Building upon the conceptual ideas of her 2014 EP,
Dollhouse,
Melanie Martinez's 2015 full-length debut,
Cry Baby, finds her taking the innocent imagery of youth and family ("Carousel," "Training Wheels," "Milk and Cookies") and subverting them into angular R&B and electro-infused anthems of familial strife, abuse, and romance gone wrong. An arty, self-assured singer with a style that falls somewhere between
Beyoncé and
Björk,
Martinez first came to the public's attention singing
Britney Spears' "Toxic" as a contestant on the third season of NBC's The Voice. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, her songs also fit nicely next to the work of contemporaries like
Lorde and
Lana Del Rey. As with
Dollhouse, aiding
Martinez on
Cry Baby are a handful of hip-hop and pop-steeped producers including Kinetics & One Love (
B.o.B,
Pitbull,
Neon Hitch), SmarterChild (
Krewella,
Usher,
Tori Kelly), and Frequency (
Eminem,
Royce da 5'9",
Slaughterhouse). Featured on
Cry Baby are the singles "Sippy Cup," "Soap," and "Pity Party." ~ Matt Collar