If I had to describe this album in one word, it would be ethereal. Every part of this album, ranging from the instruments, the vocals, and the sound effects is absolutely magical. I think Melanie Martinez is super talented and deserves all the support and fans she has. For me, this is a no-skip album, and after reading this others might come to appreciate it as much as I do.
On March 31st, about two months ago, one of my favorite singers, Melanie Martinez, put out her third album, PORTALS. It’s very different from her other albums, but still amazing, and definitely worth a listen! It’s a really well-put-together album, and she incorporates unique elements and sounds into her songs, which really make them stand out from others of hers, and just other songs in general. Honestly, it’s a really great album with a lot of meaning to it!
1 (DEATH): Death was released a bit before the whole album, on March 17th, 2023, and I remember I was actually stunned listening to it for the first time. Like I said before, her songs on this album are very different from her previous ones, so this song kind of surprised me, but in a good way. It sounded almost otherworldly because of the instruments used in it along with the vocals. There are so many different parts to this song, and it blends together really nicely. A great start to the album!
2 (VOID): Void was another song released early, on March 29th, 2023. It’s about self-reflection of your past self and overcoming insecurities. In the song, there are lines like “no one here but me to judge me” which is basically saying you are your harshest critic, and “Collect my fickle insecurities, And turn them into beauty”, meaning that to overcome insecurities you have to look at them in a positive way. What I especially like about all of Melanie’s songs is that they all have a meaning to them, some obvious and some more cryptic. After learning about the true meaning of the song, you’ll definitely hear it differently now.
3 (TUNNEL VISION): Tunnel Vision, as well as the rest of the songs (except the deluxe ones) were released on March 31. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album, just because of the beat and different sounds used, and the meaning of the song. With this song, Melanie talks about her self-worth and how she won’t allow others to objectify her. As she says in the song, “Obvious what you’re after, and I’m more than that”. This is a pretty powerful song in my opinion and totally worth listening to!
4 (FAERIE SOIREE): By this point in the album, if you listen to the songs in order, you’ll see that the end of each song blends with the beginning of the next and incorporates the same sound. I think this is a really interesting little detail that she added to her songs, and it makes the whole album flow together, almost as one big song. As for the actual song, it’s upbeat and sounds pretty magical. I especially like the change from upbeat music at the beginning of the song to more slow, sad music at the end.
5 (LIGHT SHOWER): Light Shower is another one of my favorite songs in the album because it talks about how love can “cleanse” you, and how you can find comfort in a close/deep relationship. Overall it’s a beautiful song, and the first one written in this album. Although it’s one of the slower songs in the album, it’s still really good. The pace of this song fits the topic in my opinion, and makes it more emotional in a way. I also like how she refers to her partner as a “light” that has helped her get over past pain and trauma and has bettered her life in general.
6 (SPIDER WEB): In most of her songs, Melanie uses analogies to talk about certain topics; in this song, the ‘spider web’ represents “social media’s chokehold on society”, she says. More and more social media and technology, in general, are being inserted into every aspect of life one way or another. She talks about the problems with this, like addiction and dependency on social media, having very little privacy, and more. When I first listened to the album, I rated the songs depending on how much I liked them after listening for the first time. This song actually wasn’t that far down in the rankings, and I’ve only liked it more since then!
7 (LEECHES): When I first listened to this song, I wasn’t really a big fan of it, but my perspective on it has changed tremendously since then. I love all the aspects of this song; the cello (I think it’s a cello?), the nature/forest and animal sounds in the background, Melanie’s angelic voice, literally everything! At the end of the song, you can hear a man screaming and banging on a door, and people believe it’s her ex-boyfriend, Oliver Tree. I really love this song now, and if you listened to it you probably will too.
8 (BATTLE OF THE LARYNX): The last song written for PORTALS, Battle of the Larynx is another great song in this album. When the names of the songs for this album were released, I thought the ‘larynx’ was another mythical creature, since Martinez references others like Milk of the Siren, Faerie Soiree, and Nymphology. Upon looking it up though, I realized it was just another word for your voice box, which makes sense considering what the song is about; not letting people walk all over you, and standing up for yourself.
