Ultra Violet 18,991 Posted July 21, 2020 Ugh Teacher's Pet is ridiculously hated by this fan base yet it's one of the best on the album imo along with Show & Tell because they're two of the few songs on the album that keep the original Cry Baby idea (serious subjets with child metaphores) rather than just throwing kid names around like in Class Fight or Wheels On the Bus just for the sake of using the album as a movie soundtrack. My only problem with Teacher's Pet is that, as most of the songs, it's kinda monotonous, no buildup to a huge final chorus, no adlibs, nothing. It's just the same thing for 4 minutes. This is actually worse with songs like HHS or Detention that somehow have an underproduced last chorus? lol i don't know what she was trying to do there but it's so anticlimatic and underwhelming. I blame Michael for all of this. I honestly wish the album process had been more interactive, kind of like what Charli tried to do with how i'm feeling now, like she could've asked for advice, maybe posting snippets of all 3 The Principal versions and asking which one was better (clearly the first one), asking us to come up with video ideas, or just lyrics, or even recording all the sounds in the album (like the voices in Show & Tell), not just because those iMovies effects sound cheap as hell, but it actually would've been cute to have us on the album, it would've made it more special. Not only that, but the wait for the album would've felt much shorter. Also she should've let fans send their beats (have you seen those tunnAbeatz videos?), they're extremely talented and would give her something fresh that still sounds like her. K-12 isn't a bad album by any means, Lanaboards just likes to trash it because it's a rehash of Cry Baby and not as good as the first one, but still one of the most unique albums of 2019. It just frustrates me because it has potential to be amazing, I know Melanie has it in her. The underproduced last chorus is so true and it really does diminish what the song could have been. Not to mention the principal doesn't even have a last chorus. In the cinema when the principal ended, multiple people where like "what???" out loud. Lol. Charli gives so much with fan interaction, but I know Melanie would never do that because she's a perfectionist and will always take total control over her work, no suggestions whatsoever, unless, like you said about the production, it's from the producer And yes it absolutely is one of the best albums of 2019. I've revisited it the more than I've revisited NFR. But the potential in each song just kinda dissappeared halfway through each. She might have thought the production was her best because it sounded clean (except Nurses office, let's not go there) but SO clean that it was empty. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alienprincess 1,972 Posted July 21, 2020 such good discussion in this thread... like everything is just spot on 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DinahLee 6,218 Posted July 21, 2020 concept albums are so tricky especially having to do a music video for 13 songs it always drags out for a long time and each music video progressively lacks creativity, gets cheaper and the audience loses interest. same thing that happened with cry baby happened with electra heart by marina, they both started out really strong then after about 5 videos a year or two goes by the labels don't want to fund it anymore and the fans want something new. the plot of k-12 is so useless like we get it you're going to school, the teachers suck, the popular girls are mean to you ... i wish she would've went more beyonce style where she just narrates over certain parts that lead into each song or even something like tropico that doesn't necessarily need acting or character dialogue but the story still makes sense i fear for the future of melanie's career and abilities as an artist when her label no longer wants to give her $6 million every time she wants to make a full length movie and decides to drop an album with no singles especially when the movie can barely crack $300k at the box office... There are some very interesting points! If I remember correctly, she kept touring Cry Baby nonstop so she could be able to "fund" this album and movie. (I mean, not directly from her pocket, but she had to give them enough money to "trust" them). Cry Baby managed to get some crazy records going on (Something like "tied with "lady gaga" - debut record with more certifications" and stuff like that). This time around she's not able to tour THAT much, with many dates canceled due pandemic and also the album didn't have the "longevity" from Cry Baby. She already said she wants album 3 to be another movie, isn't it? For the concept-records, I kinda agree but it's interesting to note that Cry Baby still had stuff like Tag\Cookies double video 1 year after the album release and ironically Melanie just grew (number-wise) during the Cry Baby era, with each video basically outdoing the one before. Even Mad Hatter that had like, almost 1 full year gap, sits at 77m views right now (which is actually huge when you think that she actually didn't really promote the record beyond the endless tour + music videos and it barely had real singles going on). It's different from like Electra Heart that they really just... got lost after Power & Control flopped and didn't bother (I think not even Marina bothered at all tbh rip) to keep it going, which is a shame since Marina kept growing through the cracks even if her numbers weren't impressive "chart-wise". Anyway, just remembered Mrs. Potato Head was supposed to have some other scenes including a Morgue set-up and she cut it to keep the story cute. Leak her too. Wondering why they still haven't re-issued Cry Baby as a CD+DVD package, including the deluxe\extra songs and all music videos + some behind the scenes. Especially now that they randomly got Play Date getting streams. