"Alphabet Boy", also registered as "Alphabet City", is a song by Melanie Martinez featured as the fifth track on her debut album, Crybaby.
Two 15-second snippets were posted for the song, one in the summer of 2014 and the other in the spring of 2015. Melanie confirmed that the song would be on the album during a livestream via Periscope on June 1st, 2015. Melanie posted another snippet on her Instagram on July 29th, 2015.
The music video was released on June 2nd, 2016.
Theme
According to Melanie, Alphabet Boy was a boy she used to date in college. He studied music and he used to try and "teach" her how to write songs as if there was a formula or that she wasn't writing songs "correctly." It made her furious and she wanted to elaborate on that. She told VICE that "Alphabet Boy" is her and Cry Baby's break-up song.
Story
After the events of "Carousel", Cry Baby decides to break things off with Alphabet Boy. She realizes he isn't worth her care or love. Cry Baby proves she's just as smart as him, if not smarter, after his attempts to put himself above her fail. She leaves him in the end, mentioning she isn't a "little kid now" and can make mature decisions for herself, putting Cry Baby on the path of her growth and maturity.
[Verse 1] Always aiming paper airplanes at me when you're around You build me up like building blocks just so you can bring me down You can crush my candy cane but you'll never catch me cry If you dangle that diploma and I dead you don't be surprised
[Pre-Chorus] I know my ABC's, yet you keep teaching me I say fuck your degree, alphabet boy You think you're smarter than me with all your bad poetry Fuck all your ABC's, alphabet boy
[Chorus] I'm not a little kid now Watch me get big now Spell my name on a fridge now With all your alphabet toys You won the spelling bee now But are you smarter than me now? You're the prince of the playground Little alphabet boy
[Verse 2] Apples aren't always appropriate apologies Butterscotch and bubblegum drops are bittersweet to me You call me a child while you keep counting all your coins But you're not my daddy and I'm not your dolly And your dictionary's destroyed
[Pre-Chorus] I know my ABC's, yet you keep teaching me I say fuck your degree, alphabet boy You think you're smarter than me with all your bad poetry Fuck all your ABC's, alphabet boy
[Chorus] I'm not a little kid now Watch me get big now Spell my name on a fridge now With all your alphabet toys You won the spelling bee now But are you smarter than me now? You're the prince of the playground Little alphabet boy
[Breakdown] Alphabet boy Oh alphabet boy Alphabet boy Alphabet boy My alphabet boy Ooh-ooh
[Chorus] I'm not a little kid now Watch me get big now Spell my name on a fridge now With all your alphabet toys You won the spelling bee now But are you smarter than me now? You're the prince of the playground Little alphabet boy
[Refrain] Ah-ah-aaah, buh-buh-buh-buh Ah-ah-aaah, buh-buh-buh-buh Ah-ah-aaah, buh-buh-buh-buh Buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh Buh-buh-buh-buh Alphabet boy Alphabet boy Ooh yeah Alphabet boy
Official Music Video
Music Video
The music video was directed by Melanie herself as a sing-along video with lyrics on-screen. The self-directed video follows the Cry Baby theme by being another video filled with pastel colors and a childish persona displayed by Melanie. A hand, presumably belonging to Alphabet Boy himself, constantly teases her throughout the video, though she ultimately resists. Scenes in the video include when Cry Baby spells 'fuck' with magnets on the fridge, having a cereal bowl with milk, and holding a large knife in her hand, squirting the camera with a water gun that looks almost identical to a real gun, and giving viewers a glimpse of her homicidal tendencies by waving it at the camera, presumably attacking him.
Trivia
This song and "Dead To Me" are both aftermaths of "Carousel".This is one of Jose Martinez's favorite songs recorded for Cry Baby, along with "Pity Party", "Haunted" and "Cake".Melanie's uncle, Juan Vargas, teased lyrics of the song on April 5th, 2014, via his Twitter account.Many fans speculate that this song is about Jared Dylan. Jared is also a songwriter and it would fit into the storyline of the song, as Alphabet Boy thinks he is better than Cry Baby and wants to "teach" her his ways.This song has heavy alliteration in the lyrics and also in the stanzas. The lines descend from A, to B, to C and to D.As a result of this, it became one of the hardest songs on Cry Baby to write, along with "Mrs. Potato Head".This is the longest song on both the standard edition and deluxe edition of the Cry Baby album."Alphabet Boy" was certified gold on March 8th, 2018.Stella Rose Saint Clair designed the outfit that Melanie wore in the music video of this song.Although Alphabet Boy is referenced throughout the whole song, he does not appear on camera in the music video, though what are assumed to be his hands appear.The music video reached over 100 million views on YouTube on January 26th, 2019, making it Melanie's fifth music video and her second non-single music video to reach this achievement.This is one of the few songs that was performed on the Dollhouse Tour before the release of Cry Baby.Every time Cry Baby stabs the camera, she sings the words "Alphabet Boy."This song's music video is Melanie's only music video to contain lyrics at the bottom of the screen.Melanie had vocalized the songs breakdown 4 times throughout the song.Melanie used sign language for A, B, and C in her music video when she sung, "I know my ABC's, yet you keep teaching me" in the first part of the pre-chorus.The clean version's original file name is "alphabet boy 02 (clean)".At the beginning of the music video, you can see a bow in Crybaby's hair, which is also on the neck.Crybaby's pacifier is very similar to a pacifier Basic Bitch.This song's lyrics and music video make multiple references to both "Dead to Me" and "Bittersweet Tragedy".The story and illustration for this song appear on the 11th page of the Cry Baby storybook, reading:
Alphabet Boy's Digital Booklet Page
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