What Happened to Melanie Martinez? (Comeback from the DEAD!)

In 2012, Melanie shocked the world with her incredible voice and gained widespread acceptance. Born on April 28, 1995, Melanie Adele Martinez is an American singer and songwriter. She was born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, New York. 

Melanie Martinez rose to fame in 2012 after her remarkable appearances and performances on season 3 of the famous American television talent show The Voice. 

As a result of her remarkable performances on the show, she was signed to Atlantic Records. She consequently released her debut single “Dollhouse,” which was followed by her debut EP of the same name in the year 2014. 

To show how unique and amazing Melanie was, although she was eliminated from the show after the fifth week, she wasn’t deterred in any way as she had somehow made her mark on the hearts of her fans the world over. 

After the release of “Dollhouse,” Melanie released her 2015 album “Cry Baby.” The album debuted at no. 6 on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart. 

On March 31, 2023, Melanie released another album titled “Portals.” This new album came with Melanie debuting a new, otherworldly look — a look that is reminiscent of a creature. 

Although Melanie is known by her fans for always deviating from the norm, the new look and the new Melanie does seem a bit obscure even for an artist who is known for constantly leaning towards the strange and obscure. 

This, however, has gotten fans and admirers to wonder: What happened to Melanie Martinez? However, closely studying Melanie, it is only obvious that she is going through some artistic and personal evolutions and changes as a person and a musician. 

For lack of a better word, we can say that Melanie Martinez is just going through a rebirth. However, this article will go deeper and analyze while answering the question, “What happened to Melanie Martinez?” 

Who Really is Melanie Martinez?

Melanie Martinez recently reappeared on the music scene with the release of her latest album titled “Portals.” The album art along with the nature of the songs has sparked some debate and a huge deal of interest in the artist herself and the nature of her latest music developments. 

At the young age of 28 (as of 2023) Martinez has already had a significant music career spanning 11 years. 

Over the course of just over a decade in the music industry, she has masterminded 3 main albums, a couple of EPs, several covers, several singles, and even a few films. 

Also, Martinez has been featured in a couple of Hollywood films over the years. Martinez also released a small movie/visual album titled “K-12” which is meant to go hand in hand with the audio album of the same name. 

She was the writer, director, and lead actor in the K-12 visual film that was shown in select theatres across North America for a single day on September 5th 2019. 

Overall, it can be said, without a doubt, that Martinez is a very versatile artist with capabilities far beyond just the recording studio. 

However, fans are intrigued to know more about who Melanie Martinez really is as a person as that plays a significant role in the way she makes music and the kind of music she makes. 

About her early life, Martinez says that she grew up in a classic “traditional Latin household” as her parents were of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent. Later in life, Martinez came out with her orientation and claimed to be bisexual.

She also had some instances, had public affairs with the same gender. However, she mentions that growing up her family would not tolerate her opening up about her sexuality and they would not have been accepting of it either. 

Today, however, they are accepting of it and understand her for the person she is. This had an impact on her in terms of not being able to fully express herself and having to live in a way that pleased/was acceptable to her parents/family. 

This can be seen in her music as well where she goes to great lengths to discuss sensitive topics such as sexuality, anxiety, depression, freedom and other topics that are quite personal to her and also resonate with people who are going through similar situations in life. 

Singles	Albums	Awards	Nominations	Years
Doll House	Non-album Single			2014
	Doll House (EP)			2014
	Cry Baby		Album of the Year 2016 + Alternative or Indie Album of the Year 2015	2015
	Pity Party (EP)			2016
	Cry Baby’s Extra Clutter (EP)			2016
	K-12	Favorite Pop Album 2019		2019
	K-12 (visual album)			2019
	After School (EP)			2020
	Portals			2023
Soap	Cry Baby	Alternative of Indie Recording of The Year (2015)		2015
Mrs Potato Head (video)			Best Film or Music Video 2017	2017
Cry baby (video			Breakthrough Long Form Video 2017	2017
		Artist of the Year, Female – Alternative or Indie 2017		2017
Piggyback (song)	Non-album Single			2017
Copycat (song)	Non-album Single			2020
			Most Dedicated Fanbase (2017)	2017
			Top Soundtrack (K-12)(2020)	2020
			Challenge of the Year (2020)	2020
		Best International Song (Play Date)(2020)		2020
		Best Artist of 2014 (2021		2021

What Happened to Melanie Martinez?

Ever since she first appeared (professionally) on the music scene, Melanie Martinez has had an avid cult-like following. Those that love her, will simply not be swayed by any kind of opinion or even news about their favourite singer. 

However, the recent turn of events (the release of her latest album “Portals”) has sparked a new interest in Martinez and gained the attention of both the broader audience and the general population. 

The album Portals is illustrated with album art that shows Melanie in the form of an alien/creature/mythical being and she is hatching out of an egg. Similarly, the album is filled with songs that suggest a rebirth and a change of path for the artist.

