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"After School" is the fourth official extended play by Melanie Martinez. It was released on September 25, 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.[1]

On December 6, 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, 2020, and January 21, 2020, fans reported hearing Melanie rehearsing an unknown song, now confirmed to be Test Me among others. However, she did not perform any of these songs during her concerts.[2][3][4]

On February 6, 2020, an interview was released where Melanie stated that she intended to release Fire Drill by the end of the month; however, it was later released on June 26, 2020. She also scrapped one track from the extended play,[5] although she later confirmed in a Beats 1 interview that the extended play would remain with seven tracks.[6]

On February 9, 2020, Melanie confirmed through her Instagram story that the extended play would be out in spring, but it was pushed back, and that a song featuring "one of [her] favorite artists" would be coming out "sooner than you think".[7] The next day, on February 10, 2020, she released Copy Cat.

On August 31, 2020, Melanie posted on Instagram and liked a comment theorizing the release being September 25, 2020, or sometime during Libra season (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22). This had lead fans to theorize whether she is hinting at a release around that time.

Then, on September 15, 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. The EP was released on September 25, 2020, along with the music video for The Bakery.

On September 22, 2020, Melanie posted a snippet of The Bakery on her TikTok.

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]."

On December 17, 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.[8]

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

Key

Bold typing indicates that the song, snippets of the song, or lyrics have been leaked/posted/performed at some point.

Underlined typing indicates that the song's full studio version has been leaked or released as a stand-alone single.

Music Videos

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

Physical Copies

Q&A (January 8, 2020)

On January 8, 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, 2020)

On July 24, 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 not to.
  • 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".[5] 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, 2020, which replaced the removed song.[6] .
    • 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,[9], however she did not make it in the end, as to not take from the budget for 2nd Feature Film.
  • Melanie has revealed the her favorite lyrics from the extended play are from Brain & Heart.[10]
  • The Bakery is produced by Blake Slatkin, being the only track on the extended play not produced by Michael Keenan.
    • It was also the only song on this EP that was leaked ahead of time.
  • 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."
  • There is currently one known unreleased outtake that is titled "History", which was leaked on May 16th, 2021.
    • Fire Drill and Copy Cat are also outtakes, however they were both officially released as singles.
    • It is said that the EP only has four outtakes in all, one being currently unleaked.

References

Navigation

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After School Text
Featured tracks NotebookTest MeBrain & HeartNumbersGluedField TripThe Bakery
Characters AbuelitaBunnies
Scrapped tracks AbsorbCopy Cat (ft. Tierra Whack)Erase HerFire DrillFunctionHistoryLost & FoundMazeOh No!Paper CutSpin The BottleTrophyUnder The Desk
Producers Blake SlatkinMelanie Martinez (exec.)Michael Keenan
Related Promotional photoshootsK-12CAN'T WAIT TILL I'M OUT OF K-12Merchandise
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