Melanie Martinez & The Era Of Weirdcore
Melanie Martinez is a singing sensation who took the indie world by storm in the past few years. With her album “K-12” taking a number three spot on the Billboard 200 in 2019, Melanie Martinez is popular in the alt music community. Recently, Martinez debuted a new persona for her next album “Portals”– and has a new costume to match. Speculation says its all in retaliation to her recent split with indie artist Oliver Tree. Whatever the case may be for her new persona, a pink alien creature with four eyes and green hair, it falls into weirdcore. And her audiences are eating it up all over Twitter and Instagram!
What Is Weirdcore, Anyway?
Before we dive into Martinez’s look, we have to discuss what weirdcore is first. Weirdcore is “a[n] aesthetic centered around … visual images that have been edited” according to the Aesthetic Wiki. With the boom in aesthetics starting in the mid 2010’s, weirdcore is a newer one, estimated to have started in around 2017. Weirdcore interests and occasionally creeps out the viewer, giving them a sense of nostalgia. Evidently, it’s very popular in alt visual arts. But, like most aesthetics, it can occasionally be portrayed in an good outfit. An example? The shirt a model wears below, from the store weirdcore.com. It’s fun, it’s weird, and it’s nostalgic. That’s the basis of weirdcore.
Melanie Martinez’ History With Aesthetic
Melanie Marinez has had a long history with aesthetics. Back during the debut of “K-12”, she wore a lolitacore outfit. Named after the book “Lolita”, it has cute, schoolgirl looks. Throughout the music videos of “K-12”, Martinez used lolitacore with her lyrics to speak on misogyny, fetishization, and grooming. Some think that she’ll be using her persona for “Portals” to similarly promote an idea, but it’s unclear what it’ll be. Regardless, she’s taken to the stage with the persona during her current tour. We’re a huge fan of the new look.
How Do We Feel About It?
We love it! It fits in well with her history of aesthetic! We like the avant-garde look. In fact, it almost seems like something we’d see on “Star Trek”, or on a fashion week runway. It’s a merging of aesthetics, and it fits with her brand, too. It’s definitely got an dream like look to it, which is similar to fairycore. Fairycore is a visual look that goes for emulating fairies: e.g. Tinkerbell,
Featured image from Melanie Martinez/ @littlebodybigheart on Instagram