The album features tracks such as Moon Cycle, Tunnel Vision, Womb and Death. This is extremely interesting given her track record of ups and downs as well as her tendency to be in and out of the spotlight. 

With this new album, Melanie goes to great lengths to tell her listeners about her change, her evolution, how she has overcome her past hurdles and how she is looking forward to a brighter future. In this regard, the song “Death” is the best example. 

In the music video for “Death” she is portrayed as an alien-like fairy with wings and four eyes. The four eyes could be indicative of her looking towards a brighter future, or not being able to believe the condition of her previous state that she has grown out of. 

Her body, which is shown as Melanie herself, is being buried and from the grave rises the four-eyed alien version of herself. As she flies up her flight is stopped because she is connected to the old body through a chord which resembles an umbilical cord. 

Of course, she breaks free and continues to fly upwards and eventually makes it out of the grave. At the end of the song, the fairy version of Melanie is standing on top of the old/original Melanie who lays there dead with swords stuck in her abdomen. 

Throughout the lyrics, she is constantly mentioning how she is “back from the dead” and also talks about how she has distanced herself from the past, her past forms and the burdens of the past. 

Many artists go through phases of growth, evolution and change and this is reflected in their music and their personal life alike. 

Those who are more public about their personal life have to face more criticism/praise about it and it certainly does help to make them more interesting for their fans and the general public. 

However, in the case of Martinez, perhaps, her disappearing at random times, and then returning with songs that are somewhat similar to her traditional style but also different enough to make them stand out is what has made the case even more interesting for people. 

Melanie also faced some sexual assault charges a few years ago, after which she disappeared for a while. However, nothing major became of those charges. 

In the modern cancel culture, it is unheard of for someone to be accused of sexual assault and still continue to grow as an artist or brand, especially in the entertainment industry. This is another thing that has spiked some curiosity about Melanie Martinez recently. 

Also, Martinez talks about sensitive subjects such as drug addiction, abuse, family dysfunction, and many other social problems in her songs which resonate with a broader audience. 

While Martinez doesn’t blatantly admit to having faced these problems in her childhood, there is no doubt that even just the mention of these problems grabs the attention of listeners. 

In a way, it also gets her sympathetic attention. In the modern world where personal problems such as these can very easily be made public, they are something that people are more sensitive to. 

What happened with Melanie Martinez and Timothy Heller? – The Resultant Effect

Melanie’s career has been filled with periods where she is either extremely prominent or she has completely vanished. And this leads to the other thing that has people wondering what is going on; her sexual assault allegations from 2017. 

Back in 2017, Melanies’ long-time friend and fellow aspiring music artist Timothy Heller went online and accused Martinez of sexual assault through a Tweet. 

In response, Martinez put out a Tweet denying the allegations, soon after releasing a song about the situation, and then suddenly disappeared from the internet and formal media.

Comments on her YouTube channel and IG account had been disabled and there was no news on the sexual assault case or Melanie Martinez for quite a while. 

More importantly, the sexual assault case was never tried in court. Till today, it is just a series of allegations and there is very little fact-based information available about the situation. 

The case is also difficult for the general public to decipher as Melanie and Timothy were good friends and this was a known fact. Moreover, they were both in the same profession and were both coming up in the entertainment industry back in 2015-2017. 

Therefore, if one accuses the other, it seems like it might be an attempt to defame the other person or to somehow improve the claimant’s own position. 

Timothy herself, in her Tweet from 2017, said she was on the fence about letting the cat out of the bag because she feared people wouldn’t believe her and would side with Melanie against her. 

To some extent, this is what happened but it was also a wake-up call for the audience and especially those that were under the influence that Melanie could do no wrong. 

Of course, people who choose not to believe still don’t but it certainly makes an impact on anyone who hears the news. 

What is Melanie Martinez Currently Doing?

On March 31 2023, Martinez officially released the “Portals” album. Considering her track record, she may be working on other media projects related to the Portals album.

She may also be gearing up to go on tour or possibly resume her tour that came to an abrupt stop due to covid or she may be working on a different artistic adventure completely. Maybe she is just kicking back and relaxing and she has gone off-grid until her next album comes out. 

However, considering how she has talked about her rebirth in Portals, it is likely that she may have more things up her sleeve that we are yet to see. 

Melanie Martinez has never been very vocal about what she is doing in either her personal or public life and fans have been left guessing. 

Sometimes it’s been a great surprise, other times not so much, but in either case, you can be sure that you are going to get something different and exciting. 

Conclusion

The case of Melanie Martinez, her professional life as an artist and a public personality due to her fan following, is particularly interesting to study given the circumstances of the internet and society at large. 

It is very uncommon for someone to have a near-miss with being cancelled and then go on to experience more growth as an artist/brand. 

It will be interesting to see how her foes also react to the release of her new album and how Martinez will move forward from here considering she has been away from the limelight for the past 3 years.