially during “Soap,” the immersiveness of the experienced hit its peak as bubbles rained down from the top of the arena and erupted from the sides of the stage. She ended the Cry Baby era with “Mad Hatter,” The first of many self-empowerment tracks to come.
The world on the stage transitioned into the next chapter. Teddy bears and alphabet blocks were replaced with notebooks, pens, and school work as “Wheels on the Bus” began. Melanie had replaced her pint two piece frills with the dress seen in her K-12 film, a purple class uniform with puff sleeves and an a-frame skirt. We were sad to only hear a tease of “The Principal” before the performance transitioned quickly into the next track. However, that disappointment was quite brief, and unfounded, as “Show and Tell,” well…stole the show.
The K-12 era, the second chapter, ended with “High School Sweethearts.” Melanie came to the front of the stage near the end of the song after dancing with her other dancers, then to the shock of her audience, was shot by cupid’s arrow. That moment marked the “death” of Cry Baby as we knew her in the previous chapters. Melanie disappeared under the stage next to candied hearts that were carefully placed by the dancers as fog rolled onto the stage.
The intermission was spent with two of the dancers gliding along the stage with technique far superior to the previous tour we have witnessed. In fact, much of the dancing and elements of the performance thus far had improved, as if suddenly being knit into place after the decade of its making.
The PORTALS era and the final chapter of the night began. The dancers transformed their class uniforms into something of another dimension, and the stage became far more otherworldly than ever before.
Melanie appeared dressed as Cry Baby reincarnated in another form, a fae being beginning her struggle into transitioning from “Death” to “The Void” as she sang both tracks. Fans roared the lyrics louder than ever before. Much of this album, too, was performed. Mushrooms fabricated themselves onto the stage and danced along with everyone, projections of shadows glided along the stage, and cobwebs dotted the background throughout the remainder of the night.
The biggest highlight for some may have been the “surprise” Melanie teased on her socials. Instead of an encore, we were the first to witness the music video for “Light Shower” before its official release the next morning.
We’ve attached the full performance track list below:
- CRY BABY ERA
- Crybaby
- Dollhouse
- Sippy Cup
- Carousel
- Alphabet Boy
- Soap
- Pity Party
- Play Date
- Mad Hatter
- K-12 ERA
- Wheels on the Bus
- Class Fight
- [Tease of The Principal]
- Show and Tell
- Nurse’s Office
- Drama Club
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Lunchbox Friends
- Teacher’s Pet
- High School Sweethearts
- PORTALS ERA
- Death
- Void
- Tunnel Vision
- Faerie Soiree
- Light Shower
- Spider Web
- Battle of the Larynx
- The Contortionist
- Nymphology
- Evil
- [tease of Moon Cycle]
- Womb
If you’re ever able to see Melanie perform, do it. Not only are you in for a treat, but you’re in for an experience you will never forget. Stay tuned for more updates and we hope to share more news from Melanie Martinez with you soon!
Leave a comment