Melanie Martinez

“Everyone is allowed to be vulnerable. I think women and men and dogs and cats and ants and aliens can all express themselves and be vulnerable.”

“I always try, when I'm singing songs, to interpret them the way that I would've arranged them. I think about the melody first, and then I pull out my guitar and start singing it.”

“I had been writing songs for awhile - since I was 14 - and playing guitar, but I never really knew how to go about making an actual career.”

“I had a lot of Barbies growing up, and a lot of porcelain dolls, but I was scared of them. I was so scared of them, I would try to turn their head away and would make my mom take them out of...”

“I stay away from the title of 'role model.' I want to be a more realistic role model - not a perfect Barbie role model.”

“I have a song called 'Training Wheels,' and it's about being in love with someone and taking it to the next level by taking off the training wheels.”

“I want my music to be treated as a book or a movie. It's not about the one single: it's about the bigger picture.”

“When I'm done with my last album, I want to make a movie with Tim Burton telling the story of all of the albums connected. That's my biggest dream.”

“I went to the carnival a lot. The carousel was my favorite ride as a kid.”

“I have to stop eating so much grilled cheese and chocolate chip cookies and start really working on everything!”

“I always cling to things that remind me of being a kid again.”

“I'll always cling to these little girl dresses at vintage shops, and I can never wear them because they're so tiny!”

“I was always called a cry baby, and I was one. I cried a lot as a child. In fact, I still cry a few times a day. I'm still a cry baby.”

“I really like milk. I'm a dairy queen.”

“I wrote about scenarios that I was going through and then disguised them.”

“When I was 16, I was watching '101 Dalmatians,' and my mom never let me bleach my hair, so I told her I was going to dye my hair like Cruella De Vil; she didn't believe me. I came home with...”

“'Cry Baby' is like this fairytale version of me. A lot of it is based on real events, and some of it is made up to make it more whimsical.”

“I think that any female who gets asked if she's a feminist... it's silly... it's so interesting when people ask females if they're a feminist. Of course every female wants to be equal!”

“My whole mission in general, ever since I was fourteen, was to write music that would help people heal.”

“I love Sia and how she hides her face. If I could pull off doing that, I totally would.”