It’s been three years since the release of Melanie Martinez’s debut single, “Dollhouse.” She’s been around for some time, but only in the last few years has she gotten some of the spotlight on her.

Melanie Martinez, an indie pop singer, is known for her two-toned hair and eerily cute music style. She is also recognized for her songs “Dollhouse,” “Soap,” and “Carousel” (which was featured on a trailer for the FX show, American Horror story).

The now twenty-two year old singer released her debut studio album, Crybaby, in 2015. It sold fast, at over 30,000 copies in the first week, which landed her in the fifth spot on the Billboard’s top 100 for album sales.

She first started singing on her YouTube channel and participated in her school’s varsity talent show. Soon after, she auditioned on NBC’s well known singing competition, The Voice, with her cover of Britney Spears’s “Toxic.” She got the approval of three out of the four judges, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton. In the end, she chose Levine for her coach. During the battle rounds, she competed against Caitlin Michele and moved on to the knockout rounds. After the battle and knockout rounds, she was later eliminated in the fifth week by public vote. She gave the audiences a final word before leaving,

“I never expected to get this far and this is beyond what I’ve ever dreamed of. I’m just so glad I got to express who I am as an artist and really touch people’s hearts because that was the ultimate goal.”

After the Voice, Martinez began writing original music independently. She released her debut single, “Dollhouse” in 2014. “[It’s] the perfect home with the perfect lawn and they all look the same. But behind each house there’s a screwed up group of people who are hiding behind wealth and perfection,” says Martinez in an interview about “Dollhouse.” It’s a song based on a family who seems perfect but has problems of their own as well. Crybaby, her character, is the only one that seems to recognize this and sees the reality behind the pictures. “Dollhouse” was trying to convey the message that someone can look like the most perfect person ever, but behind closed doors, they have flaws, and when people see that, they don’t like it.

Her most recent album tells the story through the eyes of a little girl named Crybaby. The album has a darker tone than most other songs. Martinez explains in an interview that Crybaby was based on herself, her insecurities, and feelings fused together. She says that many of the situations Crybaby went through happened to her, except the part when Crybaby gets kidnapped in “Tag, You’re It” and when she kills her kidnapper in “Milk and Cookies.”

According to a survey done, “Tag, You’re It” and “Training Wheels” are the two most popular songs from this new album. “Training Wheels” is metaphor for time. Crybaby wanted to get in a more serious relationship with her boyfriend, but he didn’t want to commit because he’s afraid to get hurt again. She lets him take baby steps using “training wheels” to help him. In the end, she gets frustrated and really annoyed, and “explodes.”  “Tag, you’re It” expresses a darker undertone, and it touches on some dark themes going on in today’s world. Martinez sheds some light upon a few sensitive subjects that can be interpreted by the listener.  She tried to get away from the “Big Bad Wolf.” The line “Tag, you’re it,” is the metaphor for when he “catches her” and takes her away, which is presented in the lyrics,

“Running through the parking lot/He chased me and he wouldn’t stop/Tag, you’re it, tag, tag, you’re it.”

The wolf is also a metaphor for other things, such as how we all have to fight inner demons, and potentially, kidnapping, stalking, and traffickers. She interprets all of this through the eyes of a child, as a more innocent matter–as a simple, but sick, game of tag.

Eighth grade student Gloria Price, a fan of Martinez, explains what makes her stand out, “Her style is so different, it’s so eccentric, but not [in a] bad [way].” She says she found out about Melanie when her friends started listening to her music. Then she started to as well.

Another Melanie Martinez lover is eighth-grade student Camila Sardo-Longo. She says her favorite song by Martinez is “Tag You’re It”. She says what she likes most about her is her style of music, saying it’s unique and that it consistently tells a story.

Overall, Martinez is adored by fans around the world and at Mayfield. Her name getting bigger and bigger by the day.