There are a bunch of artists/bands that I love, but my absolute favourites are Melanie Martinez and MARINA (formerly Marina and the Diamonds). Both of them are so beyond special to me, and their music has seen and gotten me through so much. I don’t know where I’d be without them. I’m actually going to be seeing Melanie live for the first time this June, something that I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do, and I’m so, so ecstatic and anxious!!! I was only able to afford nosebleed seats, but just being in that arena and getting to hear her live will be a dream come true.
MARINA was the artist that I discovered first though, so it’s only fitting that I talk about her albums first!
The Family Jewels
MARINA’s debut studio album, and the second album of hers that I listened to! It’s also my second favourite album of hers. It’s been 5+ years since I first listened to it, and I can still relate to a lot of the songs on it so much. It’s one of my go-to comfort albums, and is so special to me. It’s a beautiful blend of fun, vulnerability, wildness and rawness. It touches on self-discovery, self-love, self-hatred and self-acceptance in a way that is so human, and makes me feel seen. Its a reminder that the past, present, future, our families and our experiences all shape us into who we are, but that change and growth is always possible. Even if that change and growth is just you accepting who you are and everything that happened that helped make you who you are.
My favourite songs from
The Family Jewels are “Are You Satisfied?”, “Girls”, “I Am Not a Robot”, “Seventeen”, “Obsessions”, “Oh No!”, “The Outsider”, “Mowgli’s Road”, “Hollywood” and “Hermit the Frog”. As someone who is often struggling with her emotions and having them, “I Am Not a Robot” has always been one of the songs that resonates with me the most. It’s a much-needed reminder that I’m human, that we all are, and that being human and expressing vulnerability and emotions doesn’t always have to be pretty, and that it’s okay. Being human is ugly, and that’s one of the beauties of it.
Electra Heart
My favourite MARINA album, and one of my absolute favourite albums of all time. I fear I will never love another album as much as this one. This album was my introduction to MARINA, and was honestly my soundtrack during my late middle school/early high school years. If I could listen to nothing but
Electra Heart for the rest of my life, I’d be happy with that. This album is so, so very special to me, and I love it beyond words. It‘s forever iconic!
Glee was actually my introduction to
Electra Heart, and in turn to MARINA! A few people on Youtube made
Glee music videos to “Bubblegum *****” and “Teen Idle”, and
Glee eventually did a cover of “How to Be a Heartbreaker”! I loved all 3 songs so much that it encouraged me to listen to all of MARINA’s music, and my love for her and her music was born! She’s also one of the reasons why I love occasionally drawing a black heart on my cheek, and why my New Horizons island rep has one as well.
There honestly isn’t a single song on
Electra Heart that I don’t like, but my absolute favourite songs are “Primadonna”, “Power & Control”, “Teen Idle”, “Bubblegum *****”, “Starring Role”, “Homewrecker”, “Valley of the Dolls”, “Buy the Stars”, “Lies”, and “Lonely Hearts Club”! So… pretty much almost every song on the album, LOL
Froot
My least favourite album of hers. The album cover is breathtaking, but sadly the only songs off of
Froot that I like are the title track of the same name and “Weeds”. I felt so bad listening to it for the first time and only liking 2 of the songs, but I did give it a chance! I’m honestly not sure why I didn’t like this album as much as her others.
Love + Fear
My third favourite MARINA album! I stayed up until midnight on its release day so that I could stream the entire album as soon as it dropped. All of the songs on
Love + Fear are so beautiful, and I cherish the meanings behind them all so much. I love that this album touches on self-love, the beauty of having so much love for others, and the beauties and ugliness of the world and its inhabitants. I hate that the message behind “To Be Human” is still as prevalent today as it was in 2019, and that the state of the world hasn’t gotten much better. The beauty is still there, but the ugliness gets more and more pressing and horrifying with each passing day.
My favourites from this album are “To Be Human”, “Handmade Heaven” and “Superstar”!
I’m not going to talk about
Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land since I haven’t listened to the album in full, but I adore the title track of the same name and “Man’s World”. The messages behind both songs are so important.
This post is already ridiculously long xjsidndjbc, but onto Melanie! To try and minimize my rambling as much as possible, I’m going to exclude her EPs.
Cry Baby
Excluding her
Dollhouse EP, this is the first album of Melanie’s that I listened to. It’s my favourite album of hers, as well as one of my favourite albums of all time. I adore all of Melanie’s subsequent albums and EPs, and they’re all special to me in their own ways, but I don’t think any of her albums will ever live up to
Cry Baby for me. It got me through middle school and high school, and it is so important to me. I haven’t known Melanie during the entirety of her musical journey, but I’m so grateful that I discovered her when I did, and that I’ve been a fan of hers for 10 years now. Melanie, her music, and this album especially, will always hold a special place in my heart. I never thought I’d get to hear any songs off of
Cry Baby live, so the fact that I‘ll get to in less than 4 months is so… wow.
I love every song on
Cry Baby, but my absolute favourites are “Dollhouse”, “Cry Baby”, “Tag You’re It”, “Pity Party”, “Cake”, and “Mrs. Potato Head”! I can’t believe this album is almost 9 years old.
K-12
K-12 was a blessing to me. Melanie announced it during a time where I was struggling so badly with school, attending regularly, and having no friends there and feeling so out of place, and while I knew
K-12 couldn’t fix any of those problems for me, I knew it would at least provide some healing and comfort that I desperately needed. It’d be a sort of safe space, and it was. I was so excited when I found out that Melanie would be releasing a movie alongside it! Listening to snippets of each song as she posted them on her Instagram gave me something to look forward to when I was struggling, and I’m forever grateful for that.
I actually watched the
K-12 movie while I was in class, and I loved it! I also of course loved the album, with my favourite songs being “Show & Tell”, “Teacher’s Pet”, “Orange Juice”, “Lunchbox Friends”, “Nurse’s Office”, and “Class Fight”!
Portals
Her most recent album! It’s the conclusion to Cry Baby’s story and is a little different from her previous two albums, but I still adore it all the same. I was going through a rough time in March of last year, and
Portals was one of the things that got me through. It took some time to get used to the costume that Melanie’s been wearing for
Portals, but I think it’s so cool and unique. I admire and appreciate the love, effort, authenticity, creativity and dedication she puts into everything she does. This past year has been so busy for her between releasing a merch and parfum line, planning and going on 2 tours, working on and releasing music videos for
Portals as well as working on the movie version of it, but she’s absolutely killing it!
I don’t love every song on
Portals, but my favourites are “Powder”, “Milk of the Siren”, “Tunnel Vision”, “Evil”, “Battle of the Larynx“, ”Death”, and “Faerie Soirée“!
