Melanie Martinez Goes Through The Cycle Of Life At The Toyota Center

Show Review by Iveth Sarabia

On May 23, 2024, Melanie Martinez brought a theatrical, enthralling musical stage show to Houston’s Toyota Center, one of Houston’s biggest venues for musicians to play, with a max capacity of 19,000. Melanie announced her “The Trilogy Tour” last year on November 9th, 2023. She described the show as “The cycle of life – from the beginning of crybaby’s story to the end The Trilogy Tour! Your favorite songs from all three albums in one show.” Fans, myself included, were ecstatic to hear that they would be experiencing songs from across the entirety of Melanie’s discography during this tour. Melanie also announced that the artists Beach Bunny, Men I Trust, and Sofia Isella would be supporting her throughout the tour that spanned all across the US.  On the day of the show, you could see fans clothed in pastel colors, frilly dresses, clown make-up, and overall aesthetic looks all around you. Fans were still arriving even after Beach Bunny’s opening set. Beach Bunny performed a short 25-minute set which included their more popular songs like “Prom Queen,” “Cloud 9,” and “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used).” Beach Bunny gained popularity from these songs trending on the well-known social media app, TikTok, if you gave each one a listen you’d probably realize that you’ve heard them before. 

After Beach Bunny performed, a well-loved indie band, Men I Trust. They opened their show with their popular song, “Show Me How”, a serene song with lyrics about daydreaming about a friend that the singer feels doesn’t share their love. The singer yearns for them, shown by lyrics like, “I’m turning around, I’m having visions of you,” and “Show me how you care, tell me how you were loved before.” Despite the song’s calming sound, the exact opposite erupted from the fans who cheered loudly in excitement to hear the song live. They sang the lyrics back to the band. The song has a soft, melodic sound, with soft guitar chords, consistent bass, and Emma Proulx’s gentle singing voice. It’s the perfect song to sway along to. The band transitioned into their song, “Say, Can You Hear,” right after, maintaining the chill atmosphere. However, turning the theme from love to one of calling out someone who is narrow-minded and self-absorbed with lyrics such as “Dozens of doors you never tried to open, narrow vision, you’re the scapegoat, you try to fix things that have never been broken.” They continued their set with their song, “Serenade Of Water,” shifting the theme back to love. The song is another one that will have you swaying and feeling at ease, a song calling for gentle, slow love, with lyrics like, “Be my love once more, tears and joys together, tweeds and stones, our past, our tether.” They continued to play a handful more songs like “Oh Dove,” “Ring Of Past,” “Always Lone,” and many more. 

Finally, it was time for Melanie to take the stage. The lights dimmed and audio played across the venue saying “Can I stay here, in my safety and warmth? Do I really have to go out? Into that sadistic world again? To be chewed up and spit out, I kick and I scream, buying time, knowing I must be born,” the audio ends and then starts the sound of a whirring sound box while rabbits slowly walk onto the stage, red lights illuminating them and smoke mystifying the air around the stage.  They had a small dance sequence as the background music intensified and more dancers came onto the stage. The music changed to a calmer tone while a big curtain fell behind the stage to reveal Melanie, a graphic of a baby crib slowly formed behind her and then started the sound of her very popular song, “Crybaby.” Crybaby has been born.

Melanie performed a handful of songs off of her hit 2015 album, “Crybaby.” Those songs were “Crybaby”, “Dollhouse”, “Sippy Cup”, “Carousel”, “Alphabet Boy”,”Soap”, “Pity Party”,”Play Date”, and “Mad Hatter.” All of which the fans went CRAZY for, and as her song “Mad Hatter” says, all the best people are crazy. The fans sang back seemingly every lyric, full of passion and excitement. Every change of song erupted loud cheers from the audience. Melanie’s stage design, make-up, hair, and outfits had me in a clutch. Each song seemingly had its own dance by Melanie and her group of dancers, as well as stage designs that were seamlessly transitioned. The “Carousel” stage design incorporated Melanie riding a white rabbit while singing on an elevated platform on the further side of the stage that moved up and down like a carousel would move, as her dancers performed on the elongated stage platform, a video of a moving carousel played in the background. Nearing the end of the song, loud sparks lit up the stage before the lights went dim, and the sound of “Ah ah ah, buh-buh-buh-buh, ” played in an echo. The crowd immediately erupted into cheers knowing her popular song, “Alphabet Boy” was about to start. The lights came on and up popped Melanie on top of a hill of alphabet blocks, a peachy-toned spotlight on her as she danced on top of the blocks. “Alphabet Boy” is the ideal song to sing live, the lyrics and tone of the song allowing you to release the annoyance you may have for someone who thinks they are/knows better than you simply because they have a college degree. 

