From the moment she stepped onto the stage of The Voice in 2012, Melanie Martinez has captivated audiences with her unique style, captivating voice, and pastel-goth aesthetic. Through her music and visuals, Martinez has become an icon for modern weirdos everywhere, pushing the boundaries of pop music and embracing eccentricity. In this article, we'll explore the rise of Melanie Martinez and her impact on modern music and culture.
Melanie Martinez is the latest icon for weird millennials. She shows her oddities in everything she does, including her album art, lyrics, and style. The Cry Baby artist is the queen of self-expression and being yourself, thus managing to inspire many young people to do whatever it is they enjoy. She sings about being an outcast, being considered weird, and how other people’s opinions can upset you. She ultimately preaches that it’s okay to have these feelings when judged, but that we shouldn’t let these judgments control our very being or existence. She’s the artist who represents all the kids in the world who feel like they don’t belong, and tells them that they matter.
Now that you know who Melanie Martinez is, we should dive into her style and how she expresses herself in her appearance. Martinez’s style is definitely Pastel Goth. She, like a large number of other people, seems to love mixing pastels with dark gothic vibes. Her hair, her clothes, and even her music somehow captures the love of the mysterious, dark, and cute that is found in the Pastel Goth subculture. She enraptures the essence that is Pastel Goth and looks great while doing it. She also brings a lot more attention to the Pastel Goth style, and Pastel Goth seems to be the one subculture that is keeping consistent with Millennials. Let’s see how to get the Pastel Goth style with her varying features.
The first thing you will probably notice about Martinez, or at least the first thing I noticed about her, is her hair. Her unique hair is actually the perfect example of what Pastel Goth is. She consistently wears half of her locks black and the other half switches between blonde and varying pastel shades of haircolor. She keeps blunt bangs and splits the colors straight down the middle.
Not only does this capture the unique aspect of Pastel Goth, but also the mixture of soft with harsh. She has her soft, light pastels right next to the dark, cold black and this is exactly what Pastel Goth is about. Just by looking at Martinez’s hair you can easily tell that she is uniquely herself, and a great representation of being yourself.
Martinez has a unique face on top of unique hair with her slightly separated buck teeth and large doe eyes, but she still looks like she could be the girl who lived down the block from you. She has an allusive and peculiar type of beauty that isn’t in line with traditional, modern day ideal. She has a doll-like face naturally which she amplifies with makeup for her album art and concerts. She very willingly shows her gap teeth and uses lashes and eyeliner to show off those round eyes. She wears varying colors of lipsticks including pastels, darker colors, and pinks but always manages to keep herself looking slightly unkempt. She does normally keep her eyebrows dark but occasionally has some weird colors, and sometimes has a teardrop on her cheek like in her album Cry Baby. She looks sad, dark, happy, messy, young, and real all at once both naturally and with makeup. She embraces her flaws, which is what Pastel Goth and most subcultures are about.
Keeping with the Pastel Goth vibe Martinez often mixes innocent with sexy, but not overly so. She wears very lacey, frilly, puffy, and dated clothing that could and is considered “baby-like.” She has the theme of the baby vibe, even releasing her perfume in the shape of a baby bottle which says “Fuck Off” on the top. She doesn’t just put these outfits on for show though; Martinez shared that she collects toys from the 50’s and 60’s and her apartment looks like a baby nursery. She mixes light pieces with dark, and wears pastels often but still manages to make them look grungy and dirty. She has the art of making pastels look gothic down to a T, and is great at making pastels look sexy but keeping their innocence.
The album art Martinez puts out is one of the best places to get Pastel Goth inspiration, because there is plenty of pastel and oddity. She always has an interesting lip color and hair style, and time after time again she includes a sadness that is intriguing. If you are looking to integrate yourself into the Pastel Goth culture, you should really look at the aesthetic the Cry Baby and Dollhouse album art. The album art all looks vintage, pastel, and dirty which is very popular with Pastel Goth subculture. They all possess a darker element of mystery that’s paired with light, happy colors, and mix the idea of purity with darkness.
Even the music on these very albums is a good representation of what Pastel Goth is, because they are happy, pure, but also sad. The soundtracks for the songs may be heavy, but the voice of Martinez is light, as in her popular song Pity Party. She pairs the sad lyrics with a great song and an amazingly weird video. Her videos also include a lot of pastels in most cases, and are another great visual as to what to expect from the Pastel Goth girls. Along with being great Pastel Goth representations, her songs like Sippy Cup touch on real social issues that many people face. Her music is real, unique, and pastel.
If you want to achieve the Pastel Goth look, you should for sure go to Martinez for some inspiration and to get a good idea as to what exactly Pastel Goth means. Then read up on exactly what you need for Pastel Goth fashion, and really get an idea of the pieces you may need to purchase. Be sure to have a balance of darker and lighter clothes, and mix cute and bright with dark and sultry. Take a page out of Martinez's book and really own yourself and exactly what you like. Be sure to be unapologetic and let your true self shine through.
Do you listen to Melanie Martinez? Tell us your favorite song below!
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