PORTALS by Melanie Martinez was released in March 2023. It sold 142k first week, surpassing her 2nd album by far (for comparison, K-12 did 57k, Cry Baby did 41k). However, there are now NO songs from PORTALS in Melanie's top 10 songs on Spotify, despite 3 songs having over 100M streams.  But at the same time, Melanie is at her career peak (thus far). She was able to sell out her first US arena tour in 2024 with ease. She also got her first 2 Hot 100 entries (not including her songs from The Voice) with DEATH (#95) and VOID (#61).

 

There was a lot of hype for PORTALS pre-release. Was it the weird mask/visuals that turned people off? And since it did so well first week, why did the album seem to fall off everyone's radar so quick? I personally love it and still listen to a handful of songs from it regularly.

 

And for further discussion, I know Cry Baby is kind of a cult classic at this point, but there is clearly still a lot of interest in her as an artist/performer. Do you think her next album (if she looks like her normal self) will be successful? Or now that her triology is over, will people not care anymore?

 

Please keep it cute and on topic!

Actually she outperformed. She's never been the kind of artist who lives at the top 10 of every country. Her following is small but loyal (too loyal I might say )

Well, for one, she's an (alleged) sexual abuser...

I remember i was in this gorgeous wooden shop in the middle of nowhere when this was released. And i added Moon Cycle to what might be the greatest playlist i've made. And i just walked around the store, playing the songs while i was on break from meetings. 
Anyways i'm pretty sure the album did well. 

I don't think it underperformed to her standards

Idk but I'm still listening to nymphology regularly 

The album is pretty boring and the visuals, although pretty good, they did not elevate the songs like her past two albums.

Edited July 24, 20242 yr by mathekr

Let's be real, the gp correctly clocked her as a bargain bin Grimes and said "no thanks!"

 

Visions>Portals

She has a small following and GP doesn't know her. Considering her standards and how much the album helped her touring, I'd say it was a huge success. The drop after first week was expected because it was supported highly with vinyl sales but no one expected her to cross 100k, let alone almost do 150k. 

this annoying ass mask 

in photoshoots/MV it's fine and artistic u go girl, but this covering her whole face during promo interviews and Live concerts

soooo annoying. 

Portals was everywhere in alt-pop circles, I never thought she'd make such a good comeback after all those years. 

She's an alleged rapist, that's enough for me

Edited July 24, 20242 yr by glitch

She's in that Lana/The Weeknd/etc group of artists where their old music goes viral every couple months but no one really cares for their new work

The album got my streams for a bit. Didn't love the scary mask.

 

It's lowkey her second biggest album. Her biggest first week and singles actually charted this era. Shes touring across the US and other countries like Ireland. She's doing great for an indie act.