Alternative pop singer Melanie Martinez released the music video for “Tunnel Vision” on Dec. 19, the third overall visual from her third studio album, Portals, and it has a very deep meaning. The video takes place in what seems to be another area of the Portals world after Martinez is seen falling from the Mushroom Palace at the end of her previous music video for “Void,” the second song off the Portals album. Martinez, who is dressed as a creature fairy, is seen getting up and slowly walking towards a well, which she falls in and lands on a moving platform that moves throughout the video along with Martinez and her dancers.
As Martinez is dancing, a number of heart-shaped pop-ups appear on the screen throughout the video. A clicker is seen clicking on each heart stone, and Martinez and the dancers do movements to mimic the words. The first word that appears on the screen is “Enter,” and Martinez is seen pushing a stone wall, which moves back as she walks into the “portals.” The second one reads, “Say they’re demonic,” which appears just a few seconds after the first one, referencing another song from her album, Evil. In the song, Martinez describes prioritizing herself after a bad relationship, whereas her ex-boyfriend calls her evil because she’s no longer doing everything for him and begins to stand up for herself.
The third and fourth stones read “Fill their cups” and “Take their cup away.” A cup can be seen falling from the sky right into Martinez’s hands and filling with a liquid resembling water. She then drinks from the cup and throws it into the background. Although these stones don’t have a clear meaning, fans believe that they signify how excited or “thirsty” they were for new music from her since her last album in 2021. And now that Melanie is putting out new music, it could be time for her to “take their cup away,” as she’s maybe given them more than enough.
The fifth stone says, “Give them long hair,” and is a direct link to when Martinez debuted a short haircut style before this era began, and many fans disagreed with the style and knowingly insulted Martinez’s appearance. The next stone reads, “Make them tall and skinny,” another reference to the media’s comments about Martinez’s body type throughout her career. These stones are also linked to some of society’s many disapproving comments towards women in general. If they don’t have a certain look or don’t fit the beauty standards, then society suggests that they change themselves to appear more attractive.
The sixth stone says, “Make them smile all the time,” which is another thing society expects women to do when they’re in public. There are a number of videos on the internet that insinuate she is rude because she was seen not smiling at some of the fans.
The next stone reads, “Give them their flowers,” and in the video, a number of flowers began to blossom around Martinez and the dancers. This could signify that Martinez wants people to recognize the hard work and creativity she puts into her music and visuals. To give someone their flowers essentially means to applaud someone for the work they’ve done and the things they’ve accomplished. Shortly after, the next stone reads, “Take them away,” and the flowers begin to burn down, connected to people recognizing Martinez’s hard work but taking away the flowers once they criticize her again.
The last two stones read, “You made them very upset,” which relates to an Instagram story where Martinez called out some of her fans for being impatient and childish. This shows how frustrated Martinez was; she believed she was doing enough for her fans, but they weren’t very appreciative of her during that time. Fans’ reactions to the story could relate to the final stone shown in the video that read, “Call them a b*tch for being human,” meaning Martinez was allowed to be upset and express her feelings, but the media instead called her mean for her reaction.
At the very end, the “Game Over” stone appears, signifying how Martinez could feel controlled by the labels that the media put on her throughout her career.
Overall, each stone has a very important meaning that could be related to several things in Martinez’s life and in general society.