ButterflyBones

There is NO WAY all of that will be done on time if it's done right. I don't even think anyone wants both at this point.. not unless they're looking forward to 5 more years of video and film production. It took enough time just to produce and release the Cry Baby videos and those weren't nearly on the level of what she's trying to do now(extensive CGI, full body costuming, etc). Why does she put so much on her plate all the time, all at once? An album release, a whole tour in costume, press and interviews, music videos, and a movie? I just do not get it. She's really pushing her boundaries with this era and she'll burn out eventually if she's not careful.

If some of y'all keep logging in with the hot takes like these, I'm going to have to divorce this thread. It's getting sad here, guys.

I think everyone just needs to stop asking for her to release more Cry Baby material/videos/concert performances at this point. She's expressed openly how tired she is of it and I don't blame her considering how much her style has changed since then. And is the costume really that bad to some of y'all? Honestly asking, not trying to be rude. She's always been an experimental artist. We shouldn't be surprised that she's stepped in the direction of full body costumes now. I did notice this time around that she had the prosthetics done differently for her face, leaving her lower jaw open to sing more easily, and probably also to keep her cooler with less material sitting on her bare skin. I think that's a good idea if she's really going to keep up with the prosthetics for the whole tour since it's so hot everywhere. Definitely agree that I'm going to miss seeing her face, though.

It's Teddy Bear for me. It hardly gets talked about, and a lot of people here just don't like it at all! I'm not really sure why. There are similar songs she's put out lyrically/beat-wise that everyone seems to love.

It's been like this for weeks. People will try to start a discussion or post an opinion, and either get ignored completely or told they're all "rehashing the same opinions over and over". It's not like everyone here is going to read 200 pages backwards just to see what people were saying at X-date in time. And pretty much since Portals came out, there's been some actual discussion, but mostly just random comments being thrown out in attempt to get laughs/likes, AKA the "LEAK 'MOMMY I THREW UP ON THE PLAYGROUND' NOW!!" every 5 minutes. It just feels like lately you'll either come back to 2 new posts begging for something we've been waiting on for years to finally leak, or 200 posts that basically say nothing or are just arguing with each other. It's like a circlejerk all of the sudden.

Alright? It was literally the first show of the tour and it was fine. I swear discussion is so dead on this thread right now, lol. It's just a bunch of random blurb posting, hate comments and "SOMEBODY LEAK 'MOMMY I THREW UP ON THE PLAYGROUND' NOW!!!"

Lol, seriously. Not 5 straight seconds before it cuts out. Why they would choose TikTok to stream on, I have no idea.. Twitch stream wasn't any better though so we'll just have to wait for better videos to be uploaded tomorrow. Side note, I like the overall costume but does it bother anyone else that the textured "skin" suit isn't fitted to her body? I'm sure it's to help her skin breathe during performances, but I think then she should just go with the simple pink bodystocking/body paint that she used in several teasers. It's probably a lot lighter for concerts anyway. She doesn't need to do it all every time.

I expected this show to be sold out but I guess at $350 per ticket, I'm not too surprised that it's not. Most people can't put that kind of money down for concerts. She's not exactly an A-lister either. I just hope we get some decent quality streams tonight, and I'm curious to see the setlist and costumes. It'd be fun to see a few new ones! The K-12 era was so busy and full right off the bat compared to this era so I'm craving more.

I know, the Moon Cycle fairy shirts are definitely my favorite designs she's released! The merch for this era in general has been great aside from the quality issues, which will probably be fixed before she tours anyway.

One of the new shirts has what looks like a pregnant fairy on it.. I've been wondering for a while if "WOMB" was more than a song about being born again, but also helping to birth her next self. This makes me even more curious to see the answer! Never expected to see a baby belly on Melanie but we'll see.

I know haha, they just work together a little too well. Much better than Maze would've ever fit into After School, IMO.

