This is it, our beloved Crybaby is no more. After eight years of supporting Melanie Martinez’s iconic persona “Crybaby,” she decided it was time to put the album trilogy to rest. Her new album “PORTALS,” is about the rebirth of Crybaby as a spirit in the cosmos. While recording her music in her home’s “portal room” or entry way for spirits to rest, Martinez’s goal was to give hope to her fans that there is an afterlife. After waiting four years for Crybaby’s return, was this the end we were waiting for?
The “PORTALS ” concept is unique, just like her previous concepts, but this one didn’t have Martinez’s cute-horror essence to it, it was just…cute. I was looking forward to her usual thought-provoking music, but this album was pretty dull. The majority of the songs didn’t have a relatable meaning and seemed to be catered to fit the style and storyline instead of an emotion. Her previous albums “Crybaby” and “K-12” were about her character Crybaby going through early childhood to late teens and how stressful and hard those years are with songs about common struggles such low self esteem. I was expecting her new album to follow the same path but she ditched that theme for the finale. I will admit there wasn’t much she could do after ending her last album/movie with Crybaby standing in front of a door where she could choose to be in a place with other people that have special powers like her or stay on earth, but I still hoped there would be relatable music I could sing my heart out to while feeling every lyric hit close to home.
The rebirth concept needed to be grand; it needed to be different from the previous concepts when Crybaby was alive. I thought the new character design was beautiful and well thought out but I wasn’t a fan of the prosthetics that changed her facial structure; I couldn’t tell martinez was under the makeup until I saw her perform online. I also didn’t like the earthy, nature concept. I was wishing she would use a soft extra-terrestrial visual to stay with her on-going theme, but she had a different vision. After removing all of her social media posts and changing every YouTube thumbnail to Crybaby’s tomb, I knew it would be a fresh start, but it was a bigger change than I would’ve liked. She decided she isn’t going to perform any of her previous songs in concert again and every concert she wears her prosthetics. Not to mention, her concert tickets are way more expensive compared to her previous tours. Paying triple the amount of her usual ticket price to see her only perform these new songs and not even get to see her face is a waste of money. Her prosthetics are so thick and detailed you can only see her mouth move, she looks emotionless. Going to concerts is an amazing privilege, but if you can’t see the artist, then you might as well be listening to your radio.
The songs on this album sound amazing and are definitely stream-worthy. Although it took me a while to get used to the new instrumental style, you can still tell it’s Martinez’s music. Since this is her first self-produced album, I assume she ditched the electronic instrumentals to experiment. Although I miss the synthesizer that her record label Atlantic produced, I love hearing Melanie Martinez’s own vision in full. “TUNNEL VISION” sounds the most like her previous music and was one of the earlier songs she wrote for this album, being close to “K-12”s release, which was probably why I liked it so much. It was also used as a promotion sample in “THE HATCHING,” showing Crybaby hatch into the afterlife. On the contrary, her songs “MOON CYCLE,” “NYMPHOLOGY,” and “BATTLE OF THE LARYNX” sound very different from her previous work but they don’t disappoint. Although some of the tracks took a while for me to warm up to, I ended up loving them dearly. I wouldn’t rate a single song on the original album below a 5/10.
While I loved the music and new artistic view Martinez incorporated into this new album, I’m not a fan of the aftermath this album has caused. I truly miss and will continue to mourn Crybaby and her heartfelt story. Rest in peace, Crybaby.