Melanie Martinez – Hades

Melanie Martinez’s first album in three years, Hades, marks a new era following the conclusion of Potrals (2023). She is again working with producer CJ Baran (previously on Cry Baby and K-12) to create something sonically familiar, whilst different. Unlike the self-contained Cry Baby, she turns to a wider dissection of society. Hades, the “dystopian” half of a double release, uses the underworld of Greek mythology as an allegorical place of entrapment to comment on the state of modern society. At over an hour long with 18 tracks, it’s deliberately overwhelming and consuming.

The first three to four tracks on the setlist feel strongest. Possession is a narrative of domestic violence. Her chorus of “Baby, I’m your possession, handle me like a weapon / Gaslight me right, tell me, ‘Keep quiet’ / I’ll go along” is deeply unsettling. However, the outro suggests hope for breaking free and ending the cycle – “Concussion, reversin’ all the damage I had / I may be bruised, but it’s not that bad.” The ambiguity of the final lines suggests two potential interpretations. Is she playing it off and minimising the abuse, or is she finally aware she’s capable of surviving it?

The next track, White Boy with a Gun characterises the quiet “violence” of a particular type of “white liberal guy”. The contradiction of her soft-spoken voice against the overt political intensity of the lyrics is jarring with the line “Support the government / Second amendment in your drawer”. One refrain in particular is especially enraging: “Don’t you know I’m a real nice guy?” – with this, Martinez creates an easily identifiable and hateable “every man” that all women have encountered.

Disney Princess captures the loss of girlhood innocence and the commodification of beauty through the male gaze. Turning a fairy story into something grotesque, Martinez depicts the constant exploitation of the entertainment industry: “My allowance bought me everything, still can’t buy my innocence”. She explores this further in elegiac Monolith, lamenting the pitfalls of fame: “A vibrant bouquet getting plucked till it’s nothing.” She ends this with a chant, “an icon”, “a girl who was stupid”, the juxtaposition emphasising this precarity. Romantic Avoidant feels tonally incongruous, but this is a minor point.

Hades is designed to fill you with outrage – the narrative conveys a sense of slow horror that eventually gives way to sadness and anger to the point of disconnection. Conceptually, the album is fascinating, though the first half is considerably more engaging. With the second forthcoming record as a parallel, this Melanie Martinez era will no doubt prove itself both thoughtful and sharp.

Sofia Hamandi
Image: Cho Giseok

Hades is released on 27^th March 2026. For further information or to order the album, visit Melanie Martinez’s website here.

Watch the video for Disney Princess here: