Salem

The Portals perfume release is... interesting to say the least. When we started being told a perfume was coming, I was hoping to see something similar to the Crybaby perfume that, while a bit niche, is over all an appealing blend with a simple package you can tuck into a drawer if you don't want to display it. I know smaller and more affordable bottles are meant to be coming out next spring, but it just leads me to think this release was being pushed out before it was ready and rushed to completion. Another thing I've started to see now that people are receiving their packages is that even if they are over all happy with the product in terms of the packaging, they're disappointed with the fragrances themselves. u/blue_cookie_cutter on reddit said the fragrances only lasted for around ten minutes on their skin, and had a plasticy overtone after drying down that they compared to a c*ndom. I do hope that this is just a case of an individual receiving a poor product, possibly from winter temperatures during transit, but if this does turn out to be a consistent issue it's disappointing that this is another instance of low-quality merchandise being pushed by Melanie that probably won't be spoken on.

The whole thing is certainly... strange. The fact he made a new account specifically for this makes me think he didn't originally want it attached back to him, but he has shared his recent post on both @verde.whatever and @verdeonfilm which may be his way of confirming it's him. While I understand that he likely is frustrated with the treatment he gets now that he's dating Melanie (I certainly wouldn't like it either), I don't think the solution to that is to photograph random strangers who may not know or consent to being posted online. There's always a chance that this may violate some form of privacy law in one of the countries where the photos are being taken, so it just seems an odd risk to be willing to take? That said, he and Melanie both have this sort of strange way to go about talking about topics where they feel like they need to make you uncomfortable to change your view instead of spreading education or resources, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was just his idea of how to go about sharing his feelings on the issue. Edit - Reading through some of the comments on his instagram page, I'm seeing claims that people were unaware they were being photographed and that some have even requested the removal of the images, but they are currently still up. The comment was also liked by Verde, so this may be some confirmation from him that he doesn't intend to take anything down. I've also seen a few claims that the photos taken in Berlin do break German privacy laws, but I can't speak for the exact writing of the law as I've not researched it.

After re-reading, I'm pretty sure it's 60ml/2oz between the four bottles instead of 60ml each. If that's the case, the large packaging is likely intended to "make up" for the nearly $300 price tag... I really hope this is a mistake in wording on the website, because if the perfumes truly are 15ml they're only just over the size you'd take with you on a trip.

I've been keeping an eye on this roll out and it's safe to say it's... interesting. The fragrances themselves seem relatively nice, but aren't anything especially unique that I would've hoped for after the blend we previously got from her with Crybaby Milk. That aside, the real issue I see is with the packaging of the final product. You can only buy it as a 4pc set for $275 (pre-tax) USD, and I imagine that for those who are international between tax, shipping, and customs this will easily near $400. The design itself is also not a great choice, because the average consumer likely isn't going to want a foot tall sculpture of the portals creature on their vanity (especially considering how many people are bored of or simply don't like the visuals and costuming of this era). All in all, it works out to around $70 per 60ml perfume, and if you only plan to use one or two fragrances like most I've seen on this thread it's likely not a worthwhile purchase. It's about what I expected from her, but none the less it's disappointing for anyone who got excited.

This is from a TikTok live that's been going on every day for like two weeks. I can't get it off my FYP and every time I see it I'm wondering how they've not gotten bored yet.

The costume itself I can deal with for the music videos, photos, etc, even if I don't particularly care for it: but on tour it's just not a good idea. Less so because it's kind of ugly (though I think that's intentional) and more so because it's not safe to have anything covering your nose/mouth when you're under stage lights on a hot day. It's not like she can just take it off like a mask if it gets to be too much or she can't breathe because it's adhered onto her face. There were points watching last night's show I thought she was about to pass out from heat exhaustion, and it's only going to get hotter when it truly hits summer temperatures. The tour schedule has her playing 8 shows between California, Arizona, and Texas in June (all states known for incredibly hot climates) and a few shows going into mid July. I don't think it's going to get any easier for her to manage to stay cool enough, especially now that she can't further rework the prosthetics. I sort of wonder if anyone on her makeup team or the prosthetic artist themselves warned her of this, because I find it hard to believe nobody would've told her this wasn't really a safe idea.

