Melanie Martinez recently announced her newest album, Portals, which is set to release on March 31st, 2023 according to a TikTok she posted. Just from the small amount of information we have received from the TikToks she has posted, it is very apparent that her style has changed since her most recent EP, After School, released in 2021.

On February 18th, 2023, she posted a new TikTok. The video contains a slow zoom-in to a large mushroom with “rip crybaby” etched into it, and is paired with a 9 second audio clip which was posted on her Spotify, titled “…”. Crybaby is the name of her first album, released in 2015, and the name of the character that both of her album’s stories revolve around. She continued to post 4 more TikToks, one on February 19th, February 20th, February 21st, and February 22nd. In her 5th TikTok she revealed what appears to be her new character, as well as the date the album is going to be released and its title.

In the next few TikToks she progressively begins to show her new character, and each TikTok is paired with a snippet of a song from her new album. She also posted 3 more TikToks recently showcasing her new character. One on March 4th, March 7th, and March 9th. Melanie also sent some of her fans eggs containing USB’s with a snippet from one track in the album on them. 

But why has Melanie’s character changed? It may have been a choice she made to fit her new aesthetic into her songs, or maybe it has to do with her movie. In the K-12 movie, made to go with her album of the same name, Melanie’s character, Crybaby and Crybaby’s best friend Angelita are saved by a character named Lilith where they talk about wanting to leave the school and go with her. She tells them they have to stay to experience what earth is like. 

Later in the movie, she talks with Lilith again, and Lilith tells her “The greatest power you will hold is that of acceptance. Any storm you face will transform itself into a crystalline rainbow. In divine timing.” At the end of the movie, after she and another character, Ben, save the students at K-12, and one of Lilith’s doors open. Crybaby and her friends run over to the door, and all her friends, besides Angelita go through the door. Angelita turns back and asks Crybaby, “Are you coming?” Crybaby looks behind her then turns back to Angelita, where the screen cuts to black and the movie ends. The next movie, coming out with Portals, should give us some answers, but until then, all we have to go off of is Melanie’s recent TikToks.