Melanie Martinez

Cry Baby is very close to my heart. I feel like I am her in a lot of ways. I want to continue making music from her perspective.

I really loved taking photos when I was younger. I think my love for photography sparked my love for creating the visuals to support my music.

I wrote about scenarios that I was going through and then disguised them.

Once I was done making my album 'Cry Baby,' I knew I wanted to make a vintage-inspired baby bottle perfume.

I've always written the storyboards for the music videos, and it's been hard working with directors trying to get them to understand what I'm thinking.

I'll always cling to these little girl dresses at vintage shops, and I can never wear them because they're so tiny!

Please understand that I make music to express myself, and if you know anything about me, you know that I'm nothing but honest.

'Cry Baby' is like this fairytale version of me. A lot of it is based on real events, and some of it is made up to make it more whimsical.

I have a song called 'Training Wheels,' and it's about being in love with someone and taking it to the next level by taking off the training wheels.

It's really hard for me to finish a song unless I have a strong visual in my head while I'm writing it.

Eventually, I started writing down a bunch of titles that related to childhood themes and would pair it with an adult situation that either I was going through or someone else in my life was going through.

The behind-the-scenes kind of process at TV, especially live television - that was super scary, but I think it's made me more comfortable now. If I ever have to go on live TV, I at least remember what it was like when I was 16.

I wanted to play my original music, but it was really hard because a lot of the people who would come out to the shows found out about me through 'The Voice' and wanted to hear covers.

I think that 'Cry Baby' came from a nickname I was called as a kid.

I'm not necessarily a happy singer. That's not who I am as an artist.

I definitely think it's cool being Puerto Rican and Dominican, but I feel it has no influence on my music.

With 'Pity Party,' it's the first time seeing my vision come to life in front of my face. I'm super happy about it.

I think if you're going to cover a song, you should definitely take it apart and put it back together as if you wrote it. I don't think you should sing it the same way that the artist sang it - that's kind of pointless.

I got a lot of very bad hate on social media from some people from my school. I think people thought I changed because they saw me on TV. They weren't close enough to know that I was still the same human being... When I walked at graduation, I got booed. It was kind of stupid.

My whole mission in general, ever since I was fourteen, was to write music that would help people heal.