Melanie Martinez drops her third studio album Portals containing 13 tracks. It’s her first album in almost four years, and it is groundbreaking. Although it has a controversial theme of death and rebirth, her purpose is to help people overcome sorrow and as she says “give people hope there’s life after death.”

Martinez is very talented as she started off on The Voice in 2012, and just three years later released her first album “Cry Baby.” Not only is she a singer and songwriter, but she’s a model, actress, photographer and so much more.

Martinez’s previous album K-12 had a theme of grade school experiences, such as the stress of fitting in with peers and how schools treat their students. Accompanying the album there is a film that seems to have no plot and very short dialogue. Although it has a few good tracks such as “Teachers Pet”, “High School Sweethearts” and “Orange Juice”, the album lacked creativity. The lyrics may be different, but all the tracks seemed to sound the same.

When I heard the new album, I was not disappointed by any of the tracks. My only concern is how dark the tracks are. “VOID” is the best track on the album as Martinez covers the topic of being lost and finding herself. It’s about being trapped in your own thoughts, trying to escape. Another amazing track would be “LIGHT SHOWER” because in this song she explains a time someone came into her life at her lowest and made her happy again. 

Other themes in this album include mushrooms, fungi and psychedelics, especially in the song “BATTLE OF THE LARYNX.” She titled the teaser of the song: “POV you’re a dude on psychedelics, and I’m the ex that won’t stop haunting you through fungi,” confirming these themes. These themes add creativity and uniqueness to this album. Although her music video to the song “DEATH” is a little creepy, it’s also lively. 

When Martinez dropped this album everyone noticed her complete change in style. She started with a child-like style, and in her new album she’s dressed as an alien emerging from an egg showing her new mythical sort of style. In the visual she has “RIP CRYBABY” carved into a giant mushroom showing that her album is about the rebirth of her previous school girl persona known as crybaby. If you ask me, this new style of hers is elegant. 

Throughout the entire album Martinez discusses a lot about her past relationships. Her album seems to hit too close to home. It’s really personal and almost feels intruding. She is very expressive in her music, but that’s what makes it good. Although not everyone can relate to what she says, it’s still worth the listen.