A year after the release of her K-12 album, one of my favorite musicians has come back with a new EP. Melanie Martinez, in her classic bubblegum fantasy, meets nightmare style, has given us the gift of the After School EP. In continuation with her theme of growing up through the albums After School, is a perfect name to follow Crybaby and K-12 (though technically it is just an extension of K-12 and all the songs can be found on the deluxe version of the main album). There were surprisingly almost no announcements that an album was coming aside from a single teaser trailer for the music video of the title track The Bakery. The release was quite sudden as the trailer only came out about a week before the EP dropped.
But I’m not here to talk about advertising decisions, I want to talk about the music. The songs are absolutely amazing! I’m personally drawn to the soft sound of Glued. The message is about feeling sucked into a relationship and not knowing what to do without it. She sings about being scared of how much she depends on this unspecified relationship and how she wouldn’t feel the same without it. The chorus is repetitive but the sound is so good. It’s falsely lulling. She wants you to feel sucked in like she does. I also quite like Brain and Heart, which is about how you need both your brain and heart to make decisions. I love the message first of all. I think it’s one hundred percent true, we can’t separate our brains and hearts, they need to work together. And then on top of that, once again, the sound is just the best. It’s more upbeat then Glued, but it’s still so catchy and pretty. I love Melanie’s voice so much, I could listen to her sing all day.
Though I’m not the biggest fan of the song Field Trip, the words come at you really fast. Something about it really stresses me out, and I just don’t like the chorus so much. The verses are pretty good though, I like their sound. The song is more about her personally though and less generally relatable. Maybe that’s part of why I don’t like it quite as much, I like to relate to the music I listen to. Oh well, not every song an artist writes is intended for every person who hears it.
What qualities attract you to songs?
"Brain & Heart" is one of my favorites, too! "Field Trip" is my #1 though, so I might need to fight you. "Glued" gives me "Orange Juice" vibes so I'm not surprised it's your favorite and one of my, well, not. Anyways, I've been a Mel fan since Dollhouse EP. I really loved how she had her own style and at the time, nobody with her style was a part of mainstream pop or alternative. Also her fashion sense? Perfect. And obviously her signature hair. I don't know, Melanie is just very unique and not a lot of musicians manage the same style she does and I just love it.
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