Melanie Martinez's creative drive and talents have always distinguished her from other musicians. After releasing her platinum-certified 2015 debut album, Cry Baby—which reached No. 1 on Billboard's alternative albums chart and has amassed over two billion streams worldwide —she conceived and directed a video for each song on the album. These mini-movies traced the traumas and insecurities experienced by the album's character, Cry Baby.
 
Melanie’s sophomore album and film, K-12, is another ambitious triumph. K-12's music is a vibrant and singular melting pot of low-key hip-hop, soulful pop and indie-leaning electro. K-12's universe is an expansion of the one introduced in Cry Baby. Using lyrics rich with metaphor, songs address the struggle to find a place to belong—including within friendships, the physical world and romantically—even when fitting into society feels like an uphill battle.
 
To accompany the album, Martinez wrote and directed a 90-minute movie (also called K-12) that incorporates the album's music and mirrors the themes and characters introduced. Filmed on location in Budapest, Hungary, the movie focuses on Cry Baby (portrayed by Martinez) and a class of students who find themselves trapped in a horror house-like residential school. As they experience the usual grade school rites of passage—a lunch room food fight, the embarrassment of gym class, a romance with nefarious intentions, courses taught by checked-out teachers— they have to figure out a way to escape.

In The Lonely Hour (10th Anniversary Edition) out now 🤍
https://samsmith.world/itlh10

☆ PRINCESS OF POWER (DELUXE) ☆ OUT NOW
https://marina.lnk.to/POPDeluxe

MARINA returns transformed on PRINCESS OF POWER — a euphoric, high-energy exploration of healing, empowerment, and self-reclamation. Written during a period of deep personal reflection, the album marks a turning point for the platinum-selling artist. Where 2021’s Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land looked outward at a fractured world, PRINCESS OF POWER turns inward, embracing vulnerability as strength, turning pain into power and the radical optimism of love.

Now releasing independently through her own label, Queenie Records, in partnership with BMG, MARINA sheds old expectations and fully steps into her own. The album pulses with disco-lit electro pop and lyrical declarations of freedom, feminine energy, and love. Tracks like “BUTTERFLY,” “CUPID’S GIRL,” and “CUNTISSIMO” reflect a woman reborn and thriving on her own terms.


MARINA burst on to the scene in 2009, and has since released five acclaimed albums including Electra Heart (2012), which debuted at Number 1 on the UK’s Official Charts, FROOT (2015), Love + Fear (2019), which debuted Top 5 in the UK and Top 10 on the U.S. Albums chart, and most recently Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land (2021), which featured the Ivor Novello nominated hit “Man's World.”

With PRINCESS OF POWER, MARINA isn’t just making music - she’s building a future rooted in authenticity, creativity, and courage. It’s MARINA as you’ve never seen her, yet never more herself. The deluxe version of the album is out now and features four new songs, including “EVERYBODY KNOWS I’M SAD - REMIX” with Absolutely.

kendall grund:) is following