The After School EP by Melanie Martinez, an American singer, songwriter, actress, director, photographer, and screenwriter, is a companion piece from the K-12 album. The After School EP includes seven songs such as Notebook, The Bakery, and Glued.

According to Martinez’s Instagram, Notebook is about a breakup Martinez had in 2017, Glued is about being too attached to someone, The Bakery is about Martinez working at a bakery when she was in high school. 

“Notebook is a very emotionally raw breakup song from 2017 about setting boundaries after being taken for granted,” Martinez said. “Glued is about attachment/detachment. When you’re completely attached you have the potential to get hurt but you are able to feel the depth of love. When you’re detached you save yourself from potential hurt but never get to feel that level of love. The Bakery is a song about unenthusiastically working at a bakery in high school because I needed to make money to invest into my art and my music.” 

Some of Martinez’s fans have similar ways that have been introduced to her. Martinez’s fanbase is called the Little Bows/Crybabies. A freshman at Iowa Western Community College, Tenika Frederiksen heard some of her classmates in her seventh grade classroom talk about Martinez’s Dollhouse song.

“The first time I ever listened to Melanie was in seventh grade and it was only because everyone was talking about some dollhouse.” Frederiksen said. “First it was new to me but over time I loved her style and her music and to me she’s different than most artists today.”

The first time I ever listened to Melanie Martinez was around sixth grade and at the time Musical.ly was still a thing so a lot of people did the soap challenge where they put soap in their mouth while the song Soap by Melanie Martinez. I liked the song very much so I started to listen to other songs by her. 

Martinez has some very interesting songs in her EP, one of my favorite songs from the album is Glued because I do have an experience of getting too attached to someone but very detached to everyone else. A good lyric from the song is, “Cut the negative self-talk and cut out my procrastination. Being sticky stuck, glue those old habits shut. Paste me to a new way of being something and breathe new life in me again.” Personally, this means that you’re verbalizing doubts that you have about a person you like and you want to stop doing that. 

A junior at Abraham Lincoln High School, Jasmine Portillo, said that her favorite song would be Numbers and a good lyrics from the song would be, “Why would I conform to formulated paths, when clearly all my instincts led to something more magical?”

“My favorite song from the After School EP would have to be Numbers because I feel like it’s trying to explain how possibly we as people have to conform to the standards set for us based on the gender we’re born as which I would disagree with.” Portillo said. “I say this since you should be able to do whatever you want with your body as long as you feel comfortable with your personal standards. The lyrics means to me that Melanie wants us to understand that what’s expected from us shouldn’t have to be what we’re strictly destined to do.”

Martinez’s aesthetic is based on an 1800’s child but she talks about mature subjects in her songs like insecurity, depression, etc.

A junior at Thomas Jefferson High School, Misia Collins, explained Martinez’s aesthetic from her perspective. 

“I think she has a very unique aesthetic that doesn’t really fit in with any other. It’s very childlike but very grown at the same time. She talks on serious topics and important issues.” Collins said. 

My overall review on the EP is a 9. For me, I loved all the songs but I wish she added more because there’s only seven songs to the album. I love how Martinez makes her songs give out positive messages but she is still being her.