Melanie Martinez

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.

There's a heavy hip-hop influence in my music, some trap influence, but it's always lyrical.

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.

My two favorite parts of what I do are definitely writing the music and then writing and directing the videos to support each song. As well as doing my own makeup and styling for the videos.

I have to stop eating so much grilled cheese and chocolate chip cookies and start really working on everything!

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.

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.

Remember that I am a human.

I was always called a cry baby, and I was one. I cried a lot as a child. In fact, I still cry a few times a day. I'm still a cry baby.

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 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.

Working on this album has been very emotional and super personal, and creating this character 'Cry Baby' helped me deal with my own insecurities.