ButterflyBones

At this point I think the only way to really pull off this release will be to roll out singles first, then the album, and then release the movie after she's taken her time to perfect it. If she pulls another K-12, pushing back dates repeatedly until she's ready to release everything at once, she'll be making a big mistake. I think she's learned the lesson, but we'll see. Her label might be puppeteering a lot more this time around.

There were some good tracks and themes on K-12, but the execution wasn't half as clever and deeply written as Cry Baby was. There are also some songs that just don't sound like they belong on the album, and sound odd out of the context of the movie. The beat drop in Class Fight comes especially out of nowhere, and the overall song is just not really relatable to most people. Teachers Pet is also uncomfortable, and not in the way she intended. I think she could have done so much better, and so could Keenan as her producer, honestly. She just went too hard into the theme, and forgot how to be objective rather than just subjective. Luckily, I think this upcoming album could be her best yet if she takes the right steps with it. I'm looking forward to seeing if she can pull of this comeback.

It's not the worst but I feel like she could've picked a better theme and direction for her second album than "Crybaby goes to school".

I think we're going to get something along the lines of her first album in the sense that there will be a heavy overarching theme, but the tracks will each have a unique yet cohesive sound(unlike K-12, which came across as monotonous more than cohesive). After School is a perfect example of her gearing up for a new musical style, where her instrumentals and vocals are just on the edge of her old music and something entirely new. And with what we've heard of her recent work with K+OL, I'm sure she'll make a great comeback and garner a wider audience.

If she hasn't started filming yet, she may go to Hawaii seeing as she went there to record the album. She did say it was a place of inspiration for a lot of it, and the landscape fits the "fairyland/heaven" theme well. I also wonder if she's going to be changing her look for the movie. If she grows her hair back out for the role I'll understand, but I'm gonna miss Mulletie Martinez.

If she released anything at all, really. Sis has plenty of easy ways that she could be making bank right now. I don't see why she chose NFTs, especially with the agenda she preaches in her music. But oh well, moving on.

Probably their record labels idea, honestly, and if not it's just for pocket money. Not sure which is worse.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/climate/nft-climate-change.amp.html They use massive amounts of energy and are horribly wasteful. It's more than just "people spending too much money on stupid things", it's irresponsible for no gain.

I hope this NFT thing isn't real, but at this point I'm pretty sure it's legit. If she wants to be taken seriously when she talks about being anti-capitalist, anti-establishment, going against the grain, etc., she should think twice about this. It's disingenuous and honestly just a terrible trend to partake in. NFT's are stupid, but they're also horrible for the planet. I can't say I'm not disappointed to see this when she could be doing anything else with her money and fame.

I'm just waiting to see what gets scrapped. She has a history of leaving some of her best material in a dusty drawer somewhere, and I don't want to get my hopes up for certain songs we've heard leaks of. That being said, I think Needle & Thread, Fingers Crossed, and Magnets are some of the strongest songs we've heard from her so far, IMO. They have great depth of sound, great production, and the lyrics will speak to a lot more people than her past work. Let's hope they make it on to the studio album.

I'm still surprised so many people hated it. Especially the criticism that it "didn't sound like a Melanie song/sounded like generic pop". The repetition was part of the point of the song, and honestly the beat was the most Melanie-ish beat I've heard since CryBaby. Definitely one of her best IMO.

I'm not really into these After School leaks. Absorb was okay, but it feels off, almost like it's not even made for Melanie. Mess and Purpose also aren't doing anything for me and sound a little weird. But granted, they're edited, and only snippets. Side note, we all know this but it's irritating when leakers edit the audio and release snippets instead of the full songs. Turning 15 minutes of fame into 15 seconds of lame.

Imagine spending hundreds of dollars on Melanie leaks, lmao

And who ever said they were?

Not even trying to be shady, but if she waits longer than 2022, her fanbase is going to get even more tired of her and it simply won't sell well. I'm not going to be biting my nails for her music anymore after how disappointing K-12 turned out, but it'd be nice to hear something new that isn't just some xylophone and bass over her autotuned whisper-singing.

Low-key was hoping for another surprise Christmas single like a fool.. Gingerbread Man still hits, tho

Agreed, I would've expected something similar to "Cellophane" by FKA Twigs. A lyra hoop dance, with themes of afterlife and gods/goddesses. Hopefully if she makes enough revenue from the new film and album, she'll be able to make a music video for it eventually. I have a feeling she'd still want to, it was her favorite after all.

Definitely. I know most of her fans are still primarily into Cry Baby, but I'm a little over it at this point, and I'm really enjoying her new, more empowered style. I really wish we could've seen a video for "Test Me", it probably would've been the best video she's made so far. Also, as far as the costumes for "The Bakery" go, I'm actually more into the first look with the hair bows and ruffle pants. The makeup is also super cute. Hoping we see more styles like this in the movie(and the finger-wave mullet).

Yes honey, you don't need that kind of desperation in your life.

Melanie stans will believe anything, I stfg.

Especially if the "leak" comes from Dbree, spammers galore. That "Fingers Crossed V4" is definitely fake, and "Key of the Castle" is probably just a fan-edited version of "Hard AF Beat". I wouldn't be on the edge of my seat for any more major leaks after all we got this year. I'm just hoping people don't get desperate like they did with K-12 and try to leak the whole album the day before it releases, lol.

I don't think the smoking is the problem. Plenty of other major singers smoke daily and sing perfectly well, and although I'm not a professional, I can safely say I've been smoking for years now and I've had no problems with my singing voice. I think the biggest problem (aside of singing while sick and touring ofc) is her using stressful techniques and fighting against her own voice. She seems to push herself into an uncomfortable pitch too often as well. For instance, if she admitted to having trouble hitting the notes for "Play Date" live, I can't imagine the tones she used throughout K-12 were any less stressful for her. She's definitely done permanent damage to her voice, but hopefully if she rests and takes the time to learn better techniques, she can stop the damage from progressing further.

It's taken as an insult instead of constructive criticism, probably. Melanie is very talented, but she won't be able to keep up with her own music if she doesn't take her vocal damage seriously and rest. She's been using extremely stressful vocal techniques without proper training for years too, which can't help. Maybe, but it doesn't sound like there were many better takes. A lot of these recordings clearly ended up being used in her demos/finals. She seems to be using autotune as a crutch lately and drowning her vocals in her instrumentals, which is telling. Even on her worst performances during the "Cry Baby" era, the recordings hardly needed autotune.

I knew her voice was damaged after the tours and sickness, but it's worse than I thought in "Garden_2". Pushing through the strain isn't helping her. I hope she takes a legitimate break after the new album comes out and takes time to rest her voice without the pressures of recording and performing.