Melanie Martinez has become a global superstar and is currently on tour promoting her new project and album Hades. Martinez recently stopped in Baltimore on Saturday and played a sensational concert at CFG Bank Arena in support of her new album.

Hades is a new approach for Martinez as it moves away from the baby doll look to a more personal and artistic one, and definitely was written to dance too. The entire arena was non-stop during the concert dancing and singing along to tracks from the new album and viewing each song played out in real time with the highly creative stage and backdrop. The lighting for the show was fantastic.  

I was able to view the first 4-5 songs, before I had to depart the arena in search of my camera gear to photograph the final three songs of the evening. In the world of media photographers this is not the norm, but we were told that Martinez has elected to have photographers shoot a different series of songs at each show. This provides her a greater breadth of photos as well as provides more insight into her creative genius. For photographers it was a gift providing such outstanding lighting and visual scenarios to photograph.  

While it may be difficult to specifically label Martinez’s music, one can probably argue it falls with the pop, electronic pop, hip-hop genres. The visual aspect to her creativity and vision is on direct display during her elaborate concert presentations. Her stage presence and sound have a similarity to Kate Bush back in the 80s, but Martinez definitely exhibits her own creativity to great effect.   

Martinez first burst on the modern music scene during her breakout time on The Voice in 2012 and has published a lot of music over the last decade. She released multi-platinum album Cry Baby in 2015, followed up with K-12 in 2019, Portals in 2023, and now Hades in 2026 with more music coming soon. 

Martinez is as creative as any artist on the planet in 2026. You experience this visually, articulately, and with how she sings and projects her songs. Her latest tour playing the entire new album from beginning to end suggests this also as she leads the audience track by track, each with a different visual and feel, and some very high-energy dancing on stage. The album provides a lot of insight into Martinez’s life and feelings regarding relationships and arguing for a better world for future generations. Listening to a previous interview Martinez conducted with Billboard a few months ago verifies the high-intelligence level of Martinez as she is able to discuss precisely the meaning of each of her new songs making each track very personal but also providing insight for any person to interpret each song with an individual meaning. 

Haute and Freddy opened the show with a 30-minute set. The alternative pop duo consisting of Michelle Buzz on vocals, and Lance Shipp on drums put on a dynamic and almost theatrical production opening for Martinez. They are also touring in support of their 2026 album release Big Disgrace. Buzz and Shipp met after moving to Los Angeles and working with other big-time artists such as Calvin Harris, Britney Spears and Katy Perry. The avant-garde duo is highly talented songwriters and are touring the US at this time.

Martinez’s lovely voice is on full display in her new album. Martinez burst onto the stage thru a hole built into the stage creating this underworld feel as she popped up and started working through “Garbage,” the first track of the album. This track highlights her voice in full angelic mode.

Before departing and re-emerging in photographic attire I ensured I was able to listen to “Possession,” one of my favorite tracks from Hades, in which Martinez further explores relationships in the song. 

Watch “THE VATICAN LIVE” by Melanie Martinez below:

By track 16 I was in the pit to photograph “Hell’s Front Porch,” “Chatroom,” and the finale of “The Last Two People on Earth” in the middle arena. The last three songs were fantastically lit and provided some of the best choreography of the show. Martinez sang and danced from a distance but also up close providing a great view of the artistry, and the creative enthusiasm she performs with. Smiles were on full display from both artist and fans with many displaying handmade hearts. 

Finally, not to be outdone, Martinez and a male dancer finished the show on a small stage in almost the middle of the arena, intricately dancing. This provided more insight into some of the relationship aspects heard on the latest outstanding album. “The Last Two People on Earth” was the perfect song to end the show as the arena erupted in confetti as Martinez and the fellow dancer disappeared under the stage to let the audience enjoy the final moments of a superb evening.  

Martinez keeps evolving as an artist, and this latest offering may be her best work yet while already producing great albums in the past. The future is unlimited with this kind of artistry, and it will be great to see which direction Melanie Martinez takes her music and sound next. 

Melanie Martinez continues the Hades: The Sacrifice Tour through September.

The setlist included:

A-STAGE:

Garbage
Is This a Cult?
Possession
White Boy With a Gun
Disney Princess

B-STAGE:

Grudges
Monopoly Man
Avoidant
Monolith
Weight Watchers

A-STAGE:

The Plague
Batshit Intelligence
Gutter
Uncanny Valley
The Vatican
Hell’s Front Porch
Chatroom

Encore:
The Last Two People on Earth

Check out more photos of Melanie Martinez dazzling at the CFG Bank Arena on July 25, 2026. All photos are copyright James Todd Miller:

And here are photos of Haute and Freddy kicking things off at the CFG Bank Arena: