they are all beautiful, but "light shower" is so touching and unique, i'm in love with it and even more just that melanie wrote and produced it herself 🥺
i know im late but i just wanted to say you were 100% correct, battle of the larynx was incredible live💜 went to the tour last year and it was surreal, I've been a fan since dollhouse released almost 10 years ago. nymphology was another standout, the live performance was just so so good❤️🔥
Light shower and botl made me cry at 12 am in the morning g when it got released. and tunnel vision, death, moon cycle, nymphology transitioning to evil and womb ateeee. Glad u enjoyed this album, ur reactions are always amazing 💕💐
This is what melanie said about each songs DEATH I usually have titles picked out early on in the conceptual phase of an album before even writing anything. This one was a must, and just wasn't getting it right anytime I tried writing it with other people. One day, I sat in the portal room alone and started singing melodies. I heard a spirit with a completely different tone than mine repeat a melody had sung out loud in the silence and it sent a chill down my body. I was really scared at first, then continued on, using that moment as confirmation from the other side. I laid down the chords after hours of searching through Omnisphere for an instrument that would reverberate through my soul. I added a simple drum loop in the chorus (that was later replaced by production from my favorite collaborator CJ Baran, as well as live drums from Ilan Rubin of Nine Inch Nails - who also put drums down for a couple of other songs.) When was done writing the song, that same day I played it for my best friend of 22 years who is like my sister. She had just experienced multiple losses in her family. While she was listening on headphones, tears rolled through. The song ended, she looked at me and said "that's the one." VOID This is the first song fully produced on my own, also in the portal room. The first thing I put down was that bass guitar top line. It was an exact melody from a voice memo I had recorded a few days prior. The chorus melody and lyric came all at once just from looping the bass line. I put down a simple programmed drum loop that was later replaced/mixed in with live drums by Rhys Hastings. I remember screaming that chorus while crying, it felt like a weight needed to get off of me. The weight of my anxiety, the weight of my brain, and it perfectly fit the second stage. A void. A dark place where you are left alone with your own thoughts for introspection, in order to find the light within yourself. TUNNEL VISION Wrote this song while in Hawaii in February 2021 with Kinetics & One Love. We were surrounded by coqui frogs singing to us, the sound of rain hitting the roof, and pure connection. I wanted to make a song to describe the stage of moving through a tunnel of familiar hymns and imagery. to ease the transition into the other side while also writing something with multiple meaning that people can relate to in a more earthly way. This song was leaked through a drop box hack the same year, and it took everything within me to not trash it. I couldn't rewrite a better tunnel song so it stayed. FAERIE SOIRÉE There were many days sat in the portal room wanting to create outside of my own perspective. I asked Jeff Levin (my A&R) to send me as many folders as possible of instrumental tracks created by different producers. After searching through the folders for a while, there was one track labeled "Respect Vol 1" by this producer named Hoskins that struck me. It was an infectious drum groove over a guitar top line. I wrote the song very quickly. I kept dancing to it, being overtaken by fairy energy. It felt like the stage of homecoming. Connecting with my soul family. A spirited soirée between me and my Fae guides. LIGHT SHOWER There is a place in the afterlife people under hypnosis describe as a soul cleansing or a shower of light. A place where gem-colored rays of light shine through every inch of your soul, cleansing your spirit of the trauma it had experienced during your last lifetime. Restoring you to your original vibration. I remember reading about this sitting on the roof of my garage, imagining what it would feel like while the warmth of the sun was hitting me. A few weeks later sat in my bathtub with my guitar and stayed up all night writing a love song about this light, in order to create layered meaning. This was also the very first song I ever wrote for this album. SPIDERWEB If I were to ever teach a conceptual/thematic songwriting class, this song would be a great reference point. The interconnectedness of us all that everyone under hypnosis feels, including myself when went under, is what I wanted to write about. wanted to spice it up a bit, so I found an opportunity to add double meaning for earthly resonance. So "SPIDERWEB" is also written about social media's chokehold on society. "Feeding off our highs and lows and curious to see us struggle, no one can leave once they merge." I wrote this one on my guitar in the portal room, recorded a voice memo of it and sent it to CJ. He created an incredible instrumental track for it that same day and even created the perfect drop using his own mouth sounds that gave it that extra spidery feel. LEECHES People describe a lot of the after-life to be like a school of sorts, projecting into past lifetimes with people they keep incarnating with, to put themselves in each other's shoes. Showing how they could've best dealt with