1. She rose to prominence on The Voice. In 2012, Melanie Martinez competed on Season 3 of The Voice. She chose Adam Levine after three chairs turned during her Blind Audition, and quickly became a fan favorite on his team. Adam advanced Melanie to the Live Shows, where she was voted through to the Top 6, when she as eliminated. However, she gained a major following from competing on the show, and continued to work on her original music in its aftermath. She released her first single, “Dollhouse,” in Feb. 2014, and then signed to Atlantic Records.
2. She’s one of the most successful post-Voice artists. Although Melanie doesn’t have a mainstream following, she has a very big Indie fanbase, and is recognized as one the few artists to find success after The Voice. After signing with Atlantic Records, she released her EP, Dollhouse, in May 2014. She’s had successful songs like “Carousel” and “Pity Party,” the lather of which was the lead single off her debut album, Cry Baby. Cry Baby was released in Aug. 2015 and debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard charts. She reportedly has a second album finished, but has no confirmed release date at this time.
3. She was accused of rape by her former friend. Melanie, who was in the middle of a two-month long social media break, was thrust into the spotlight on Dec. 4. Timothy Heller wrote a lengthy Twitter post, in which she detailed allegedly being sexually assaulted by a former friend. She eventually named Melanie as her alleged rapist. In her post, Timothy claimed that Melanie continuously begged her to have sex for two days, and allegedly started touching her without her consent during a sleepover. Melanie also allegedly performed oral sex on Timothy after the latter said “no,” and allegedly penetrated her with a sex toy.
4. She has denied the allegations. After seeing Timothy’s shocking accusations against her, Melanie took to Twitter to deny the allegations. She claimed that Timothy “never said no” to anything that they did together and admitted to being “horrified” by her former friend’s story.
5. She started singing in elementary school. Melanie grew up in Long Island, and has credited one of her elementary school teachers with teaching her how to sing. She self-taught herself guitar as a teenager, and began writing songs by putting poems she wrote to the music. She has become known for her two-toned hair, which was inspired by Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmations.
HollywoodLifers, are you shocked about the accusations against Melanie?