After “Alphabet Boy” was “Soap”, the alphabet blocks Melanie stood on turned into a platform that blended into the background graphic of a bathroom with a bathtub, toilet, and a scenic circular window in the middle with a pink sunset and a singular tree branch as the view. Bubbles covered the restroom as a real bubble machine covered the stage. During the breakdown, which contains fun bubble-popping sounds, the lightwork went crazy. A bar of pink soap danced on the back screen, pink light beams danced around the stage, the lights surrounding the stage turned on and off in a wave, all while she and her dancers had a dance break.
Immediately after the song an audio of children singing “Happy Birthday” played and a party invitation was displayed on the screen. A party between two plushies was displayed on the back screen and inflated candles and pink heart balloons decorated the stage. Melanie held a pink axe with hearts engraved into the glades throughout the whole dance, dramatizing her every move as the axe swung around. She wore a puffy, fuzzy, lilac purple two-piece outfit and matching bows while her dancers were clothed in white, frilly, outfits. The fan favorite, “Pity Party”, started playing and Melanie sang right along with the crowd who knew every word. I was caught by surprise as rain in the shape of pink hearts came down on us, fans quickly grabbed them and played with them as they continued to sing along. Melanie’s energy was at an all-time high, being the closest to the crowd as she had been. She crawled to the edge of the stage as she sang to the crowd, bounced up and down on her knees as she sang, and just gave her all. 

The performance of the song ended with one of the plushies, which sported a party hat, blowing out the inflated candles on the stage, a glowing, beating, growing heart appearing on its chest. The plush removed the heart and put it on the ground. The instrumental to “Playdate” started playing as the heart evaporated. The dancers came out in a line, dancing from side to side, Melanie walking out behind them. The dance sequence included a lot of dancing in a line with Melanie at the center. At one point the group danced around Melanie in a circle, all of them holding hands as she sang “Ring-around, rosie.” It was one of my favorite choreographies from the night, the innocence and playfulness of it all fit well with the song. At the very end, one dancer remained on stage with Melanie as they twirled and then walked off the stage. 

The transition between her “Crybaby” era and “K-12” era consisted of a flooding of the baby room displayed throughout most of the “Crybaby” performance, it was beautiful seeing the room illuminated in blue and waves showing up as refracted light across the crowd. After the room was flooded out, a pink school bus could be seen in the water, floating until it fell in front of a school. The first song Melanie performed from the album was “Wheels On The Bus”. The songs she performed off of this album were, “Class Fight”,”Show & Tell”,”Nurse’s Office”,”Strawberry Shortcake”,”Lunchbox Friends”, “Teacher’s Pet”, and lastly, “High School Sweethearts.” During this section of the show Melanie sported a pink dress with K-12 in a heart in the middle and puffy short sleeves (a replica was actually being sold on her merch line for the show) and her hair up with bows in two pigtails. One of the most memorable parts of this era was the “Show And Tell” performance. Melanie was bound by the wrist with pink ribbons attached to a control bar that hung above her, her waist tied onto a tube ensuring her steadiness. She danced as she was attached, her movements like a marionette. I sang along passionately, especially the line, “I’m on display for all you f*ckers to see.” The line showcases the whole meaning of the song, that is how Melanie feels as an artist that she is simply on display for the fans, and media to witness. A little ironic but it made the message of the song hit that much harder.
Her presentation of the song “Nurse’s Office” was also astounding, she was brought onto the stage on a gurney, and she sang as she lay on it, being spun around in a circle by the dancers who wore nurse-styled dresses with big red cross in the middle. The way the dancers moved had me mesmerized. Nearing the end of the song the choreography turned into the dancers performing on Melanie, the camera zoomed in on her as her body jumped up and down on the gurney. She transitioned to “Strawberry Shortcake” afterwards, she appeared on top of a strawberry shortcake and performed on top of it throughout the song. I found myself singing along loudly to “Lunchbox Friends”, which played right after. During her transition into “Teacher’s Pet”, the dancers appeared on stage smoking, adding an extra mist to the stage. Melanie then popped out onto the stage, sitting on a pink cube. “Teacher’s Pet” is another song I found myself singing along to with its naughty, sensual, lyrics of forbidden love. At one point Melanie was lying on her back on the stage, singing, as well as throwing a mini tantrum as she pretended to hit the ground below her. 