conflict on earth for next time. These next few songs are about conflict on earth. I'd like to think we all plan these moments together prior to coming here, triggering each other to evolve. Living in the most vapid and isolating city of Los Angeles, I decided to write "LEECHES" about people who live here for the wrong reasons, and how they act around people in the spotlight. I wrote this over a track from that large folder originally, added some extra production stuff, then brought it to CJ who then brought in live string instrumentation for it to tug on the emotional heart strings. BATTLE OF THE LARYNX This was the last song that was written and added to the album. May of last year I went back to Hawaii to the same house I wrote "TUNNEL VISION" in. CJ came through for the last hurrah of writing sessions before we declared the album finished. pulled out my guitar and wrote the song very quickly outside. Then CJ added layers of magic to the production as he always does. Rhys recorded live drums for this song later on. He added the urgency and momentum to this song that the subject matter really was needing. I wrote this one to be about two different conflict styles - one person who yells a bunch of nothing really loudly to try and intimidate and the other who can calmly & concisely use their words & wit to prove their point. THE CONTORTIONIST I will never forget the feeling, and the intense smiles that me and CJ shared while creating this song. A true collaborative moment where we both felt the ping of our little antennas, like a loud phone call firing off. A lot of our process involved making tracks, then picking our favorites, then going into the booth and free styling Melodies, piecing together the best moments and then I would pace around the pool writing lyrics to fit the cadence of the free-styled melodies. The unhinged laughs in the chorus are the exact takes from my freestyle. This conflict song is about bending over backwards for someone who doesn't accept you as you are. MOON CYCLE I wrote this song in the portal room alone over one of the instrumental tracks in that folder that was sent to me. It was a guitar loop by Pearl Lion. On each of my albums I like to include at least one "taboo" song about something many people deal with but no one talks about in music. I wanted to write a fun, lighthearted, song about being a person who experiences menstruation. How blood represents vitality and life. I wanted the chorus to be pretty and to use analogies for bleeding that were sweet. "Juice melting like raspberry, pomegranate it's so scary, how my aura got him howling at my moon cycle baby." The rumbling sounds that lead into the song are my actual period cramps I recorded on my phone. With the conflict of patriarchal society brainwashing straight cis men to believe they should have any kind of say over other people's bodies, and also the general kind of ick that they get from the discussion of menstruation, I wanted to make the song extra uncomfy for them by going on to describe a man who lives for period sex! NYMPHOLOGY Wrote this song with CJ and Nick long. It was a really fun session. We made a bunch of different vibes and this one stuck out to us the most. wanted it to be bratty and a commentary piece on the box a lot of men put femme presenting people in when they call us names like "manic pixie dream girl." Being forced to play the role of mom & healer, while they gaslight you & call you crazy the minute you communicate how you feel. & The ending interlude of this song is actually called "Amulet." My partner Verde was cleaning out his computer and an instrumental randomly started playing & my ears perked up. It was a track he had produced years ago that was just sitting there collecting digital dust. I immediately wrote over it, but writing a full song for it was difficult. I loved it so much and had no idea what to do with it. One day in the studio I randomly was like hmm maybe "Amulet" can be an interlude after a song, and as fate had it the very the last note of "NYMPHOLOGY" is the very first note of "Amulet." A perfect puzzle piece. EVIL My favorite of the conflict songs! CJ laid down guitar and looped it, I paced around the pool and wrote the lyric and melody in around 30 minutes. Flowed really easily and effortlessly. I think it's because I just had a mental turning point where was finally able to articulate perfectly what I had dealt with in my last relationship. I wanted the lyrics to be the most savage and the most cunty. Every time I wrote something was like no it's not mean enough. It's about dealing with a narcissist who ironically calls you evil just because you're able to see through their bullshit. I spent the entire day blowing out my vocals recording it. It was definitely the most challenging song to sing
WOMB I knew I wanted the album to end on the title "WOMB." This was one of the earliest songs written in 2020. Had a session one day with Omer Fedi as part of a week of sessions had with different people. Omer started playing these guitar chords that were so beautiful, I asked him to play it on loop while I stared at the corner of the room quickly writing lyrics. CJ and had Rhys come in and record live drums around 2 years later to complete it. This song was written from the perspective of entering a new lifetime. The feeling of nerves and excitement that arise when you're about to forget everything you know about your true self as a soul in order to let your human experience on earth move your progression forward.
