If you’re a regular reader of RØKKR, you may be wondering: “Why are they covering Melanie Martinez? I thought she was pop!”

But pop stars rarely spend two hours asking audiences to confront corruption in the government, organized religion, societal expectations of women, abuse, and environmental collapse. Well, Melanie Martinez did exactly that last Saturday night at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, transforming a concert into a theatrical examination of the systems that shape our world today.

Despite being frequently lumped into the world of mainstream pop, in her latest album HADES, Martinez is less interested with floaty love songs or radio hits and instead takes on a social commentary. This isn’t new, though, as she has been tackling challenging topics in her music since Cry Baby. However, HADES: THE SACRIFICE TOUR completely embraces her message in a new and totally immersive way.

HAUTE AND FREDDY

The show began with the magnificent duo Haute and Freddy who combined theatre, comedy, and music into one stellar set. Decked out in whimsically colorful attire, they took to the stage and immediately captured the attention of the arena. Their music is delightfully fun, with floating vocals and a retro sound that falls somewhere between the 80s and a carnival. They are one of the most unique duos I think I’ve ever had the pleasure to see live. This is your sign to never skip the opener since you may just be lucky and discover your new favorite artists.

MELANIE MARTINEZ

The mood immediately shifted after Haute and Freddy’s set to something much darker. Screens around the arena lit up with a message introducing the story and setting the stage for Martinez. The performance followed the life of a girl, Circle, who grew up in a cult and with her newfound freedom is able to experience the outside world for the first time. However, she isn’t really as ‘free’ as she initially thought that she was.

With the faint sound of birds and a lilting, yet haunting melody, “GARBAGE” began to play and a bed rose from below the stage with Martinez tucked into it. Her stage design was immediately striking. Behind her, a large screen was set in place and projected with various images throughout the show — a house, a shelf full of trinkets, or a castle. There were deliberate openings left in the projection where her band stood behind the screen, making it appear as though they were playing through the windows or in little boxes on a shelf.

Martinez performed HADES in its entirety in album order without breaks. This made the whole experience feel much more intentional and immersive. What makes Martinez’s work so compelling is her refusal to separate spectacle from substance. Every visual choice served the larger narrative she wanted to tell, rather than distracting from it. The lights, the set, and her incredible dancers all dragged the audience further into the twisted dreamscape of HADES. Despite the album having been out for less than four months, the whole arena was screaming and singing along while decked out in their own costumes. It was evident how devoted her fans are and how much her music means to them.

Rather than inviting the media to photograph the first three songs every time, each stop of the tour has been marked by an entirely fresh trio. This is a unique approach that I have personally never encountered before but it completely transformed the experience. I was in the photo pit for the final two songs of the set and the encore. This included ‘HELL’S FRONT PORCH,” “CHATROOM,” and “THE LAST TWO PEOPLE ON EARTH.”

Even though they were the final three songs, Martinez and her dancers poured in just as much emotion and energy as the first three. For the encore, Martinez and dancer Zero moved to a secondary, circular stage in the middle of the arena, where a vintage living room set up awaited them. The choreography was beautiful and the song acted as a fantastic close to the evening as a sort of “it's just us alone together as the world is burning around us” number. At the end, confetti burst from the stage, raining on the crowd, almost like an homage to the lovely things that can exist even in the midst of chaos and catastrophe.

Alternative music has historically been defined by artists willing to question authority, reject convention, and make audiences uncomfortable. I’d consider Melanie Martinez ripping out her organs as she sings about unsolicited societal criticisms of people’s bodies pretty awesome and pretty darn alternative. As much of modern pop music aims to universally appeal, HADES refuses to soften its message or sit within one genre. With a mixture of industrial textures, orchestral arrangements, rock instrumentation, screams, and delicate melodies, the music itself paints the picture of tension between the world imagined and the reality of corruption, evil, and pain. HADES: THE SACRIFICE TOUR prompts audiences to think and self reflect just as much as it asks them to sing along.