in case you didn’t know, melanie martinez is an american singer. you can find her wikipedia page here, but that’s not what i’m here to talk about.
melanie has written lots of songs about rape, trauma, abuse, and glorifying mental illness. the problem with this is she actually hasn’t experienced rape, trauma, or abuse. not only that, but she’s talked about how she has anxiety and that’s about it.
she also talks frequently in interviews about how she grew up in a wonderful home with supportive and wonderful parents, and yet so many of her songs are about being abused and/or neglected by her parents.
in case you’re thinking of defending her with ‘oh it’s just a story! you don’t know if she experienced it or not’ she says: “in the story of the album there’s some things that i didn’t experience. i love stories and fairytales, so i wanted it to still feel super whimsical, or else it wasn’t fun for me” you heard it here guys. melanie martinez thinks rape is whimsical and fun.
we’ll start with the most notable song, mad hatter. this song is pretty much a giant mess of ableism and shittiness. the worst lyric by far is “all the best people are crazy.” there are so many articles online and posts by mentally ill peopleabout how this song is problematic, so i’ll just link them here. 1 2 3
her unreleased song a million men is about a five year old girl who was sold for sex.
sippy cup - substance abuse and mental illness.
tag you’re it - about a child being kidnapped and raped by a pedophile. (she’s also openly admitted that this song was made up and not abount her life experience.)
teddy bear - stalking and abuse
there’s even a fucking song called schizo that she apparently wrote and didn’t release.
this part is mainly focused on her album crybaby, but she does have other singles outside of it. she uses very childlike imagery, but it’s almost all the time sexualized and gross. she’s practically catering to the dd/lg and cg/l community.
in doing this, she also inadvertently sexualizes age regression, which is not cg/l but a coping mechanism associated with ptsd, among other things. her “aesthetic” also fetishizes children’s toys and glorifies pedophilia. melanie martinez acts like people’s trauma is a costume for her to wear and glorify.
here are some quotes with links that i’ve gathered from other posts about this:
“i think that it’s all been based on the whole little kid theme. it’s like the music. still making it kind of adult, but inspired by nursery vibes.”
“it’s not inspired by dolls. it’s inspired by childhood themes and adult situations.”
i figured i’d get ahead of you and address the common replies i’ve seen about this topic ahead of time, so i don’t have to hear them.
“she’s attacking misogyny and it’s just a story!”
she’s glorifying rape. try again
“how dare anyone sing about real life problems i guess”
it’s different when someone sings about their experiences than when they sing about glorified rape and abuse and actually make money off of something they haven’t experienced.
“she’s trying to help people with mental illness accept it by mocking people who call them crazy and psycho!!”
absolutely fucking not. she’s calling people crazy and psycho and insane because she thinks it’s cute and she’s capitalizing off of psychotic people’s struggles.
“but i’m an abuse/rape survivor and i like her music”
just realize that she has no clue what she’s talking about because she has not experienced abuse or rape. it’s fine for you to relate to the topics in her songs, but she’s hurting actual, real-life abuse and rape survivors by capitalizing off of their struggles.
“she was made fun of for being quirky/weird and she decided to take charge of her emotional side rather than playing the victim!”
“those songs aren’t about rape and abuse. not everything’s about that stop making mountains out of molehills”
don’t tell me what to do. also i’m a rape and abuse victim and i clearly see those themes in her songs.
“[something ableist about how i might actually need a psychaitrist because i’m so fucking crazy for thinking things like this!!!]”
here’s something you might like to read
“mad hatter is inspired by alice in wonderland! it’s not ableist!”
lewis carroll was a pedophile
here are some links to other posts about melanie and why she’s horrible.
conclusion: melanie martinez’s music is entirely inappropriate for the audience it’s marketed to, as well as being ableist, fake, and exploiting from mental illness. her music makes rape and abuse seem okay and even cute, which is unacceptable.