Portals Album (Title and the meaning behind the songs based on my own interpretation after i read the lyrics) 1. Death - All about process of dying and transition to afterlife where they are able to return to living world and interact with those they left behind 2. Void - Inner struggles, mental health and self reflection/judgement. The person is trying to escape the "Void" which is her thoughts and emotions that affects her mental health. 3. Tunnel Vision - About someone who is not interested in being objectified or pursued solely for their physical appearance or sexual appeal. The lyrics suggest that the person is aware of the superficiality of such attention and rejects it, choosing instead to focus on their own value and worth beyond physical appearance. 4. Faerie Soiree - I'm not sure about this one but I think it's about escaping reality and searching for sense of belonging. Losing sense of self through mixed emotions (magic). It also talks about gender fluidity where the person finally finds themselves where they belong i think? 5. Light shower - finding someone who brings light and positivity into the the life of a person and helps them overcome their past struggles. Being cleansed and refreshed by this person's love and how it can heal emotional wounds. 6. Spider Web - It's about addiction or obsession to something (technology, social media or etc.) That leads a person's life to a lifeless existence. Being stuck in a cycle, surrounded by things that distract them from reality.
7. Leeches - about someone being surrounded by people who drain them emotionally and psychologically, like leeches. The person feels used and manipulated by those individuals, who are only interested in their own benefit and don't care about the damage they caused. Also talk about powerlessness because the person is unavle to escape or resist the "leeches" 8. Battle of the larynx - About standing up for oneself and not engaging in meaningless arguments or battles with others who are trying to provoke them and prove their point. The person chooses to remain silent but if you cross the line, it's over, it's done. 9. The contortionist - Toxic relationship in which the person feels trapped and manipulated. Being tied up in knots emotionally and being pushed to their limits. The person is on their breaking point "I'M DONE!" and is ready to end the relationship. 10. Moon Cycle - About how women experienced and feel menstruation on the day to day basis and how it can affect their emotions. Being resilient despite the pain and discomfort, and criticism of others who underestimate or dismiss the impact of menstruation. Basically about strong "WOMANHOOD" 11. Nymphology - About rejecting the trope of being a "manic pixie dream girl" and instead embracing one's own identity as powerful and independent woman. The person rejects the idea of being a passive object of desire for men and call out the selfishness and ignorance of those who try to claim expertise in "nymphology" ( a made up term meant to mock the idea of reducing women to mythical creatures or an object of desire). It also references the idea of being too valuable and rare for others to afford or fully understand. 12. Evil - About the person finally deciding to end the relationship and moving on. The person is no longer willing to tolerate mistreatment or lies from the person they referring to. The person see themselves as "Evil" because they have finally stood up for themselves and they are being seen as "EVIL" by the person they left because they understand the person's redflag and bullshits 13. Womb - Being born again and revival after the "afterlife" (the emotional circus of life). Also describes the mother's suffering during process of birthing a child. The last part which is "life is death is life" depicts a cycle of life because it transitions to the first track "Death" which started with "Death is life is Death"
Great reaction. Love hearing your take/opinions on music. Your videos are so entertaining, never stop being you. I hope your channel becomes bigger than it already is now, you deserve all the views & subscribers ❤️
Light shower is about getting your soul cleanse of the pain of the human experience. She eating the light and it’s purifying her from the inside out. But as she eats the light, the light is eating her too. “The tips of your teeth fit perfect in me” references how she wants to be consumed and engulfed in the light that cleanses her. It’s almost a yin and Yang, as she’s being cleaned, is it her consuming purity, or is purity consuming her. Either way, it feels holy and it’s a feeling that goes beyond love. It’s a divine.
