Melanie Martinez

Melanie Adele Martinez (born April 28, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director.

Melanie Adele Martinez was born on April 28, 1995 in Astoria, Queens, to parents Mery and Jose Martinez, who are of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent.

Her family moved to Baldwin, New York, on Long Island, when Martinez was four.

Martinez attended Plaza Elementary School, crediting her teacher Mr. Nadien with teaching her how to sing, and in kindergarten, Martinez began writing poetry.

Martinez says she had few friends growing up and was a homebody, as she was "very emotional" and found it difficult to explain her feelings, crying when overwhelmed.

She practiced photography and painting.

Due to her emotionality as a child, she says that others referred to her as a "cry baby", which sparked the creation of the titular character of her debut album, Cry Baby.

Martinez grew up in a "traditional Latin household" where she was made to feel shameful about talking about her sexuality and felt as if she would not be accepted if she came out as bisexual.

She says that her family is now fully accepting of her sexuality.

At fourteen, Martinez taught herself how to play guitar by studying chord diagrams of songs she enjoyed, which she found online, and wrote her first song by adding her poetry to one of the chord diagrams, but says that playing guitar "eventually got stale".

Martinez graduated from Baldwin High School.

Born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, New York, Martinez rose to fame in 2012 after appearing on season 3 of the American television talent show The Voice.

In 2012, during her junior year of high school, Martinez participated in the MSG Varsity Talent Show, a televised talent competition.

She sang the Beatles' rendition of "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong and "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" by the Four Tops.

She was eliminated in the second round.

Martinez then auditioned for the third season of The Voice.

She had not watched the show herself prior to the audition.

The initial, untelevised audition was an open call, held at Javits Center.

She recalls that while she and her mother were driving to the audition, her mother's car broke down before they reached the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, and the two were forced to "hitchhike" a taxicab in order to get there.

Several months after the initial audition, while at Roosevelt Field Mall, Martinez received word that she had advanced to the "second round".

She then received multiple callbacks until she was finally selected to audition on the show itself.

Martinez auditioned singing Britney Spears's "Toxic" with three of the four judges (Adam Levine, CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton) hitting their "I Want You" button.

Martinez ultimately chose Adam Levine to be her coach.

In the Battle Round, Martinez competed against Caitlin Michele.

They performed a duet of the Ellie Goulding song "Lights".

Martinez won and moved on to the Knockout Round.

Michele was stolen by Cee Lo Green and also moved on.

In the Knockout Round, Martinez was paired with Sam James.

She chose to sing La Roux's "Bulletproof".

Levine eliminated James, and Martinez moved on to the Live Rounds as one of the five remaining members of Team Adam.

In week one of the Live Rounds, Martinez sang "Hit the Road Jack".

Public vote saved Team Adam members Amanda Brown and Bryan Keith.

Levine then chose Martinez over Loren Allred and Joselyn Rivera to remain in the competition.

In week three, Martinez's performance of "Seven Nation Army" finished the voting period at #10 on the iTunes Top 200 Single Chart, causing her iTunes votes to be multiplied by ten.

This occurred again in week four, when "Too Close" ended the voting period at #6.

Martinez was eliminated by audience vote in week five, along with the fellow Team Adam member Amanda Brown, leaving Levine with no artists.

Following the show, she was signed to Atlantic Records and released her debut single "Dollhouse", followed by her debut extended play of the same name (2014).

Martinez later released her debut studio album, Cry Baby (2015), which went on to be certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The album amassed numerous commercially successful singles including "Pity Party", "Soap" and "Mrs. Potato Head".

Martinez released two follow-up albums: K–12 (2019) and Portals (2023).