Analysis of Melanie Martinez's 'Dollhouse' Essay Example

Music has the ability to hold more emotion than words alone. Lyrics are the words of poets expressed with instrumentals, carrying the themes of the words expressed further than being spoken. In today's society, music is a way to express feelings that society does not want to express, like the Romantic Age in literature. This era focused heavily on similar themes throughout the written works including raw emotions, nature, life, and the ills of society. Many songs carry these themes but one in particular, comes to mind, “Dollhouse” by Mealanie Martinez In the 2010 era of music, Martinez consistently made music inspired by her raw emotions. However, she is able to write music that relates to others on a larger scale as many Romantic age writers did. An example is William Blake since he was able to write in a manner using his raw emotions to show the reader his hurt and pain on societal issues. The song carries a meaning close to Martinez as well as the listening audience is able to connect to the lyrics.       

The 2014 hit "Dollhouse" carries a catchy tune and beat making it very easy to listen to. The song starts with no lyrics but the sound played in horror movies to represent a doll in any way, shape, or form. It helps to set the tone of the song as being dark from the very beginning. Along with the creepy and dark tone of the song it begins with a subtle yet consistent beat right up until the chorus. When the chorus starts, it changes to a deep bass instead of a constant beat. The tone still remains dark and Martinez's voice remains the same throughout the entire song. Her voice lacks emotion to add to the effect of the tone of the song– adding to the dark tone of the song. It screams irony since the tone is dark and the title of the song is "Dollhouse", a dollhouse is seen as a bright-colored toy for young children. Many times a dollhouse is pink and has many details that scream happiness including glitter, sparkles, and touches of rainbows.

The tone of the song is dark yet the title representing something so colorful plays into the ideas of the Romantic era.The chorus of the song uses words to help the listener connect with the lyrics on a metaphorical level.       

"Places, places, get in your places     

Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces     

Everyone thinks that we're perfect     

Please don't let them look through the curtains" (9-12).     

Though the chorus is expressing the metaphor that celebrities live a double life and cover up their personal lives when it comes to the media. The metaphor in "Dollhouse" is that each celebrity has to "doll" themselves up and make it seem as if they are perfect that they do not face any of the tragic events a normal person would face. It shows the ill of society since celebrities are not viewed as normal people but higher up. This type of metaphor is on the verge of matching Blake's metaphor in The Chimney Sweeper. The metaphor of sunshine and nature is used when boys in a labor camp are dying due to the poor working environment. One example closely related to the ironic metaphor "Dollhouse" is lines 13-16 Blake uses nature to express the darkness of death,

"And by came an Angel who had a bright key,     

And he open'd the coffins & set them all free;     

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,     

And wash in a river and shine in the Sun" (13-16).     

The stanza carries a dark tone but uses metaphor to create an ironic feeling for the reader. Blake uses sunshine to also represent the death of a child as Martinez uses a dollhouse to represent covering one's true person. Both use colorful and positive elements in society to represent something dark and or an illness of society. Martinez used a key element many Romantic writers used, writing motifs to represent the individuality in humans. 

Martinez expresses the constant idea – a woman putting on makeup to be beautiful and without it a woman was not whole. Much like Blake’s ideal theme in The Divine Image, he describes the perfect world through God. Blake explains that without the four elements of mercy, pity, peace, and love one will not be supported by God. It relates to “Dollhouse” since in both, an individual is being forced to view themselves as imperfect without some type of element completing them.

Romantic writers had a very specific style when writing. Many music artists in today's age have taken these elements and applied them to their songs. Martinez using metaphors, enjambment, and tone are just a few elements in one song that are closely related to William Blake's style of writing. Poetic devices can carry the theme of a song and create emphasis on certain parts. The song "Dollhouse" is one song that shows the poetic devices at work to do this.