You may have heard of Melanie Martinez, an alternative/pop artist known for her strange, colorful visuals, and childlike appearance.  Martinez gained fame through her first album “Crybaby”, released in 2015, focused on the character Crybaby’s sad home life and her experiences with bullies at school.

Martinez released her second album “K-12” on September 6 of this year via Atlantic Records, along with a 96-minute movie for visuals. The album focuses once again on the character Crybaby, this time with a friend “Angelita” at their school, K-12 Sleepaway School. This album focuses specifically on relevant issues in society right now, including sexual assault and the position of women in society. K-12 also focuses a bit more deeply on the school aspect, such as bullying, drama, fake friends, real friends, and new experiences.

Still from Martinez’s “K-12” movie

Each song on the album has a storyline to go along with it. “Wheels on the Bus” represents children having to raise themselves; “Class Fight” tells about Crybaby fighting her crush’s girlfriend; “Nurse’s Office” finds Crybaby being bullied and escaping class by faking a seizure; “Lunchbox Friends” shares her fighting with the concept of having fake friends; “Teacher’s Pet” is the story of Crybaby’s friend Angelita having illegal relations with a teacher and how harmful and toxic it is to both parties; “Orange Juice” tackles body image issues that girls have from a young age because of society promoting specific images of what girls are supposed to look like. Other songs on the album include “The Principal”, “Show & Tell”, “Drama Club”, “Strawberry Shortcake”, “Detention”, “High School Sweethearts”, and “Recess”.

Martinez will be releasing the dates for her K-12 tour soon, with $1 of each ticket sold being given to charity (in the U.S. specifically, the proceeds are going to the Trevor Project). As an avid listener of Martinez, I think that “K-12” surpasses “Crybaby” by way of lyrics, vocals, and visuals. I highly recommend her music to anyone who’s music taste is airy, but a little rough around the edges.