Melanie Martinez

I had a lot of Barbies growing up, and a lot of porcelain dolls, but I was scared of them. I was so scared of them, I would try to turn their head away and would make my mom take them out of my room.

Growing up, I always took things too personal and was very emotional, and I got made fun of for it.

I think that any female who gets asked if she's a feminist... it's silly... it's so interesting when people ask females if they're a feminist. Of course every female wants to be equal!

I had been writing songs for awhile - since I was 14 - and playing guitar, but I never really knew how to go about making an actual career.

I feel it's my job as the artist who is making the music to pair it with visuals that I see in my head while writing the music in the first place.

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.

When I started, I was very unsure of who I was. There were a lot of things in the songs that I didn't realize I was saying. But more and more, it fell into place... I got more comfortable in my skin.

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 went to the carnival a lot. The carousel was my favorite ride as a kid.

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

My parents were super strict, so I didn't have a lot of freedom to hang out at parties or anything like that. I didn't get invited, and I didn't have many friends.

Part of the problem with America is that letting go of emotions is viewed as a weakness, but it's my strength. That enabled me to write my songs.