This is the apple music exclusive interview thingy On Melanie Martinez’s third LP, her Cry Baby trilogy comes to an end. If 2015’s Cry Baby debut introduced the titular character (and reintroduced Martinez as a fearlessly creative avant-pop creator outside of her covers on The Voice) and 2019’s K-12 “used school as an analogy for life and the systems of power our society continues to live under,” as she tells Apple Music, PORTALS is about death and what lies beyond. “I wanted to challenge my listeners’ perspective by essentially saying: Just like us, after Cry Baby’s vessel on earth has died, she lives on as a spirit in the cosmos. It was important for me to show the immortality of being a human with this record-to give people hope that there’s life after death.” Across 13 tracks largely written in her home’s “portal room”-a space she describes as “an entry point for benevolent spirits to come and rest on their journey”-PORTALS is a synthy vaudeville, from the sped-up heartbeat production and spoken-word intro “DEATH” to the uptempo alt-pop of closer “WOMB.” The lines between life and the afterlife are blurred. “I hope grief becomes easier for people while listening to this record,” she adds. “That they can enjoy this life to the fullest knowing we’re all just here to grow, create, feel, and have shared experiences with one another to help each other evolve.” Below, Martinez walks through her new album in a track-by-track guide she wrote exclusively for Apple Music. “DEATH” “One day, I sat in the portal room alone and started singing melodies. I heard a spirit with a completely different tone than mine repeat a melody I had sung out loud in the silence and it sent a chill down my body. I was really scared at first, then continued on, using that moment as confirmation from the other side. I laid down the chords; I added a simple drum loop in the chorus. That was later replaced by production from my favorite collaborator CJ Baran, as well as live drums from Ilan Rubin of Nine Inch Nails, who also put drums down for a couple of other songs.” “VOID” “This is the first song I fully produced on my own, also in the portal room. The first thing I put down was that bass guitar top line-it was an exact melody from a voice memo I had recorded a few days prior. The chorus melody and lyric came all at once just from looping the bassline. I put down a simple programmed drum loop that was later replaced and mixed in with live drums by Rhys Hastings.“ “TUNNEL VISION” “I wrote this song while in Hawaii in February 2021 with Kinetics & One Love. We were surrounded by coqui frogs singing to us, the sound of rain hitting the roof, and pure connection.” “FAERIE SOIRÉE” “There were many days I sat in the portal room wanting to create outside of my own perspective. I asked Jeff Levin (my A&R) to send me as many folders as possible of instrumental tracks created by different producers. After searching through the folders for a while, there was one track labeled ‘Respect Vol 1’ by this producer named Hoskins that struck me. It was an infectious drum groove over a guitar top line. I wrote the song very quickly.” “LIGHT SHOWER” “There is a place in the afterlife people under hypnosis describe as a soul cleansing, a place where gem-colored rays of light shine through every inch of your soul, cleansing your spirit of the trauma it had experienced during your last lifetime. I remember reading about this sitting on the roof of my garage. A few weeks later I sat in my bathtub with my guitar and stayed up all night writing a love song about this light. It was also the very first song I ever wrote for this album.” “SPIDER WEB” “‘SPIDER WEB’ is written about social media’s chokehold on society. I wrote this one on my guitar in the portal room, recorded a voice memo of it, and sent it to CJ. He created an incredible instrumental track for it that same day and even created the perfect drop using his own mouth sounds that gave it that extra spidery feel.” “LEECHES” “The next few songs are about conflict on earth. Living in the most vapid and isolating city of Los Angeles, I decided to write ‘LEECHES’ about people who live here for the wrong reasons, and how they act around people in the spotlight.” “BATTLE OF THE LARYNX” “This was the last song that was written and added to the album. I wrote this one to be about two different conflict styles: one person who yells a bunch of nothing really loudly to try and intimidate, and the other who can calmly and concisely use their words and wit to prove their point.” “THE CONTORTIONIST” “This conflict song is about bending over backwards for someone who doesn’t accept you as you are.” “MOON CYCLE” “I wrote this song in the portal room alone over a guitar loop by Pearl Lion. On each of my albums, I like to include at least one ‘taboo’ song about something many people deal with, but no one talks about in music: I wanted to write a fun, lighthearted song about being a person who experiences menstruation, how blood represents vitality and life. I wanted the chorus to be pretty and to use analogies for bleeding that were sweet. The rumbling sounds that lead into the song are my actual period cramps, recorded on my phone. With the conflict of patriarchal society brainwashing straight cis men to believe they should have any kind of say over other people’s bodies, I wanted to make the song extra uncomfy for them by going on to describe a man who lives for period sex.” “NYMPHOLOGY” “The ending interlude of this song is actually called ‘Amulet.’ My partner Verde was cleaning out his computer and an instrumental randomly started playing and my ears perked up. It was a track he had produced years ago that was just sitting there collecting digital dust. I immediately wrote over it, but writing a full song for it was difficult. I loved it so much and had no idea what to do with it. One day in the studio I randomly was like, ‘Hmm, maybe “Amulet” can be an interlude after a song,’ and as fate had it, the very last note of ‘NYMPHOLOGY’ is the very first note of ‘Amulet.’ A perfect puzzle piece.” “EVIL” “My favorite of the conflict songs. It flowed. It was a mental turning point, where I was finally able to articulate perfectly what I had dealt with in my last relationship. I wanted the lyrics to be the most savage-every time I wrote something, I was like, ‘No, it’s not mean enough.’ It’s about dealing with a narcissist who ironically calls you evil because you’re able to see through them. I spent the entire day blowing out my vocals recording it.” “WOMB” “I knew I wanted the album to end on the title ‘WOMB.’ This was one of the earliest songs, written in 2020. I had a session one day with Omer Fedi, and he started playing these guitar chords that were so beautiful, I asked him to play it on loop while I stared at the corner of the room, quickly writing lyrics. CJ and I had Rhys come in and record live drums around two years later to complete it. This song is written from the perspective of entering a new lifetime-the nerves and excitement that arises when you’re about to let your human experience on earth move your progression forward.”
Song meaning WOMB enters a new life a feeling of suspense and excitement arises. When you are about to be born wait for joy as i cry experience the seed in the WOMB, accelerate your progress give way to a beautiful memory in a new life 🤗
23:51 GIRL SAME MY SISTER AND BEST FRIEND ALWAYS CRACKS THEIR KNUCKLES AND ITS SOOO GROSSSS but the sound of bones cracking doesn’t batter me lol . ❤ loved this reaction btw
Omg you should next react to the scrapped PORTALS tracks. And also you should react to some of the demos like faerie soirees demo because many people think that its much better than the final!!
no she shouldn’t cause melanie literally said that listening to her unreleased things makes her feel unsafe in her studio and called the whole crowd out at her performance for listening to tunnel vision pre-release
@@W1LDFIRE she didn't only call them out, she also said that she appreciates the support and knows people just want new music. And also the album has been released now so listening to them isn't as bad since they won't be released
@@Nikke-fy8joyes because at the end of the day she said she has to find humour to it, BUT it’s not acceptable or tolerated to listen to leaked or unreleased songs because it’s breaking the privacy and creativity and hard work
@@Nikke-fy8jo but she later answered to a fan on ig asking her about it and she said shes not okay with people listening to ANY unreleased music no matter how old because it was never meant to be released for a reason. but she has to make humour out of it otherwise it’ll get to her. its not ok to listen to them whether you like it or not, go ahead and listen if you really want to but just know that it’s against what melanie wants and makes her feel unsafe .
WOMB, is saying the physical body we “live” in (“I feel alive the closer I get to my life”) is the womb, the outside world, opinions, experiences, etc - all of THAT is the ‘DNA’ and such that creates and dictates how the fetus is gonna be born, (“memories gone to evolve”) so when our wombs die aka the placenta, the soul/spirit which is the fetus/baby, is born and created by the experiences we go through in THIS current life. Death is life is death is life. WOMB’s outro connects back to DEATH cause it’s telling the story of this creature this new person being born from Crybaby’s heart, via umbilical cord. The lines - “Cut the cord I’m coming” and “I know what’s comin” shows that her soul is ready to be born into the next life, and she knows based off this life’s experiences, how to be strong now.
Ik the song u where thinking of when u said that tunnel vision sounded like another song u where thinking of crybaby its basically the same near the beginning of the crybaby song so if u where wondering what song it was it is crybaby hope this helped 😊
The thing you said towards the end of the video, saying that it repeats at the end the same lyric from the first song & that it feels like a loop actually makes so much more sense. I thought that maybe it was the producers & managing team that placed it incorrectly on the album. But if this album is about different life times then it actually makes so much more sense that it’s in a loop. Because a soul experiencing different lifetimes means that they die & are born again over & over & over like reincarnation. I can’t believe I didn’t think about that. So you’re right, it’s gotta be because it was meant to be a loop go fit the theme of the album
Once you hear her old demos I advise you to listen you Sirens, Mother of Pearl, and Emerald!! Nymphology is a little mix of those (especially the ending of nymph)
"Alphabet Soup", also if not all, most of the songs on this album were made to diss Oliver Tree, AKA her ex which I'm pretty sure is the reason Soap & Training Wheels was made.
Btw, Melanie just dropped the deluxe. She was not wasting any time, lol. I wasn’t even expecting this. Hope you react to the new extra songs she just dropped
@@sydneyreactssThank you for replying! I have 1 I could think of ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lM4FuuMu7xo.html Though it does containsome unreleased songs. I also added the lyrics but some are a bit incorrect
HAHAHAHA it’s so embarrassing 😭😭i used to go to the back of a huge parking lot to film and i’m about to start doing that again bc i wanna cry when people walk by
