Melanie Martinez has released her eagerly-awaited third studio album, PORTALS today via Atlantic Records. The new album includes the official first single “VOID,” written and produced by Martinez, as well as the album’s opening track, “DEATH,” which was teased last month with a series of otherworldly clips revealing the rebirth of Martinez’s character “Cry Baby”. Listen to the new album now below.
Speaking on the album, Melanie Martinez said, “After diving into various past life regression hypnotherapy books over the course of a few years, I was inspired to create a concept album revolving around one of the most taboo subjects known to man. DEATH. The mission of this record is to offer a perspective of true togetherness and immortality. The album starts at death and ends at womb but loops into itself meant to be played as a forever loop. The same way that our lives are on loop. Dying as an old person to be born all over again anew. Encountering the same familiar faces and patterns for our highest growth. Crybaby as you know it may have died, but she’s evolved into her newest form.”
The multi-Platinum, 12 billion-streaming Martinez made her live debut as the new creature over a series of extraordinary festival performances heralding PORTALS this month including Lollapalooza Argentina, Lollapalooza Chile, Bogota, Columbia’s Estéreo Picnic, and Lollapalooza Brazil.
PORTALS marks Melanie Martinez’s first full-length release in nearly four years following her 2 billion-streaming, RIAA Gold-certified second album, K-12, which proved a sensation upon its September 2019 release, entering the Billboard 200 at #3 – the 27-year-old NYC-born singer-songwriter-filmmaker’s highest chart placement thus far – with further debuts at #1 on the Alternative album chart, and #1 on the Soundtrack album chart.
Martinez truly set forth on what has proven a remarkable creative journey with her 2015 debut album, CRY BABY. An unforgettable collection of provocative alt-pop framed as a modern fairy tale, complete with storybook illustrations and a dramatic structure that takes listeners through the life of its title character, the album instantly affirmed the multi-talented Martinez as an irrefutable artistic icon, thanks in part to a phenomenally popular series of hit singles and imaginative self-directed visuals that have amassed over 6 billion total streams and 1.5 billion video views. CRY BABY made its Billboard 200 debut at #6 upon its initial release while also entering the “Top Alternative Albums” chart at #1. In addition to its own 2x RIAA Platinum certification, all of the album’s 13 original tracks – as well as three further songs featured on the CRY BABY (DELUXE EDITION) – have now been certified Gold or Platinum by the RIAA.