Melanie Martinez
I liked singing and just took a chance with it.Collection: Chance
Everyone is allowed to be vulnerable. I think women and men and dogs and cats and ants and aliens can all express themselves and be vulnerable.Collection: Women
Please understand that I make music to express myself, and if you know anything about me, you know that I'm nothing but honest.Collection: Music
I look at music like an art form, so it's almost like painting for me, you know?Collection: Art
My music is like a baby pink frosted cake with sprinkles, but when you cut into it, there's a gooey, dark chocolate center.Collection: Music
I definitely think it's cool being Puerto Rican and Dominican, but I feel it has no influence on my music.Collection: Cool
I wanted people to understand that I have my own music, and I didn't want to sing other people's songs at shows.Collection: Music
I had a lot of Barbies growing up, and a lot of porcelain dolls, but I was scared of them. I was so scared of them, I would try to turn their head away and would make my mom take them out of my room.Collection: Mom
I believe everyone should be equal, and we should all love and support each other and express ourselves the way we want to express ourselves and be whoever we want. That's my motto.Collection: Love
My whole mission in general, ever since I was fourteen, was to write music that would help people heal.Collection: Music
I got a lot of very bad hate on social media from some people from my school. I think people thought I changed because they saw me on TV. They weren't close enough to know that I was still the same human being... When I walked at graduation, I got booed. It was kind of stupid.Collection: Graduation
When I was 16, I was watching '101 Dalmatians,' and my mom never let me bleach my hair, so I told her I was going to dye my hair like Cruella De Vil; she didn't believe me. I came home with my hair like this, and she didn't talk to me for, like, a week. It was really hilarious.Collection: Home
I used music as therapy and embraced being a cry baby.Collection: Music
My parents were super strict, so I didn't have a lot of freedom to hang out at parties or anything like that. I didn't get invited, and I didn't have many friends.Collection: Freedom
Part of the problem with America is that letting go of emotions is viewed as a weakness, but it's my strength. That enabled me to write my songs.Collection: Strength
I really loved taking photos when I was younger. I think my love for photography sparked my love for creating the visuals to support my music.
The behind-the-scenes kind of process at TV, especially live television - that was super scary, but I think it's made me more comfortable now. If I ever have to go on live TV, I at least remember what it was like when I was 16.
My two favorite parts of what I do are definitely writing the music and then writing and directing the videos to support each song. As well as doing my own makeup and styling for the videos.
I wanted to play my original music, but it was really hard because a lot of the people who would come out to the shows found out about me through 'The Voice' and wanted to hear covers.
I had been writing songs for awhile - since I was 14 - and playing guitar, but I never really knew how to go about making an actual career.
I've always written the storyboards for the music videos, and it's been hard working with directors trying to get them to understand what I'm thinking.
Eventually, I started writing down a bunch of titles that related to childhood themes and would pair it with an adult situation that either I was going through or someone else in my life was going through.
I always try, when I'm singing songs, to interpret them the way that I would've arranged them. I think about the melody first, and then I pull out my guitar and start singing it.
With 'Pity Party,' it's the first time seeing my vision come to life in front of my face. I'm super happy about it.
I'm really stubborn, and I'm okay with that.
I was always called a cry baby, and I was one. I cried a lot as a child. In fact, I still cry a few times a day. I'm still a cry baby.
Remember that I am a human.
I really like milk. I'm a dairy queen.
I want to encourage people to be themselves and express themselves however they want.
I always cling to things that remind me of being a kid again.
I stay away from the title of 'role model.' I want to be a more realistic role model - not a perfect Barbie role model.
Growing up, I always took things too personal and was very emotional, and I got made fun of for it.
I'm just happy I got to express who I am as an artist and touch people's hearts.
'Cry Baby' is like this fairytale version of me. A lot of it is based on real events, and some of it is made up to make it more whimsical.
I would love to collab with The Weeknd, for sure.
I love Sia and how she hides her face. If I could pull off doing that, I totally would.
I like scaring myself.
I'm a perfectionist, and even if something comes out great, it's still not perfect, you know?
The real me is this deep, kind of somber person. I can't really help that.
I want to put out as many albums as I can before I die.
I'm not necessarily a happy singer. That's not who I am as an artist.
I've always been a fan of telling honest stories.
I think that any female who gets asked if she's a feminist... it's silly... it's so interesting when people ask females if they're a feminist. Of course every female wants to be equal!
I have a song called 'Training Wheels,' and it's about being in love with someone and taking it to the next level by taking off the training wheels.
I always have felt that I was six years old.
The way that I dress is the way I've always dressed. The way I've eaten is how I've always eaten. I dress like a 5-year-old, and I eat like a 5-year-old.
When I started, I was very unsure of who I was. There were a lot of things in the songs that I didn't realize I was saying. But more and more, it fell into place... I got more comfortable in my skin.
I wrote about scenarios that I was going through and then disguised them.
I only wear vintage clothing. I'm pretty obsessed with things in the '60s, like fashion and music, too.
To me, I absolutely cannot stand Twitter. I hate it more than anything.