It's been so overplayed that I just cannot stand it anymore. I used to find it cute but tiktok ruined it because any time you're stuck hearing the same part of a song over and over often many times within a day for several weeks it reaches a point it starts to drive you crazy.

Is she just ending it on womb or is she coming back... (she came back)

For most of the show I've not been able to see anything because of the lighting blending in with the backdrop and the costumes. Hopefully for future shows she wears a different outfit that is easier to see in the colored lights. Edit - Why does she keep randomly speeding up and slowing back down

I don't mind it as long as it's not the SAME old tracks. I'm happy to not have to sit through HSSH or Play Date, but I think with how much Test Me was hyped as a "bridge" between her old/new music it would've been better if she preformed a 2-3 older tracks, test me, and then Portals, possibly not in track list order just so it's a bit less predictable.

I'm holding out hopes for a good encore, but with the prosthetic I'm going to be surprised if she doesn't have to leave early. It's too hot for it.

Tanukichan according to a post Mel put out a few days back. Show finally started (apparently she was supposed to be on at 6, she got on at 8:30) and she's wearing the prosthetic Hopefully we get Sirens live, I think at least the choreography for that might be interesting.

Not sure how the quality will be, but this tiktoker is claiming to be going live at 9:20EST (in about four minutes). If nothing else comes up, this may be your best bet. https://www.tiktok.com/@iwasbornabitch I'm holding out hope that she isn't using the prosthetic on the main tour, it was kind of a cute moment to promo the album before it came out with shock value, but for the sake of her ability to see/breathe and the fact the adhesive probably isn't good for her skin I hope she's done with it at least during the live shows. It's already getting to be pretty hot in most of the US, and it's currently 73F/23C in Denver where she's playing tonight. EDIT - The show starts in 7 minutes according to the stream host, she's just talking to chat until then. EDIT 2 - There's an opener, so they're coming back later.

The OG sample is from Barney and something about the 808 added over something I grew up with is really funny to me. It was the first thing I noticed when I heard the song because the voice is so distinct. The sample is from this clip, you can tell really distinctly in the intro.

(removed the image to not have this be super long) I think the main reason the pictures where she's wearing the body suit look odd is because it's got this fishy gill texture on the entirety of her body (including her palms, neck, and chest which adds to the weird factor) while the face is mostly smooth. I also feel like the gills are out of place if the creature is meant to be a fairy of some kind, but we don't really know 100% what it is.

In the way of the finals, I've only been going back to Leeches and Milk Of The Siren. I feel like this era had great potential to be something amazing but Melanie ended up making the same mistake she did with K-12 by having one producer for the whole album. I also feel like in a lore context Portals doesn't make sense as it's own or with her other work because a lot of the tracks included (Ex: BOTL) don't fit the past life regression theme, and it almost ends up feeling like there's several tracks missing because of it. I'm hoping we get a few more (preferably non-CJ) tracks that clear up the plot and make a little more sense with the theme, but we'll see.

Am I the only one who finds it odd there's a repeated dragon motif through this era, yet she didn't include Dragon's Blood? It's a great song, and it would've fit into the album easily enough. It makes me wonder if there's a dragon-themed track (even if it's not Dragon's Blood) planned for release as a single at some point during this era. Currently the Portals era feels really incomplete, and with the film being up in the air and the tour being so short, it makes me wonder if she's planning anything else for later this summer. I know it's most likely wishful thinking, especially knowing Melanie takes a long time between projects even within one era, but I'm honestly really hoping for a few more tracks that I may enjoy more than the standard edition of the album since so far I've not really been returning to anything other than Milk Of The Siren, Leeches, and the demo of Faerie Soiree.

