“PORTALS” Marks the Beginning of a New Era for Melanie Martinez
Released on March 31st, "PORTALS" is the third full-length album released by the former contestant of The Voice Melanie Martinez. In this album, Melanie discusses past life regression therapy while ending the trilogy of her character Crybaby. In this review, I will be rating each song and providing my rationale behind each rating.
“DEATH” - 8/10
This is the opening track of the album and the only one so far with a music video release. The music video along with the track helps aid the creativity of it all. Symbolism is huge in this track. The 8 of Swords tarot card symbolizes the death of her character Crybaby. The dress she wore in her most popular photo of her and Oliver Tree is what she wore as she was being buried in the video. This track plays into the concept of killing off her former persona. The scary opening harmonics on the vocals really add an ethereal dimension to the song-leading into the very pop-oriented chorus.
“VOID” - 9/10
I love the pre-chorus of this song. It leads to the character Crybaby being dead and traveling through the void of the afterlife. The uncertainty of this track along with how Martinez really captures the painful feelings of entrapment gives this song the push it needed.
“TUNNEL VISION” - 10/10
The harmonies on the intro of this song are AMAZING. This song with the strings is the closest callback to her older music. It gives me similar vibes to her song "Carousel." Originally, Martinez was going to scrap this track because of a drop box leak earlier this year. After attempting to rewrite it, Martinez stated, “I couldn't rewrite a better tunnel song so it stayed”.
“FAERIE SOIREE” - 4/10
This track was not my personal favorite. To me, it felt like a quick placeholder track or a transition to help move along the album. The reason why I do not enjoy it much is because there is no cohesive melody or anything I could grasp as a listener. The outro is my favorite part of the song, it gives very similar vibes to the intro of "Tunnel Vision."
“LIGHT SHOWER” - 10/10
This beautiful love song is my favorite track on the record. It feels like a recall of her last album, “K-12.” Like the song "High School Sweetheart," the melody is catchy and the message behind it is breathtaking. The lyrics of the choruses and the outro stick out to me.
“There is a place in the afterlife people under hypnosis describe as a shower of light…cleansing your spirit of the trauma it had experienced," Martinez stated. She wrote this song with a double meaning of love and this light shower.
“SPIDERWEB” - 9/10
I am obsessed with the chorus melody and lyrics. When I think of the lyrical content, it almost seems like a knock on politicians or people in power. In a later interview, Martinez explained this song is about social media and how it has forever changed our society.
“LEECHES” - 5/10
I don’t think it’s bad, nothing just stood out to me. Neither good nor bad.
“BATTLE OF THE LARYNX” - 8/10
This is one of the more pop-sounding songs, especially the chorus. There is a lot of recall back to things from the albums "Crybaby" and "K-12," such as arcade games and saddles.
“THE CONTORTIONIST” - 10/10
This song went viral on TikTok for a transition. This has a more autotuned and hyper-pop chorus than her other works, but Martinez pulls this off incredibly well. The pre-chorus is my favorite part.
“MOON CYCLE” - 10000/10
This song went viral on TikTok for how “bad” it is. Clearly, people do not understand why Martinez made a song like this. It is a complete mockery of her ex-partner Oliver Tree. It's also a dig on men who are uncomfortable with the concept of menstruation, even down to the syllables and how she pronounces them. Martinez is poking fun at the music created by Tree. She even goes as far as to rewrite his lyrics in her favor.
Tree says, “Stacking shit, like each brick on my pyramid. I'm angry and bloody like a bitch on her period." While Martinez says in her song, “I could win a fight on my period. Matter of fact, right now, I could build a pyramid."
This song also is receiving a lot of hate due to the nature of the lyrical content. Society makes people think periods and menstruation are “gross” and “not discussion worthy." This societal standard resulted in people thinking that it is the worst song she’s ever made. However, I think this is one of the best songs she’s created due to the uncensored lyrical content and bringing to light the societal stigma surrounding periods.
“NYMPHOLOGY” - 9/10
This song absolutely slaps, melodically and instrumentally. This is a callback to her single "Firedrill." It is an awesome revenge song with a catchy and amazing transition into the next song "EVIL."
“EVIL” - 10/10
Respectfully, this song makes me want to slash the tires of every person who has done me wrong. I would also say it is the definition of gaslight, gatekeep, and girl boss. It is yet another great song, and the pre-chorus is my favorite part.
“WOMB”- 6/10
This track is a little scarier than the others. I am excited to see how that transitions in the movie. With every album, Martinez creates a movie along with it, so it will be awesome to see. I assume this will be the rebirth of Crybaby or possibly a new character! The outro is the same as the intro for "Death" (the first track), which I think is cool. It could even be a wake-up from a vision or something.
Overall, "PORTALS" is an excellent album and yet another masterpiece by Martinez. It has a great storyline that I cannot wait to see developed in the movie. You can play it on one continuous loop and it will be consistent, even with the last and first tracks running into each other. I think it’s amazing, and you should definitely give it a listen!