Inside Melanie Martinez’s Hades: Medieval Instruments, Machine Guns & a New Voice

How do you build an album as strange and specific as Hades without sanding off the weirdness?Melanie Martinez and producer/songwriter CJ Baran take Justin Tranter inside the making of Hades — from 14–15-hour studio days and songs built without a tempo map to medieval instruments run through distortion, machine-gun rhythms, hyper-specific Foley, 50+ vocal takes and the session where Melanie discovered an entirely new voice.They also break down the creative relationship behind the music: why they abandon ideas when the feeling isn’t there, how Melanie turns massive concepts into songs, why intuition matters more than something being technically “right,” and how they built a working relationship with enough trust to take ideas somewhere completely unexpected.Plus: the song about the climate crisis that didn’t make the album, writing the dystopian and utopian records simultaneously, the real-world ideas behind Hades, Gag or Drag, TikTok’s effect on songwriting, Melanie’s relationship with label notes and the creative advice they wish more collaborators understood.Unfamous with Justin Tranter is about the decisions, false starts and breakthroughs behind great creative work, told by the people who were actually there.CHAPTERS00:00 “I Don’t Know What Label Notes Are”01:38 Why Melanie and CJ Choose Each Other03:29 From “Pity Party” to Portals06:54 Why Melanie Builds Worlds, Not Just Songs10:26 How a Melanie Martinez Song Starts13:23 The Songwriting Formula Behind the Stories17:28 The Week They Wrote 5–6 Hades Songs20:15 Why Long-Term Collaboration Changes the Room23:42 How They Know When to Scrap an Idea25:55 Medieval Instruments, Distortion + “Gushy Guts”28:11 Trusting Intuition Over the Technically “Right” Song31:31 The Hades Song They Threw Away33:47 Why “Cringe” Is Part of Making Art38:54 Melanie Discovers a Brand-New Voice42:24 Spring Awakening, Edward Scissorhands + Cat in the Hat45:10 Writing the Dystopian + Utopian Albums Together48:21 Why Hades Is About the World Right Now53:58 Gag or Drag: Lore, TikTok + Label Notes1:01:53 The Advice Melanie + CJ Want Creators to Hear1:03:04 The Secret to Becoming a Better Collaborator

Credits:

Unfamous is hosted by Justin Tranter
Created by Justin Tranter & Morgan T. Stuart
Produced by Justin Tranter & Morgan T. Stuart
Written & Researched by Morgan T. Stuart

Director: Morgan T. Stuart
Co-Director + Cinematographer: Olivia McCrary
Audio Engineer: Mike Sabri
Camera Assistant: Kolbi Samantha

Special thanks to Mark Beavan, Jimmy Knehans, Bobbie Gale, Nina Savio and Kyle Stuart. Shout out to Chloe Pappas and Leslie on Patreon.

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