I think the new production elements are really cute but the mixing is... an interesting choice. It's just so quiet because it's missing mids. I personally took the track into FL Studio and used Parametric EQ 2 to up the high end, bump the low, and adjust the mids to be a bit cleaner (same as I did for The Contortionist and a few other tracks I otherwise liked) as well as layering in the old riser.

Could you tag me there as well? I'm missing a lot of the Animal + Cannibal era unreleased because my PC briefly died back in December and I've not been able to find a working master.

I usually love vocal effects, but I think there's a few cases of them being poorly used both in this era and After School. The way the formant is used on Powder makes the lyrics difficult to make out over the beat, and in Amulet and Numbers she sounds a bit reminiscent of Alastor from Hazbin Hotel, which I doubt is what she's going for. I think over all she tends to sound better with a vocoder than with a formant, and in general it tends to sound better when she has distinction between the vocal/it's effects and the beat itself (ex: Sirens or the leaked version of Void, both having distinct but simple production under any modulated vocals) than when it's used in a beat that already has some synth sounds or is just a complex mix.

I was glad to see Melanie working with CJ again and then I heard the final mixing and remembered why I didn't really stream many of the songs she worked with him on for Cry Baby. His actual production is really good, but his mixing isn't my favorite. For some reason his style of mastering tends to sound muffled and overly quiet. With Portals I have to change my equalizer on my phone to up mids and highs or even with good headphones it's hard to make out the details of the production and vocals.

I would love for her to return to her roots as a photographer and release a series of photos (one or two for each track) with each release. She'd be able to create them on her own with relatively small budgets, so Atlantic would be unlikely to deny the budget for them, and her need to have visuals alongside her art would be met while also not forcing her to cram together visuals with a budget that doesn't fit what she needs (or give us another film that is convoluted and feels rushed due to limited run time and materials to make it it's best). We've seen that she still enjoys creating photoshoots with the ones she did on her own during quarantine, so I truly think it'd be a great way for her to channel some of her creativity in a constructive way instead of in a lot of ways limiting herself with wanting to do massive projects.

Honestly, at this point the chances of us getting a film seem to be growing slimmer. They've not approved a budget for it yet, and I don't think they're likely to approve one in the future because while Portals is doing relatively well, I don't think it's doing well enough to justify a multi-million dollar budget to make another film especially with such a short tour making it harder for Melanie to bring in the large profits she needs to show Atlantic that a Portals film would be a worthwhile investment. If the budget for a second film were approved, most fans would be wanting new music instead of visuals for a 2-3 year old album (by the time a film could be casted, costumed, shot, edited, etc). Melanie's best bet for commercial success is to do music videos for 3-4 of the best songs of this era (Tunnel Vision/Faerie Soiree double feature would be great, and a Sirens MV would be another awesome thing to see from her) and work towards having MM4 ready in the next few years instead of taking another four year hiatus.

If I could only swap three tracks on the final album (but could still reposition tracks and use the dlx to fill in some gaps) I would probably make the track list something closer to this. It definitely still has some skips for me, but One of the biggest issues I always had with Portals was that it seemed to jump around a lot sonically and thematically and it felt odd to me, so this positioning feels like the best way to fix it. That said, later tonight I'll be making my fully reworked track list and seeing if I can create a no-skip version of the album for my own listening. Edit: Did anyone else notice Portals doesn't seem to fit the past life regression theme she described at all? Even when she explains a track, she'll explain an experience people who have practiced PLR claim to have had and then say "this song is about *insert unrelated thing*". It feels more like it's a regular album she's trying to market as a concept album then a themed album.

Yeah my previous statement only applies to the actual song vocals, I feel like I should clarify. Things like the Light Shower transition from FS and the new TV intro are likely newer than the initial leaks, since I imagine the transitions were added after the final track list was selected.