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vanilla Icy 29,602 Posted July 21, 2020 There are some very interesting points! If I remember correctly, she kept touring Cry Baby nonstop so she could be able to "fund" this album and movie. (I mean, not directly from her pocket, but she had to give them enough money to "trust" them). Cry Baby managed to get some crazy records going on (Something like "tied with "lady gaga" - debut record with more certifications" and stuff like that). This time around she's not able to tour THAT much, with many dates canceled due pandemic and also the album didn't have the "longevity" from Cry Baby. She already said she wants album 3 to be another movie, isn't it? For the concept-records, I kinda agree but it's interesting to note that Cry Baby still had stuff like Tag\Cookies double video 1 year after the album release and ironically Melanie just grew (number-wise) during the Cry Baby era, with each video basically outdoing the one before. Even Mad Hatter that had like, almost 1 full year gap, sits at 77m views right now (which is actually huge when you think that she actually didn't really promote the record beyond the endless tour + music videos and it barely had real singles going on). It's different from like Electra Heart that they really just... got lost after Power & Control flopped and didn't bother (I think not even Marina bothered at all tbh rip) to keep it going, which is a shame since Marina kept growing through the cracks even if her numbers weren't impressive "chart-wise". Anyway, just remembered Mrs. Potato Head was supposed to have some other scenes including a Morgue set-up and she cut it to keep the story cute. Leak her too. Wondering why they still haven't re-issued Cry Baby as a CD+DVD package, including the deluxe\extra songs and all music videos + some behind the scenes. Especially now that they randomly got Play Date getting streams. yes that's all correct she actually said her next two albums will be occupied by movies which will be sequels to k-12 and she's already written half of the script for MM3 the cry baby music videos do have some insane amounts of views as well as the audios. alphabet boy, tag you're it, pacify her and training wheels videos were pretty underwhelming which i assume had to do with budgeting issues but i actually love mad hatter i think it's one of her best ones but didn't feel like it was worth a years wait. what you said a few posts back about the movie looking expensive definitely had to do with how massive cry baby was and how well the album and tour performed sales wise which is why i wonder if she'll be able to continue with these full length films considering k-12 only earned around 20% of the cost that went into making it and the tour had to get cut short so maybe she'll have to fund it out of her own pocket 2 Quote i love you, but you don't understand me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightmare 9,850 Posted July 24, 2020 after school ep still mixing... so she’s spilling teas on the tracks on the after school ep on it and also confirmed the next album will have a film too omg play date mv is scrapped lol 1 Quote come to my house let's die together, friendships that would last forever Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shanice Jones 1,334 Posted July 24, 2020 Well so... the EP has 7 songs. The songs talk about: 1. breakups 2. 3. connection between your head and emotions 4. how she feels as an artist in the music industry 5. 6. 7. when she got fired from a bakery we're still missing the other 3 songs, any thoughts? is she talking about fire drill in the 4th song? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vanilla Icy 29,602 Posted July 24, 2020 still upset she didnt call the EP Extra Creditmichael didn't produce the last track so i assume it'll be the best one 4 Quote i love you, but you don't understand me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tulips 3,731 Posted July 26, 2020 She revealed the dates of when the EP tracks were written Track 1: June 26, 2017 Track 2: December 21, 2019 Track 3: February 11, 2019 Track 4: November 20, 2019 Track 5: December 20, 2019 Track 6: April 11, 2018 Track 7: February 24, 2020 If you add stuff up you can see that she scrapped Copy Cat. Fire Drill is still on the EP but as track 6. She also said in her Instagram Q&A that all the songs are produced by Michael Keenan except track 7 and she spoke about in a new interview that she has a Blake Statkin (producer) collab on the album, so it's clearly the seventh track. 