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#and they included Jack Off Jill as an example of a goth band
testure-1988 · 3 years
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66% voted yes
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dovefawn · 6 years
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A Comprehensive Guide to Melanie Martinez Alternatives
This is a months-late masterpost for anyone who enjoys the musical style and visual aesthetic of Melanie Martinez, but has misgivings about supporting her in light of her catastrophic horse shit handling of a rape accusation, or for anybody uncomfortable with her sexualized baby thing. This is NOT a claim that Melanie is ripping off or copying the following artists. Artistic influence is a beautiful thing, something to be encouraged. This is a list of alternatives for anyone who feels they need one. If you question her ability to give a truly satisfying, well-approached pop-surrealist analysis of cultural issues, or if want to find other musicians who are doing just that, come in!
I see a lot of masterlists of this nature suggesting alternatives to Melanie’s music. I’m making one of my own because I feel that some valuable artists have been left out, and hype/album rumours around Melanie seems to be stirring a little again with her Instagram updates. Common recs are Halsey, Marina, Lana, Lorde, and lesser-known female artists with a general indie/electro/bedroom pop sound to their music. I could take hours writing another post about why I love these artists, and you definitely should check them out! But I’m not going to get into them here. I’m specifically choosing artists who match very closely with Melanie’s artistic style (ie music box melodies, cute vocals, screaming, creepy-cute, smooth spooky production, cabaret vocals, and sugary pop hooks), so you can hopefully find new people to provide you with a similar listening experience. I’ll try to explain why somebody who was moved by Melanie’s music might love these artists.
Melanie’s artistic style fuses visual and thematic elements of creepy cute pop-surrealist artists (specifically Mark Ryden, who she’s named as a favorite, and Nicoletta Ceccoli), harajuku fashion, specifically lolita fashion (which draws inspiration from victorian and roccoco aesthetics), creepy doll horror stories (she likes the Chucky movies), American female led goth/punk bands, horror in general, dark cabaret (less visually evident, but her vocal style makes it crystal clear. Her voice also draws from jazz), aaand the 2012-ish explosion of pastel goth fashion which helped propel her to a semi-mainstream level of fame. She juxtaposes the cute and creepy in her production and lyrics as well, and uses this to talk about uncomfortable truths, dark subjects, and personal feelings.
Mark Ryden
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Nicoletta Ceccoli
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Ok, so going from there, these are some musical artists who were doing what Melanie Martinez did YEARS ago!
Emilie Autumn describes her music as “fairy pop” and “victoriandustrial,” including influences from cabaret, classical (she’s a classically trained violinist), pop, and electronic music. All 3 of her albums are concept albums that tell elaborate stories, and her writing is deeply personal to her own life. Her life shows feature backup dancers that are trained circus performers who also do burlesque, and there’s audience participation as well. She wrote a book called “The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls” accompanying her third album Fight Like A Girl. It’s a semi-biographical/psychological fiction thriller which includes tons of bonus material like her own drawings and diary entries.
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Here is her song Swallow. It’s a good introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rlDFsExijo
Here’s Emilie covering Bohemian Rhapsody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCcnubpAtYg
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Her song Gothic Lolita strikes me as one example of everything Melanie could have been, but then wasn’t! It’s a gorgeously produced creepy pop song with dark jazz vocals about the sexualization of girlhood, culminating in violent revenge. It’s a very personal song about her experience as a csa survivor that took her a while to be able to perform live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIFtG4JIaHE
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Here’s a track from her first album, Enchant. It’s a concept album Emilie wrote from the perspective of a fairy character based on herself, and there’s an overarching story made up of strong individual songs with fairy, fairytale, love and fantasy themes.
How Strange is a song about loving yourself for your strangeness. The production is like...Destiny’s Child, but goth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nv6G305tKY&list=PLXqdmjQes3y4BhxiYgF5GMMo3zpQV5lGv&index=2
Hannah Fury describes her musical sound as “as a carousel in deep, warped space or a carnival underwater – something dense and ferocious with thin, shimmery tendrils shooting out from it in all directions." It has a haunting, dreamy quality, and her visuals include beautiful dresses, creepy dolls and puppets, occult and vintage motifs, and flowers. She has released six albums on her own label, MellowTraumatic Recordings. She also wrote a concept album for the novel “Wicked” before the Broadway musical even existed, no kidding.
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Here is one of her album covers, inspired by a dream she had. 
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Hannah Fury isn’t well known. She didn’t do any big tours because she’s very shy. She’s an angel to her fans though, she even responded to me on facebook once, rip.
This song is called Carnival Justice (part II) and it’s a murder banger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSEz7o-BcpU
Never Look Back’s production is simple and beautiful. One of her best. If you like music boxes I have great news for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtU3IVhIwAk
Defenestration, another gem, similar to Carnival Justice. Dreamy and beautiful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbEuICTv_lw&list=RDAbEuICTv_lw&t=6
Jack Off Jill was a riotgrrrl band in the 90s founded and led by Jessicka Addams. They’re not active anymore, although they reunited for some shows in 2015. They merged riotgrrrl punk and feminist politics with creepy, dark themes. Their live shows involved shit like actual blood and candy getting thrown onstage & into the crowd. Jessicka was kind of an early icon for body positivity, too.
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“We are all candy-covered on the outside, peel away the shell, and we’re rotten on the inside.” Lollirot fuckin slaps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmYZpsLD08k
Girlscout, ft sweet cute vocals and shrieking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0NnukrY0Jk
My Cat. Surreal, punk, cute vocals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-ZccfRrIo
Strawberry Gashes is probably their best-known song. HUGE sensitive topic trigger warning on this one, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m6m9tMdca0
They have an album cover illustrated by Mark Ryden! (Tove Lo has a tattoo from it on her shoulder)
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The Birthday Massacre is a gothic electronic/rock band that makes gorgeous, dramatic melodies with great beats. Their lead vocalist, Chibi, says their title “works well for the music [they’re] making. Sort of contrasty, you know? Birthday, and massacre. Light, and dark. Cute, and evil."
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This is their very popular video for Blue. When I watched it in like 09 at like 14 it blew my baby mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1FRKc24Zk
Looking Glass also has a visually amazing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SREZ-ggSDjM
Divide sounds amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ci7m6-H6Q
I’ve been told by friends that TBM live shows were their greatest ever concert experiences.
Kerli tends to make a lot of these lists, and for good reason. She’s sometimes described as bubble goth.
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Walking On Air, one of her hits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXMeZwO2qZ0
Tea Party is a song she did for the Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack. It’s hit or miss but if it’s not Melanie-ish i don’t know what the fuck is dude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY58uPtAM68
Bonus Artists (aka artists that fit this list but I don’t know as much about)
Cindergarden
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Hex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9A5Wtr_X9I
Playthings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPYWT2W0Db0 
Nicole Dollanganger
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Beautiful and Bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2HttcXtiCg
Cute Aggression (catchy as fuck):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCepfI6QmPE
I hope you find some songs you like!!!!
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