9 (THE CONTORTIONIST): I can’t even describe the way the added sound effects in this song make me feel; they fit so well and honestly make the song even better than it already is. Also, I really like the title; I swear she always finds the most perfect names for her songs that tell you what it’s about before you even listen. The song is about going to many lengths for a person that doesn’t accept who you truly are, according to Melanie. It could also be interpreted as feeling trapped or controlled by someone, or being pushed into situations you don’t want to be in. The sound effects I mentioned before as well as the lyrics to the song are supposed to represent the physical and emotional pain you can endure in all these situations.
10 (MOON CYCLE): One thing I especially like about Melanie is that she talks about important subjects in her songs, things that no one wants to talk about so openly. In an interview with Apple Music about her album, and this song, she says “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,”. Many people think it was weird of her to write a song about the topic, but I like that she is different from other artists in a sense, and conveys a message through each song.
11 (NYMPHOLOGY): As seen in the title, nymphs are mentioned in this song, female mythical spirits that are sometimes regarded as a personification of nature. They’re mentioned in Greek and Roman mythology many times, and in this song they represent femininity. The song talks about how femininity in people is viewed negatively by society, and that that should change. The piece at the end of the song, called Amulet, is super catchy and is one of the factors that makes this song my favorite of the songs on the album.
12 (EVIL): This is another powerful song, and she actually wrote it about her personal life, or more specifically her relationship with Oliver Tree. Multiple songs in this album are about her life and their relationship, and I like that she expresses herself through her music, and isn’t afraid to admit the truth. The song is about leaving a toxic relationship, and the other person calling you the bad guy, or as the song says, ‘evil’, for leaving, even though they were toxic and the relationship isn’t good. In the song, she says “If you bite my hand again, I will never feed you, you can call me evil”, essentially saying she knows she’s in the right for leaving, and doesn’t care if he blames her.
13 (WOMB): What I noticed while finishing this song was that it had the same ending track as the beginning track of Death, signifying a loop, hence the “death is life is death is life…”. Also, the name of this song is literally Womb, showing the transition from death to life as well. Womb isn’t my favorite song on the album, but I like it. This track was a good finish to the standard version of this album and really pulls everything together.
DELUXE EDITION:
The deluxe edition of PORTALS was released on April 5th, 2023, and included 3 new songs: POWDER, PLUTO, and MILK OF THE SIREN.
14 (POWDER): Powder is definitely my favorite of the songs in the deluxe edition because it’s so catchy. The vocoder she uses to distort her voice throughout the song makes it unique compared to the others, and at some points, you can hear her regular voice seeping through the distorted one. Although the song is pretty upbeat, it’s actually about addiction to drugs and just overall codependency on something or someone. It’s also another song in this album that Martinez wrote about Oliver Tree.
15 (PLUTO): Pluto talks of transformation, essentially shedding your old skin and becoming a new person, leaving behind the pain or “demons” of your past. I like the concept of the song, but the song itself is just okay to me. Although I like the end of the song where the drums get louder, this bit is faster-paced than the rest of the song. The beat drop starting this part is placed at 2:22, Martinez’s lucky number. This song is the shortest of the deluxe tracks.
16 (MILK OF THE SIREN): Melanie’s singing almost sounds siren-like, to be honest, and perfectly fits the theme of the song. I mostly like her singing, not the beat of the song, although it’s okay too. The song is a message to women, telling them to stop letting men walk all over them and take control of their lives. Apparently, this song took 900 takes to finish; probably because like the other songs on this album it was leaked many times. All in all, I like the song and it’s a strong finish to the deluxe edition of PORTALS.
Overall, I really like how this album was all connected from the beginning to the end. It provides a cohesivee theme of an afterlife and the story being told. If I had to describe this album in one word, it would be ethereal. Every part of this album, ranging from the instruments, the vocals, and the sound effects is absolutely magical. I think Melanie Martinez is super talented and deserves all the support and fans she has. For me, this is a no-skip album, and after reading this others might come to appreciate it as much as I do. She’s also putting out a music video for VOID soon, so definitely check that out as well!
Recent Comments