Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Melanie Martinez, the Season 3 standout on The Voice, has a new EP out.

Better yet, she has a pair of upcoming shows in the area.

Melanie, now 19, will kick off her Dollhouse tour with a show Wednesday evening at World Cafe Live in Philly. Tickets are $15 to $17.

She’ll also be performing at Soundstage in Baltimore, Md., on June 15. VIP tickets, which include a pre-show meet-and-greet with Melanie are $40; standing room only tickets are $15.

As for that new EP, well, Melanie certainly looked the part of the sweet and innocent teen on The Voice with her two-toned hair tied up in a big red bow, playing guitar — plus tambourine with her feet — while putting a unique spin on Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”

But “Dollhouse” definitely has a unique sound and a dark edge. Heck, the title track is about the truth behind the perfect family, including a cheating husband, an alcoholic wife and a pot-smoking son.

Not quite as dark is my personal favorite, “Carousel,” about chasing love. The EP features four tracks, plus the very unusual video to “Dollhouse,” which I’ve embedded here.

In a recent interview with Groundsounds, Melanie compares her EP to “a giant book with different stories in it. They are all very child-like, but also a balance between light and dark.”

Oh, and that set in the video, it was modeled after a dollhouse Melanie designed.

“I made it all by hand and decorated each room, and we based the actual set off of that,” Melanie told the site. “The Dollhouse was just plain wood and I put roofing on it and everything. I got real carpet for it. It was crazy. It was definitely an interesting experience.”

It also has attracted 1.4 million views on YouTube.

Facebook today, Melanie says the physical copies of the EP just arrived and will be available to fans at her June shows. For a complete list of those shows, head here.

Fans can anticipate more music from Melanie. Now signed to Atlantic, she’s working on a full-length album.

Don’t expect the new music to be any less unique.

Melanie tells Groundsounds it’s likely to be called “Cry Baby” and might include a song about a teddy bear trying to kill her.

Silly teddy bear.