Melanie Martinez’s insanely expressionistic Trilogy Tour hits Anaheim

Melanie Martinez’s Trilogy Tour has been a tremendous success, selling out arenas throughout North America. On June 27th, it was brought back to SoCal once again, giving fans at the Honda Center in Anaheim a chance to witness Martinez’s expansive creativity, expressed in a way she has never done before. A tour featuring her three studio albums, Cry Baby (2015), K-12 (2019), and her latest (which featured its own tour) PORTALS (2023), Martinez showcased her theatrical creative vision.

For the first time, fans can experience her storytelling from start to finish, from album to album, from character to character — at the highest level of entertainment.

Each album featured its own production. Everything from choreography, on-screen visuals, outfits, and lighting were taken into account to reflect the representation of each era Melanie Martinez over the past 10 years. The show starts with her Cry Baby era, showcasing the start of her “Cry Baby” character that fans have forever cherished. A look that revolves around soft pastels, bows, and being called a “cry baby” for expressing one’s emotions, this story arc brought songs many fans have not heard live since 2015, as past tours have not included songs from previous albums. Fan-favorites “Dollhouse”, “Pity Party”, and “Play Date” were essential to tell the story of Cry Baby. The beloved character, while still a child, sadly must experience trauma and pretend a disruptive household is normal.

The story was told through nine songs, ending with her blossoming into her K-12 era. This part of the storyline brings the Cry Baby character into her teen years, introducing fans to mental health awareness, loving oneself, and not having to change yourself to ‘fit in’. The engrossing storytelling continues as each song in K-12 represents a different grade in school — quite literally, kindergarten through 12th grade. Maintaining the high level of production the audience witnessed in the first act, this act continues the narrative flawlessly. Each song was accompanied by different choreography and visuals, made specifically for this tour. A pink school dress matched the K-12 experience with pastel bows. Songs took the audience to the school playgrounds with “Class Fight”, going through infidelity with a teacher (aka, “Teacher’s Pet”), to faking an illness to ditch class that goes awry with “Nurse’s Office”.

Unfortunately, every character must come to an end and Cry Baby is no exception.

The K-12 era finalés with Cry Baby being shot with an arrow and falling to her death. This begins the PORTALS era, the rebirth of Cry Baby. Death can be seen as scary, but in this case, it’s seen as beauty: an evolution through death, transitioning into a being where the past, present, and future all meet together. Melanie Martinez returns to the stage as a new character, solely known as “Creature”, featuring glamorous, eccentric beauty, pink skin, four large alien eyes, a cat-like face, and razor-sharp teeth.

Melanie Martinez hypnotized the sold-out crowd as ‘the creature’, taking her audience into her new world filled with mushrooms, fairies, personal growth, death, and rebirth. Songs like “DEATH” for the PORTALS act was the epitome of this tour; taking a darker tone compared to the previous acts, Martinez embraces creativity and shows her artistry holds no bounds. What was once a pink-dressed Cry Baby is now a pink entity that loves who they are and won’t take anyone’s rubbish. This act displays psychedelic visuals, enriched with choreography unique to each song, pyrotechnics, pink fairy confetti, and, of course, the Creature mask donned by Melanie Martinez for the remainder of the performance. While a lot of this portion of the show was seen on the PORTALS Tour, to be able to witness the full story from start to finish was magnificent.

A story 10 years in the making is what makes The Trilogy Tour special. The United States leg of the tour ends with one confirmed last stop on July 31st in Hershey, PA. Months after, Martinez will take the tour through Europe and bring it to a closure in Mexico City on November 16th. Fans are left to wonder if The Trilogy Tour will ever come back and what could be next for the multi-platinum artist. Only time will tell.

Photography by Omar Solis

Share this article

or