Melanie Martinez competed on the third season of “The Voice” on Adam Levine’s team. She wowed the judges in her audition with her ingenious take on Britney Spears “Toxic” while strumming a guitar and playing a tambourine with her feet. Her take on music has always been eclectic and so vivid so that it tells a story for the listener to enjoy.

Martinez released her first concept album August, 14, 2015 titled “Cry Baby”. The album’s colors suggests the listener will be enjoying a tame bubble gum pick overload; however, that is not the case. Martinez sings with a wispy tone that draws comparisons to Lorde and Lana Del Rey. However, this hauntingly beautiful debut from Martinez should be in a category all its own. Its pastel pinks and blues lure the listener in, and its twisted take on ideas with titles such as “Cake” and “Milk and Cookies” toy with the listener.

Martinez distorts American pop culture such as the childhood game of tag, training wheels and sippy cups by inserting her own themes to air the dirty laundry underneath the pristine veneer of society. She sings about broken families, disingenuous romance and emotional abuse in some fairly racy and explicit tracks. “Dollhouse,” the second song on the album, takes the listener through a wormhole where a family puts on a façade that nothing is amiss, but underneath it all the brother is smoking pot and the dad’s cheating on the mom while the mom drinks to forget the pain. While at face value the family looks perfect, Martinez truly achieved a track that puts a tune to what happens behind closed doors.

Martinez explained the meaning behind writing the title track of the album. Martinez said, “So, I wrote this song called ‘Cry Baby’ because some people say that I’m too emotional when I sing, I’m sensitive to crisis in the world like sex trafficking, child cancer, etc. and I can’t hide my feelings and tend to cry too much. This song is my response, I guess my heart is too big for my body.” She is not shy about writing from her heart and injecting personal stories into her music. Martinez aims to tell stories through her music. Martinez said, “I want my music to be treated as a book or movie. It’s not about one single, it’s about the bigger picture.” All the songs on the album follow a story and live in the same universe of a girl being neglected and not heard.

The listener takes a wonderful, whimsical journey with the girl from the very first track. “Cry Baby,” the title track, is the tears of the girl and “Dollhouse” creeps in with a ticking wind up jewelry box sound that entices the listener as the girl is observing her family is not as perfect as they seem. “Sippy Cup” shows the downward spiral of the mother with lyrics like “Blood still stains when the sheets are washed and Sex don’t sleep when the lights are off”. Those lyrics coupled with sounds of syrup pouring into a cup are genius ways Martinez illuminates the mothers pain with superb audio visuals.

“Alphabet Boy” is a breakup song that uses a lot of alteration which follows the order of the alphabet. This song is like the teen angst alt-pop grudge version of “Apples and Bananas” you never knew you needed. “Pity Party” is a sad revelation for the girl because no one shows up to her birthday. This sad tone is accompanied by a combination of hip-hop beats and a brass section. “Tag, you’re It” contorts the innocent children’s game with melodic rifts and lyrics that alludes to how the girl is single and that she is fair game to be devoured.

Those are just some of the tracks on this spectacular album, I highly recommend checking it out to delve into a new artist’s whimsical musical-filled adventure where it is easy to see and hear the painstaking detail she took to deliver a simply sublime visual narrative.