Meaning of “Void” by Melanie Martinez

“Void”, which was written and produced by Melanie Martinez and CJ Baran, was released on 29 March 2023 as part of the former’s studio album, Portals, which was dropped a couple of days later. As such, “Void” is actually a single from that project, being its second after “Death“, which came out earlier this month. 

To note that song did perform well for itself, being Melanie’s first not associated with her 2012 participation on The Voice to actually appear on the Billboard Hot 100.

Going back to “Void”, upon release the track did garner a moderately-impressive showing on iTunes. And by the looks of things Atlantic Records, the label behind this track, began teasing it in an Easter-related way about a month before it came out.

THE LYRICS

The title of this song serves as an analogy, if you will, pointing to the vocalist’s inner turmoil, “the voices” inside Melanie’s head whose purpose is to minimize her self-esteem. Furthermore, more to the point about this being a “void” is that fact that she is finding it impossible to escape from them.

As to the origins of these thought processes, the vocalist does state in the first verse that they were “injected by society”, thus implying that they are likely the result of mainstream socialization. And of course, people’s self-image is significantly affected by whether or not they conform to the ideologies set before them.

But for the most part, the singer seems to be taking personal blame for what she’s going through mentally.  In other words, even if these self-destructive thoughts were put there by someone else, the singer totally understands that it is now her responsibility to do away with them.

But alas, it can be gleaned that ideology too, in a way, is negatively affecting her. The fact that the vocalist is unable to escape “that void” also seems to make Martinez think worse of herself, as if she lacks willpower.

But the larger point being made here, obviously, is that accomplishing the feat of “turn(ing) down the voices” in one’s head is easier said than done, especially when they’re lodged there, as with the character the singer is portraying. 

“I gotta escape that void
There is no other choice, yeah
Tryna turn down the voices
The void ate me
Look at the mess I’ve done
There is nowhere to run, yeah
Holding a loading gun
The void”

Indeed, in certain parts of the song Melanie sounds as if she’s suicidal. And that may be in keeping with the overall theme of “Portals”. But there are people who are actually going through this and maybe most of us do at one time or another where we feel as if we are not good enough, with no one telling us that per se but rather our own thoughts perpetuating such a belief.

LONG AND SHORT OF “VOID”

Melanie Martinez recognizes that her thoughts are plagued by self-sabotaging tendencies, yet she finds it exceedingly challenging to eliminate them.