Melanie Martinez’s album, K-12, was released on September 6th, 2019, at the beginning of the school year. Instead of releasing music videos with the album, she directed and produced a full length feature film with her new album.
As a follower of Melanie Martinez since her days on the television competition, The Voice, I have always been infatuated with her style of music and the way she presents herself.
The album consists of thirteen tracks and is a total length of about forty-six minutes. The songs tackle real-life situations that not many artists today would begin to talk about, such as bullying, sexual assault, and how authorities abuse their power for personal gain.
Martinez’s ambition for her sophomore album was to make sure her target listeners, a majority teenage demographic, will be able to relate to the songs in their day-to-day life and that her message will help her listeners to cope with struggles of their own.
Prior to K-12, her debut album, Cry Baby, follows the main character of the same name, through her life within her dysfunctional family and sexual assault. K-12 follows “Cry Baby” throughout her experience at school, which is taken over by drugged up authorities, details the mistreatment she faces at their hands.
The Principal is a song about how authorities abuse their power in order to benefit themselves. It goes into depth about how authorities do not care about how students and that they’re all money-seeking. The rhythm makes it one of the catchiest songs on the album, but it lacks the vocal power that I think she’s capable of and should have included.
The seventh track, Strawberry Shortcake, details issues dealing with clothing and how girls are reprimanded for what they wear, making them uncomfortable with their bodies. Martinez implicitly remarks that boys can get away with their actions just because they’re boys. Overall, the message is highly relevant to our society and calls out the power dynamic of the sexes.
Lunchbox Friends is the following track. Martinez sings about fake friends and bullying. I feel like this song is definitely relatable to our society because we all want to live up to social expectations. The song captures an R&B rhythm, which is refreshing from her usually alternative stye.
A lack-luster song off the album is most definitely Recess. Although the song chimes about not letting people step over you, I genuinely believe that the song is very slow and doesn’t give a wow-factor for being the last song on the album. I do think her use of falsettos and range added interesting f vocal depth, but as a whole, the song is pretty bland and doesn’t give enough as her last track.
Overall, this album has a lot of masterpieces. I think that for people who want a refreshing sound, this album is definitely the way to go. Listeners of Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish will appreciate Martinez’s work. Her ability to break away from cookie-cutter boxes makes her definitely one-of a kind.