Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Melanie Martinez in her new film, K-12.

What should we expect from Melanie Martinez’s “K-12” film, set for release in some theaters tonight?

In an interview with KTLA 5, Melanie calls it a “surrealist, whimsical, dark comedy musical” tracing her Cry Baby character as she navigates her school years.

What should we expect from Melanie’s “K-12” album, her first since “Cry Baby” spent an incredible two years straight on the Billboard 200.

“Sonically, the album sounds much more grown because I’ve grown as a person,” Melanie told The Wrap. “You can really see that through the music and through the art.”

We met Melanie when she showed up on The Voice in the fall of 2012 with her two-toned hair, playing guitar and tambourine simultaneously while covering Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”

Today, Melanie refers to her time on The Voice as “a big stepping stone and a big learning experience.”

But the real preparation for the project she’s unveiling this week was “Cry Baby,” released in the summer of 2015.

The album debuted at number six on Billboard, went platinum at a time when so few albums go platinum and stayed on the chart every week for two years.

What’s more, Melanie wound up releasing a music video for all 13 songs on the album. And after the first two, she directed every one.

That’s highly unusual, she notes, pointing out that most artists are permitted a couple of videos per album. She praises Atlantic Records for the support and confidence the label showed in her.

Of course, that support likely stemmed from that fact the least popular of her music videos still racked up nearly 60 million views on YouTube.

Melanie says she started writing music for “K-12” right after “Cry Baby” came out. That means some of the songs date back four years.

“It’s been a long time,” she told The Wrap. “I’m ready. I just need to put out this album, put out this film.

“My main goal was always to create music that could help people heal because music is a great form of therapy.

“It’s very cathartic to not only create music, but to listen to it. The film is that way too, so I wanted to pair the two to make it that much more impactful.”

The New York premiere for “K-12” was Wednesday night. The film will open in select theaters today (check Melanie’s website for the list).

The album and the film are available for pre-order from iTunes, separately, or as a package.