“VOID” is the second single from Melanie Martinez’s 2023 album ‘PORTALS.’ The song takes a dive into some dark corners of the singer’s mind and how empty it feels at times.
Melanie Martinez released her third studio album ‘Portals’ on March 31, 2023. Prior to the album’s release, the lead single “DEATH” was released a week earlier. In an Instagram post, Melanie said that the album’s theme is wound around death and life and everything in between. This is Melanie’s follow-up project to her 2020 EP ‘After School.’
“Void” specifically focuses on the singer’s mind under stress. Melanie did talk about the inspiration behind the song on TikTok; “‘Void’ has many layered meanings for me aside from it being generally about my anxiety, my tendency to overthink, and being overly critical of myself. It is also the second stage of the afterlife that I found was the most commonly described experience in hypnotherapy. It is about finding yourself in a dark place that feels like an endless abyss of self-criticism.”
Listen to “Void” by Melanie Martinez
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Melanie Martinez “Void” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
What happens after you leave this world? Where do you go? Depending on your beliefs, it can be a variety of answers. But not everyone can be the exact truth. The singer thinks there is an endless void in the afterlife.
If you think being with humans is bad, try being all alone. Only the toughest can survive loneliness. Humans are, by nature, social creatures. The void is where we all break. It is you vs yourself in the void–the toughest enemy.
However, the void is free of judgment, too. There is no one to judge you but yourself. In this sense, the void can be compared to our own headspace, back in mortal life. There is only ‘you’ in your headspace, and the only intruder to this space can be yourself. If it does get disturbed by anyone other than yourself, you are too susceptible to things happening and the people around you.
Melanie Martinez has a different problem, although not unique to her. Her mind screams louder. And these screams are undecipherable. It is almost white noise. And other times, it is just too quiet.
These screams inside your head can be the result of everything you are letting into your head. It could be a bad day at the office, meeting someone you didn’t want to, a negative comment from someone, reading something bad, running short of money for rent, groceries, or medicine, and so on. But, you do have the option to not (even ever so slightly) internalize these negative experiences and burden an already burdened mind.
The more you burden your mind with negativity, the darker it gets. ‘Garbage in. Garbage out.’ Garbage only feeds monsters and at some point, they become too strong to handle. This is when everyday life becomes a constant struggle. And everything you look at gets interpreted through a garbage lens.
It is a vicious cycle ending nowhere but an abyss of darkness. This is why the singer is screaming to escape the void–be it completely empty or cluttered with garbage. Both are equally bad for life.
Let us hear what you think about the song in the comments below. Read the complete lyrics of the song on Genius.