After School EP

After School
Extended play
Artist	Melanie Martinez
Released	September 25th, 2020
Recorded	2017-2020
Genre	Alternative pop • electropop • experimental pop • trip hop
Tracks	7
Length	22:17
Label	Atlantic Records
Producer(s)	Michael Keenan Blake Slatkin
Singles
The Bakery
Melanie Martinez chronology
Previous	K-12
Current	After School
Next	3rd Studio Album

"After School" is the fourth official extended play by Melanie Martinez. It was released on September 25^th, 2020, by Atlantic Records through digital download, vinyl and CD. The extended play is also featured on streaming platforms as a deluxe edition of K-12.

Background

In an interview with V Magazine, Melanie stated that she would release songs that were in-line with K-12, but was "more personal and more vulnerable".

When the K-12 Tour began, fans began to speculate that Melanie would be releasing an extended play because the image displayed on the video screen during when Melanie performed "Fire Drill" would show a pink composition notebook with "After School" written on the front.

On December 6^th, 2019, during the concert at O2 City Hall in Newcastle, England, Melanie announced that "Fire Drill" would be officially released at some point in 2020. It was later confirmed through Melanie's Instagram story that the song would be a track on After School.

On January 20^th, 2020, and January 21^st, 2020, fans reported hearing Melanie rehearsing an unknown song, now confirmed to be "Test Me" and "Numbers". However, she did not perform any of these songs during her concerts.

On February 6^th, 2020, an interview was released where Melanie stated that she intended to release "Fire Drill" by the end of the month. "Fire Drill's" release was later pushed to June 26^th, 2020, because of "Play Date's" popularity on TikTok. She also scrapped one track from the extended play, although she later confirmed in a Beats 1 interview that the extended play would remain with seven tracks.

On February 9^th, 2020, Melanie confirmed through her Instagram story that the extended play would be out in spring, but it was later pushed back, and that a song featuring "one of [her] favorite artists" would be coming out "sooner than you think". The next day, on February 10^th, 2020, she released "Copy Cat".

On August 31^st, 2020, Melanie posted on Instagram and liked a comment theorizing the release being sometime during Libra season (Sept. 23^rd - Oct. 22^nd). This had lead fans to theorize whether she is hinting at a release around that time.

Then, on September 15^th, 2020, Melanie posted a surrealist photo of her in a giant nest with two eggs on Instagram, with a caption reading; "Holdin’ onto these eggs till they're ready to be hatched next week.", causing fans to believe that the extended play would be released the following week.

On September 22^nd, 2020, Melanie posted a snippet of "The Bakery" on her TikTok. She later announced that the music video for "The Bakery" would be out at 12AM EST on September 24^th, 2020.

The EP was released on September 25^th, 2020, along with the music video for "The Bakery".

In an interview with Idolator, Melanie expressed interest in making a music video for Test Me, saying that she wrote a video treatment and that "it all depends on how much people connect with it/stream [the song]." However, she later confirmed on her Instagram Livestream that she didn't have enough budget to make the "Test Me" music video while she was making the film for her 2nd Feature Film.

On December 17^th, 2020, Melanie performed six tracks ("Test Me", "Brain & Heart", "Numbers", "Glued", "Field Trip", and "The Bakery") from After School during the CAN'T WAIT TILL I'M OUT OF K-12 virtual concert.

Theme

According to Melanie, the EP follows the story elements that are present in her sophomore album, K-12; however, the songs are more personal to Melanie rather than relating to her character, Cry Baby.

Tracklist

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Notebook"	Martinez, Michael Keenan	Keenan	2:31
2.	"Test Me"	Martinez, Keenan	Keenan	2:55
3.	"Brain & Heart"	Martinez, Keenan, Fred Jerkins III, Jennifer Lopez, LaShawn Daniels, Mark Rooney, Rodney Jerkins	Keenan	3:24
4.	"Numbers"	Martinez, Keenan	Keenan	4:40
5.	"Glued"	Martinez, Keenan	Keenan	3:13
6.	"Field Trip"	Martinez, Keenan	Keenan	3:01
7.	"The Bakery"	Martinez, Blake Slatkin	Slatkin	2:33

Cut Songs

Main article: List of Unreleased Songs

Key

• Bold typing indicates that the song has been fully leaked online or officially released.
• Italic typing indicates that the song was never released and has yet to leak fully online.

List

• "Copy Cat"
• "Fire Drill"
• "History"
• "Lost & Found" (unconfirmed)

Music Videos

No.	Title	Release Date of Music Video	Length of Music Video
1.	The Bakery	September 25, 2020	2:40

Physical Copies

Tracklist

Booklet

Logo

Vinyl

Exclusive CD

Q&A (January 8^th, 2020)

On January 8^th, 2020, Melanie did a Q&A regarding the extended play on her Instagram stories. The Q&A can be found below.

Q&A (July 24^th, 2020)

On July 24^th, 2020, Melanie did a second Q&A regarding the EP on her Instagram story about the tracks. The Q&A can be found below.

Gallery

After School (EP)/Gallery

Trivia

• "Glued" and "Field Trip" were almost cut before Melanie decided to keep them.
• Originally, Melanie scrapped a song, likely "Copy Cat" or "Fire Drill", leaving the extended play with six tracks, as she thought seven was "too much for an EP". However, she later stated in an interview with Beats 1 that the extended play would have seven tracks again, as she wrote a new song February 24^th, 2020, which replaced the removed song. .
  • The new song was later confirmed to be "The Bakery".
• One of the songs was confirmed to be about a breakup. The song was later confirmed to be "Notebook".
• Melanie planned to make music videos for multiple songs on this project. Originally, Melanie was additionally going to make a music video for the song "Play Date" as a result of the song's rising popularity on TikTok, but she chose to create a music video for "The Bakery" instead.
  • Melanie also confirmed in an interview with Idolator that she had already written a video treatment for "Test Me", which was going to be her favorite.
    • She stated that this music video's creation depends on how much people will connect with it and stream it so that she can get to make it,, however she did not make it in the end, as to not take from the budget for 2nd Feature Film.
• Melanie has revealed that her favorite lyrics from the extended play are from "Brain & Heart".
• "The Bakery" is produced by Blake Slatkin, being the only track on the extended play not produced by Michael Keenan.
• "Notebook" is the shortest track on After School, with the song length at 2:31.
  • "Numbers" is the longest song on After School, with the song length at 4:39.
• "Brain & Heart" and "Test Me" are the only non-explicit songs on the EP.
• The extended play debuted at #73 on Billboard Hot 200.
• In an interview with The Knockturnal, Melanie revealed the meaning behind the cover.
  • The bubblegum is a symbolic ode to the end scene of K-12 where Cry Baby and Ben blow spit bubbles.
  • She wanted to be sitting at a desk because she feels like After School is more so about the real-life lessons she has learned and been applying to her life. So she wanted it to feel like she was sitting at a desk absorbing what life had to teach her.
  • Her cut off head is symbolic for what it feels like when you are learning such challenging things in life. "You feel like a chicken with your head cut off scrambling to find the solutions to the issues at hand."