Melanie Has Her Very Own 'Pity Party'
Published
If you have never seen a woman with half pink, half black hair, then you have not witnessed the incredible talent that is Melanie Martinez. But whilst she may be a new name to most of us, there is a reason behind it.
Aged 21, Melanie Martinez is a singer songwriter born in New York. Her career officially began when she was a contestant on the well-known talent TV show 'The Voice USA'. Her unique style most certainly made her stand out from other contestants. In the end, Martinez took 6th place in the competition.
After taking part in The Voice over in America, her main audience was mostly those living in the US. After the show, Melanie began working on her own material and soon released her debut EP 'Dollhouse'. Her album 'Cry Baby' was released just over a year later and debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200.
Much to her surprise, the album did very well. Her unique, creative style brought a new feel to music. Although fairly explicit, her album has a very childish feel to it. The titles of the songs all have very child-like words/phrases, such as 'Sippy Cup' and 'Tag you're it'. Despite this, the feel of the album is weirdly quite haunting.
The gig took place in the heart of London at Heaven whereby hundreds of teenage fans, most dressed similar to Melanie herself with teddy bears as accessories, queued from early hours to obtain the primary position.
The stage was set up to look similar to a baby's room, with props such as a mobile with dolls hanging from it and a very large cot which Melanie was laid in when the show started. As she burst through the cot itself, fans went wild at their first sight of her.
She entered the stage in a vintage styled, large frilled dress which was very neutral in colour and complimented the baby theme. Along with this, she wore knee high baby pink boots which finished off her outfit perfectly.
It was clear to me that she was very appreciative of her fans, stopping her performance several times to both thank them and interact with them. She worked the stage well, ensuring to engage with fans at both sides of the crowd. Her fun, yet cute personality most certainly came through in her performance.
The 60 minute set consisted of every song from her album 'Cry Baby' and one or two of her earlier songs which her die hard fans were overly excited by.
I was most amazed by how dedicated each and every fan was in fact, and how inspired they were by Melanie herself. A vast amount of the audience had a very similar look to her, such as the half pink, half black hair style which made me realise the impact she was having on these teenage girls.
She spoke about how being different was not something to be shameful of, but something that we should embrace. Her song 'Mad Hatter' features the lyrics 'So what if I'm crazy? The best people are'.
After listening to her album before attending the show, I was slightly unsure of how her vocals would come across when performing live. I was pleasantly surprised and found that vocally, she was outstanding. Although she was constantly running around the stage, her vocals remained strong throughout her whole set. I was left blown away especially by her range.
Martinez was joined on stage by both her drummer and keyboardist who she seemed to have a very close relationship with. On multiple occasions she approached them both and danced with them. The whole concert was almost like a huge kids party with the bright colours, dancing and the excited atmosphere in the crowd.
After performing her encore, the roars from the crowd were off the scale. As she left the stage, the whole crowd began to sing 'Happy Birthday' as it was her birthday the following day. Seconds later, Martinez made yet another appearance on stage stunned by the audience singing to her, she thanked them once again for supporting her and getting her to where she is now.
Although a fairly unusual style of music, Melanie Martinez is definitely a name to look out for. Martinez's music could be a new generation of music. Despite already being very successful, I really believe that in the next few months/years her music will reach a much larger audience than it currently has.
