"Show & Tell" is the fourth track by Melanie Martinez that is featured on her sophomore album, K-12. The official music video, originally available as part of the film, was separately released on October 3rd, 2019.
Background
A snippet of the song was released on July 23rd, 2019, at the end of the film's trailer. On August 19th, 2019, a second snippet was released exclusively in Canada and Mexico as an assignment, before being officially released worldwide.
Theme
Similarly to Dollhouse, the song is about how celebrities are seen as "perfect" by the public, as well as how they're treated by the music industry. The lines, "Harsh words if you don't get a pic with me" and "There are strangers takin' pictures of me when I ask "No more"" also speak on an incident from 2016, where fans were shut down by Melanie after they took pictures of her without her consent.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
You pull me by my hair so I don't go nowhere
Tell me you love me, but you treat me like I'm never there
You say the cruelest words, yes, they break my heart
'Cause I'm over here working my ass off
[Pre-Chorus]
Why is it so hard to see? (Why?)
If I cut myself, I would bleed (Ouch)
I'm just like you, you're like me
Imperfect and human, are we?
[Chorus]
Show and tell
I'm on display for all you fuckers to see
Show and tell
Harsh words if you don't get a pic with me
Buy and sell (buy and sell me, baby)
Like I'm a product to society
Art don't sell
Unless you fucked every authority
[Verse 2]
You beg and cry for more, and yet I'm on the floor
There are strangers takin' pictures of me when I ask "No more"
It's really hard for me to say just how I feel
I'm scared that I'll get thrown away like a banana peel
[Pre-Chorus]
Why is it so hard to see? (Why?)
If I cut myself, I would bleed (ouch)
I'm just like you, you're like me
Imperfect and human, are we?
[Chorus]
Show and tell (show and tell)
I'm on display for all you fuckers to see (fuckers to see)
Show and tell (show and tell)
Harsh words if you don't get a pic with me
Buy and sell (buy and sell)
Like I'm a product to society
Art don't sell
Unless you fucked every authority
[Bridge]
Show and tell
Why can't you fucking hear me?
Show and tell, um
Are you listening yet?
[Chorus]
Show and tell (show and tell, baby)
I'm on display for all you fuckers to see (fuckers to see)
Show and tell (oh)
Harsh words if you don't get a pic with me
Buy and sell
Like I'm a product to society
Art don't sell
Unless you fucked every authority
Videos
Music Video
This is the fourth music video that appears in Melanie's film, K-12. It features Cry Baby being controlled as a puppet by Ms. Penelope. She dances for all of the other students in the class, who cheer in a barbaric manner and consistently demand her to continue. They take pictures of her even though it clearly causes her distress. Cry Baby collapses from exhaustion by the end of the song and is tossed up as a doll that the students try to catch. However, they see her guts which causes them to be disgusted and no longer care about her.
Cast
- Ms. Penelope: Olga Kovács
Errors
- One of Cry Baby's female classmates raises her head twice: first when the door first opens, then in sync with the rest of the students.
Trivia
- On iTunes, the word "fucking" is reversed in the line "Why can't you fucking hear me?" in the trailer.
- In the real clean version, "fucking" is censored completely and not reversed.
- Each showing of the film in theaters had a video of Melanie rehearsing the choreography for this song and narrating over it after the movie.
- Melanie wrote this song while she was on tour.
- Some of the topics discussed in the song were previously mentioned in a Tumblr post from November of 2016.[1]
- As seen on a chalkboard in the film, Cry Baby is in third grade when this song occurs.
- The music video has reached over 21 million views and 653 thousand likes.
- This is Melanie's first song to chart on Spotify Global since Pity Party, and the second overall.
- The third line of the chorus is misspelled as "show you tell" in the original version of the booklet that comes with physical copies of the album. This has since been fixed in newly printed versions.
- During the K-12 Tour, the song's ending lyrics are slightly modified to be longer.
- Oddly, the music video for this song was the first from K-12 to be released separately, though every other music video from the album so far was released in tracklist order.
Gallery
Show & Tell/Gallery
