Ep. 244: Melanie Martinez | How to Protect Your Creative Spirit in a Commercial World
And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan
And The Writer Is
4.9 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s world builder builds worlds worldwide to make her own universe! Dark and whimsical meets bubblegum grunge when this artist broke out on the scene to create her own cult following.
When doors didn’t open, she built her own.
And The Writer Is……Melanie Martinez!
In this episode, Melanie opens up about:
• Materializing ideas and her entire creative process
• Why she never approached music as a game
• The reality behind shows like The Voice
• How she built her identity before the industry caught up
• Her philosophy on songwriting and the importance of your truth
• Protecting your creative voice in a commercial system
• Why being yourself is still the most important advantage
• And much more…
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Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.
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Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishing Association. Your support means the world to us.
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Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:00 The Real Meaning Behind “Disney Princess”
4:30 Introversion vs Performance
6:00 The Magic of Creating and Materializing Ideas
7:45 Her Creative Process — Titles, Concepts, and Staying Inspired
12:00 The Songs That Defined Her Early Career
12:48 Growing Up Writing — Her First Songs and Backstory
16:45 World-Building and Creating a True Artistic Identity
18:30 Rejection, Independence, and Dollhouse
20:00 “Blind Dating” in the Music Industry
24:00 Stage Fright and Early Creative Influences
26:00 What She’d Tell Her Younger Self
26:45 Advice for Artists Trying to Break Through
27:30 Hitchhiking to The Voice — And What It Really Was
30:00 The Reality of Music Competition Shows
31:42 NMPA — Our Lead Sponsor This Season
32:23 Splice
33:00 Ross on Music Competition TV
34:00 Performing Live and Managing Nerves
36:00 Finding Herself Through Dollhouse
37:20 The Story Behind Dollhouse
38:00 Fighting for Her Creative Vision
40:00 Where Her Ideas Come From
42:00 How She Builds Albums and Story Arcs
44:20 Writing Honestly Without Overthinking It
45:00 What Songwriters Get Wrong About Meaning
49:30 Are You Happy?
51:30 The Priorities That Changed Everything
54:00 Final Advice
55:00 Portals
57:47 Hades — A Dystopian World
1:00:20 The Utopian Album to Come
1:00:51 Her Favorite Songs on the Album
1:01:50 The Story of “Weight Watchers”
1:06:00 An Emotional Reflection — Her Message to Others
1:07:30 Her Inspirations
1:09:00 Social Media, AI, and Staying Human
Hosted by Ross Golan
Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad
Edited by Jad Saad
Post-Production VFX by Pratik Karki
Watercolor Art by Michael White
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | At a certain point, you have to kind of not really give a shit |
| 0:03.0 | and just write what comes from the heart. |
| 0:06.0 | Majors didn't want to sign me because I had never worked with a producer yet. |
| 0:10.0 | All my songs are on guitar, so I'd literally go into meeting |
| 0:12.0 | just playing like eight-minute long songs on guitar. |
| 0:15.0 | What is Hades to you? |
| 0:16.0 | Hades to me is just a representation of, like, toxicity |
| 0:20.0 | that's seeded into our kind of daily existence. |
| 0:22.6 | It's the systems in which we are living under, essentially. |
| 0:26.6 | Songwriting is like, you're just channeling energy and some days you're really tapped in, |
| 0:31.6 | and then some days you're just thinking too much, and it shows. |
| 0:35.6 | What's the step between that and your journey to the voice? |
| 0:40.3 | It's TV, it's not music, you know. |
| 0:42.3 | You don't have to appeal to the masses. |
| 0:45.3 | What do you say to a kid right now that's, you know, in this era |
| 0:49.3 | that's trying to do the same thing? |
| 0:51.3 | Younger artists are going to watch this, and I just hope that they understand how |
| 0:55.7 | important it is to just... |
| 0:58.0 | This season is presented by NMPA, the National Music Publishers Association, champions |
| 1:05.5 | of songwriters and publishers everywhere. |
| 1:08.6 | Welcome to And The Writer is. |
| 1:10.5 | I'm your host, Ross Golan. |
... |
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