9 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alienprincess 1,972 Posted July 26, 2020 She revealed the dates of when the EP tracks were written Track 1: June 26, 2017 Track 2: December 21, 2019 Track 3: February 11, 2019 Track 4: November 20, 2019 Track 5: December 20, 2019 Track 6: April 11, 2018 Track 7: February 24, 2020 If you add stuff up you can see that she scrapped Copy Cat and that Fire Drill is still on the EP but as track 6. She also said in her Instagram Q&A that all the songs are produced by Michael Keenan except track 7 and she spoke about in a new interview that she has a Blake Statkin (producer) collab on the album, so it's clearly the seventh track. God can she stop working with Michael Keenan.. Why is she like oooh the go to producer 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tulips 3,731 Posted July 26, 2020 This might be controversial but Michael Keenan is a talented king You guys love to trash him but then praise Cry Baby album when he produced album highlights like Pacify Her 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alienprincess 1,972 Posted July 27, 2020 This might be controversial but Michael Keenan is a talented king You guys love to trash him but then praise Cry Baby album when he produced album highlights like Pacify Her well then he lost his touch with k-12.. I wasn’t totally against his productions til she released copy cat. Like I’m sorry but that songs production is so boring/annoying 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ultra Violet 18,991 Posted July 27, 2020 well then he lost his touch with k-12.. I wasn’t totally against his productions til she released copy cat. Like I’m sorry but that songs production is so boring/annoying Totally agree. I'm not sure if it was Mel's decision to have K-12 sound so samey and "stripped back" if that's what I can call it, in comparison to CB tracks. But Pacify Her has such a beautiful softness to it, as well as being rather daring, quirky and bold and just a straight up BOP. So either it was him who lost his creativity (in my opinion) or Mel who actually decided she wanted the album to sound less complex. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tulips 3,731 Posted July 27, 2020 well then he lost his touch with k-12.. I wasn’t totally against his productions til she released copy cat like I’m sorry but that songs production is so boring/annoying Well his production isn't for everyone 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alienprincess 1,972 Posted July 27, 2020 Well his production isn't for everyone well everyone has opinions I guess... It’s good you enjoy it though, I wish I did cause I used to love Melanie! 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ijustwantedtorevivetheforum 1,728 Posted July 28, 2020 wait did he produce k-12 ??? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ultra Violet 18,991 Posted July 28, 2020 wait did he produce k-12 ??? The whole album was Michael Keenan + Melanie. One Love also helped with Drama Club but I'm assuming that's cause it was one of the older songs? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
radiant 858 Posted August 1, 2020 I miss stanning for Melanie I remember how invested I was during the Cry Baby Era. She was so exciting, visually & musically, especially with the visual album new videos were always something to look forward to. Fast forward to the huge gap between albums along with K-12 coming... and going, plus After School still being nowhere to be seen. *Sigh* currently getting my alt-pop fix from Billie Eilish right now. She really reminds me so much of Melanie, their voices and music style are kinda similar too. Idk, I just hope Melanie's next project is a return to form in some way. Not saying she should make Cry Baby 2.0 but give us something exciting, songs that don't age like milk in a week etc. K-12/Copy Cat just aren't it, at least not when compared to her earlier work. rant over 6 Quote I would never hurt you Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OverYourHead 6,269 Posted August 1, 2020 I think the thing she has going against her is time, if she had released cry baby in 2015, k-12 in 2017, third album/movie in 2020 and the fourth and final album/movie in 2021/2 it would’ve felt more cohesive but because of that 4 year gap between CB and K-12 I think a lot of her fans changed, not as in different people became fans of her but more her fans grew up, 4 years is a long time when you’re a teenager/in your early 20s. So for her to come back into the limelight the EXACT same (bc obviously cry baby is a character) it was like oh...you’re still doing this Personally I like K-12, I just think it came out too late which I know wasn’t her fault and it’s sad that she kinda has to suffer for it but it is what it is, I’ll still watch/listen to whatever she comes out with but yeah I’m not this huge stan I once was 14 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cool3dworld 2,367 Posted August 2, 2020 so we just got Life is Beautiful... WDBCF please? <333 9 Quote https://www.last.fm/user/cool3dworld Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baddisease 17,941 Posted August 6, 2020 Any news on After School yet? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites