Melanie Martinez’s latest album PORTALS was released March 30, while the deluxe version released on April 5 and is an album that should be listened to by everyone. The album is heavily based on a lot of faerie and earthly themes, which is something that is completely different from her “past self.” This 51 minute album is definitely an experience that shows her evolution from her older albums to her current self, showing how much she has grown.

As Crybaby said in the 2019 film K-12, “You start in the womb and end in the tomb.” This line kind of draws back to this album since it starts in the opposite order of it, with the album starting with DEATH and ending with WOMB. Anyone could think that it is a coincidence, but since she has said in a few interviews in the past that she had a plan for her albums for a while, it’s easy to say that it was planned. 

Listening to this album is definitely an interesting experience because of its strange but impactful lyrics, which makes it stand out more than others. MOON CYCLE is an example of a song that deals with a controversial topic, which in this case is about menstruation. Though it is one of the shorter songs in the album, the lyrics definitely confront people who feel uncomfortable talking about this taboo topic. 

VOID is unique on its own because it was written and produced all by herself, which she did a great job doing. The intro starts off a little creepy because of her voice in a different tone but fits well with her type of music. This is one of the songs that I like a lot because of its tempo throughout the song, which has a great beat and definitely gives off indie rock vibes because of its main use of the bass. 

WOMB begins with a calm guitar playing with the chorus being the more upbeat electric guitar, which flows really well within the song and ends with the same creepy intro that was played at the beginning of DEATH, representing that endless cycle Crybaby talked about in K-12. WOMB sounds almost like it should be labeled as pop, which is different from most of her songs, which makes this another unique song. 

Within the deluxe version of PORTALS, three more songs were added with the last one being MILK OF SIREN. The intro of this song sounds similar to the beginning of TUNNEL VISION and consists mostly of bass and drums, which complement each other really well. Based on the title of the song, the vibe of it gave off siren/mermaid vibes, which gave me chills. 

Anyone can tell that her music has definitely changed by the different styles of her songs compared to her previous ones. In the past, her music dealt with a lot of beats of childhood nostalgic sounds like music boxes. Now within this album, most of the thirteen songs use a lot of stringed instruments and more natural sounds like birds chirping, which elevate Melanie Martinez’s music while still keeping these songs different from each other. 

Fans are wondering if there will be a new movie that will coincide with this album and there will be. According to her, she hasn’t had any funding to make the film yet but has written the script for it years ago. This is very exciting news since her last film did so well, and will continue the evolution with her character Crybaby.