Truly, lol. Portals is a nice album but it would be perfect with a few additions from her unreleased. Fingers Crossed, Maze, and Needle & Thread especially are like perfect sisters, where the only thing that could make them better is if they were officially released(and Maze given a second verse). I also think Maze+FC have a lot of similarities in their instrumentals and meanings, so it would've been fun to have them as a double feature like Soap+TW. Putting FC out as a single like Copy Cat could be a really cute idea too because it could have it's own cover art with a literal needle and thread making up the "&"!

I wasn't directing my comment at you specifically, and I never tagged you because I was responding to another user and making a general statement about the fandom. Especially the Twitter fans that believe every post they see about "Melanie is releasing a secret single tomorrow! Get my post to 15k likes for a title reveal!". I don't see what's so terrible about PORTALS as a title, either. It's not the strongest, but it's not like Dollhouse, Cry Baby, K-12, or After School were the most creative titles in the world to begin with(not saying they aren't good, of course). I'm all for criticism where it's due, but let's not go around shitting on random things for fun.

What is it with all of the constant misinformation being thrown around in this fandom? You'd think by now everyone would know better than to believe whatever they read on Twitter. Not only did none of the leaks have anything to do with the title 'Medieval Dynasty', but it doesn't even sound remotely like anything that Melanie would ever release, lol..

I think this theme would be even better if she herself was the Toy Chest, and it was all a metaphor for the way we have to go through life carrying our trauma and trying to "clean it up".

The alien costume is cute but all the thrashing and mouth flapping she's doing lately is.. not so much. I guess that's her thing though, so.

Just listened to Toy Chest. I wish the lyrics were a little more built up and less repetitive, but..

Exactly. Her music is good, her ideas are great. But sometimes it's like she overthinks it at the last minute and scraps anything that stands out too much, leaving things sounding underdone. The unreleased vs. released issue is the perfect example of that: You'll get 20 leaks forming a clear narrative with great production even on a demo, that all fit perfectly together without being carbon copies of each other. Then the finished album comes out with none of the best songs on it, almost every song sounding the same and overall feeling so watered down. After School almost gave us History, Maze, Under the Desk, Function, Absorb, etc. But instead we got Notebook, Brain & Heart, Field Trip, and Glued. Regardless of how any of us feel about those songs, they are nowhere near as good as the unreleased. It goes without saying that Portals suffers from the same problem and would've been infinitely more successful with better mastering and a tracklist involving more of the leaked songs. It's just interesting to think about how different her career might be if she had chosen different/stronger tracklists throughout her discography.

I'm so disappointed in the merch for this era. So many people have received defective items, items that don't even match what was advertised, had customer service issues left and right, etc. For example(credit to @melaniessource on IG): What you ordered: What you got: Not even the same shirt, and it honestly looks like it was drawn with Crayola markers by a 3rd grader to begin with. Another example: VS. The graphic is cut off, and the whole shirt is once again different from the website photo. Who thought this was a good idea? Fire them. Lastly, some vinyls that hardly deserve to be brought up because we all know they were a mess, but still deserve an honorable mention: "Lilac Vinyl" and my personal favorite: This limited edition Bloodshot Vinyl(The red smudge is Moon Cycle). Hoping this stuff gets fixed before tour.

I'm sorry but Nymphology is the worst song on the album for me. I genuinely don't understand it. The lyrics are cringeworthy, the production is bland, and it overall sounds like it was made by and for edgy teenagers. It's just Fire Drills less interesting, more annoying little sister.

There's probably enough Portals material tucked away to make some amazing EPs if not an LP or two. I'm just hoping she repeats the K-12+AS formula and adds another transitional EP before her next album(?) including some of the tracks we're all missing. We got Sirens, so it's not off the table to have more of the favorited leaks released in the future.

Mother of Pearl gets so much hate here but it's better than some of the final tracks we got IMO. It's got a great instrumental, very deep and resonant. Sounds like water. The lyrics flow nicely too, and her voice is very unstressed and natural. If nothing else, it's very well produced. Wish it got more love.

We all know their name, lol. They've been a regular here and sharing those things for years now.

24Y here, and I highly disagree that Portals sounds like it was "made for kids". K-12, on the other hand...