You couldn't pass Melanie Martinez on the street without taking a second look.
The 20-year-old American singer has come a long way from her musical debut on singing show The Voice.
For starters, she's opening for Adam Lambert's Auckland show this evening.
Her debut album Cry Baby tells the story of an insecure girl who finds her voice.
"I wrote about how I felt when I was a kid and people would tell me I was too emotional and that I took things too personally, and it was really hard for me," Martinez says.
She says her path into stardom wasn't easy either.
At 16, Martinez appeared in the US version of The Voice. Shaking off that image took time.
Now Martinez writes her own songs and directs her own music videos.
"When you're writing stories, I look at my music as stories," she says. "It's just like creating a visual for that story. It feels easy to me."
Not everyone thinks she's that involved and Martinez admits it's upsetting when people assume she's merely the face of something engineered by others.
She wants to eventually make a music video for every song on the album but first, she's got a bit of fun planned in Auckland.
Watch the video for the full 3 News report.