She ended the era with fan favorite “High School Sweetheart.” The crowd scream-sung the whole song, especially the lines “And damn it, if you f- me over, I will rip your f*cking face apart” and “Step seven, this one goes to eleven, If you cheat, you will die, die.” My favorite part of the choreo was the dancers on stage with candy hearts with glowing messages on them like “U SUCK” and “DIE ALONE” on them. The dancers all wore a similar dress to Melanie’s, the male dancers wearing a baby blue and white outfit. At the end of the song, Melanie fell to the floor, a single white spotlight shining on her, the candy hearts being laid around her, while the one that read “DIE SLOW” stood straight up in front of her body, which was then slowly cast down under the stage.
At the end of another era, the orchestra walked into their positions dressed with mushroom headdresses, two dancers walked onto the stage and performed an elaborate dance, showcasing love, and connection, as well as the drama and pain that comes with all. Once the dancers walked off the stage, inflatable tombstones rose on the stage as fog covered the ground. The full group of dancers slowly walked onto the graveyard scene with candles gently held in their hands, the entrance to a graveyard appeared on the screen and a pulsing heart sound surrounded us. The video neared a big pink mushroom and then appeared Melanie in her “Portals” alien make-up and a disheveled two-piece outfit. She appropriately started the era with her song “DEATH”, which includes lyrics such as, “I’m back from the dead, back from the dead” and “Lightin’ all your candles to draw me in”, the performance perfectly brings the lyrics to life. The song had the crowd exhilarated as they shouted in excitement. 

The other songs showcased from this album were “VOID”, “TUNNEL VISION”, “FAERIE SOIRÉE”, “LIGHT SHOWER”, “SPIDER WEB”, “BATTLE OF THE LARYNX”, “THE CONTORTIONIST”, “NYMPHOLOGY”, “AMULET”, “EVIL”, and lastly, “WOMB.” Her song “VOID” built up the tension of being stuck in your head with your insecurities, seemingly in an endless void that you’re trying to escape. This theme is obvious with lyrics like, “There’s rotten things left in me injected by society, no one here but me to judge me”, “I gotta escape the void, there is no other choice, yeah, tryna turn off the voices, the void ate me”, and “Like a priest behind confession walls, I judge myself kneelin’ on a metal grater, bloody, like a body that has died, and it’s myself, tangled in my own intestines.” Her song “EVIL”, trended on TikTok last year and was actually my re-introduction to her as I had sparsely listened to her “K-12” album during its release. The power of the song and lyrics immediately drew me in. Being able to experience it live was truly a blessing, getting to sing my little heart out to lyrics like “I left your shit on read four times today and it felt like bliss, used to miss your kiss”, “How you like my spit? That’s for all the piss that you left me in”, and “Said it’s all in my head, all in my head, whenever I spoke my truth, no, I won’t defend you to all my friends, this time, I refuse”, was healing as someone recovering from heartbreak (after heartbreak.) Nearing the end of the song, flames appeared on the stage, the heat being felt from high above on the third level of the venue. Melanie and the dancers ended the choreography by putting horns up to their heads with their fingers.

After “EVIL” a video played on the screen of a sperm cell floating around, the same audio from the very beginning of the entire show being repeated, representing being reborn yet again. Melanie ended the show with her song “WOMB”, which sings about the process of being reborn from the cosmos and losing the memory of understanding what existence is once we enter the world again. The song showcases the pain that a mother goes through for childbirth and the overall meaning of being born to learn lessons and dying to repeat the cycle. Confetti fell down on the crowd as the show came to an end. Melanie finished the song she said goodbye to the crowd, the lights came on all over the venue, and sparks flew and loud popping sounds came from the stage as an animation of the teddy bear from the “Crybaby” era was shown on all the screens holding a candy heart reading “GTFO” out on it, letting the crowd know it really was the end.
Overall, I think Melanie and her team nailed the production and writing for this whole story. From birth to death, to rebirth. The stage production, the lighting, the choreography, the wardrobe, the orchestra,  it all came perfectly together to create a theatrical musical experience bringing her work from all these years into a singular play-like show. It brought her vision of all these albums’ story as a combination to life for the fans to see what she saw this whole time as she created it.