Everyone's so soft, everyone's so sensitive

Do I offend you? You're hanging on my sentences

You can keep your costume, and you can keep your mask
I'ma take a bow, so you can kiss my ass
I never signed up for your drama
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama
Up for your drama club
They try to feed you lines that you have to memorize
You always hide behind your Wizard of Oz disguise
Do you even have a brain? You're sticking to a page
You're faking all your pain, yeah, you're bleeding on a stage
I never signed up for your drama
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama
Up for your drama club (ooh)
I never signed up for your drama club (ooh)
For your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I don't wanna be an actress, living by a script
Who cares about practising? I don't give a shit
You're overanalyzing every word I say
There's a whole world out there, you're living a play
Fuck your auditorium, I think it's pretty boring and
I never signed up for your drama
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama
Up for your drama club (ooh)
I never signed up for your drama club (ooh)
For your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
For your drama club
Mmh, mmh
I never signed up (ooh), mmh, mmh
I never signed up (ooh), never signed up
Never signed up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh), for your drama
For your drama club
Never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, up for your drama club
I never signed up for your drama (ooh)
Up for your drama, up for your drama club

This song is named “drama club” and was interpreted by Melanie Martinez, one of my favorite singers.
She has a really unique way of seeing the world and created her own universe trough music. In 2018,
she even made a musical/horror movie named K-12, that contains 13 songs in total. In this movie,
Melanie wakes up as “Cry baby” and starts her journey as a student. What other students don’t know is
that she has magical powers. Each song represents a grade, starting with kindergarten through high
school. In the song I chose, the main character, Cry Baby, goes to her drama club and discovers the role
she has been assigned to. Reading over the script, she asks the teacher for another role that is less
“domestic”, such as a film director or the President of the United States, which she is belittled for. A
student turns towards her and says that she is too soft and too sensitive to handle a man’s job, to which
she replies, “having a larger capacity to feel and express emotions are one of the many qualities that
make us superior to your kind”, surprising everyone in the room. Then, she begins to leave the class, but
the teacher summons the guards to capture her and she ends up being forced to play the role she was
assigned. Later, she is shown performing the play. She plays a housewife ironing clothes, when her
husband arrives to tell her that she is too slow. Suddenly pissed off, she comes out of her role, takes her
iron and places it on the boy's cheek, the latter having his face completely melted. After that, the guards
come to arrest her, but she fends them off with her powers, and tells her audience to wake up and stop
being manipulated. As expected, I made my own interpretation of the lyrics. During my analysis, I will
talk about my experience in Japan, to show the social aspect of what we call “drama club”, but I will
also talk about the french educational system, which is important for me to show the importance of
critical thinking and identity.

Why did I choose this song?

I chose this song based on my personal experience. I have always felt outside of the "norms," and the
lyrics resonate a lot with my values. I love this song for its nonconformist aspect and for the special
place the album holds in my heart. My analysis was purely personal, and I would be delighted to hear
the elements that actually inspired Melanie Martinez.

In this song, and in the whole album, Melanie Martinez expresses the difficulties she faced in school
because of her different way of thinking, dressing, and feeling. In fact, school is typically the place
where “different” people are set apart. Unique and original people are often rejected by others because
they don’t fit in the norms. Why is it so? I think it is because the difference is scaring us, because it is out
of what we already know, it is not secure and not controllable. And yet, it is often this originality that
define geniuses. We have enormous creative potential, and it is a shame to hide it to blend in, when it
could take us far. But when we want to become part of a group, we often do everything we can to blend
in and to be accepted, to belong. Thus, when interacting with others, it is easy to notice that we
automatically wear a mask. We created it in order to adapt to others, but it can also be interpreted as
hypocrisy. To me, that mask is what she’s calling “drama club”. This subject can be controversial, as a
question comes to our mind : What is better, telling the hard truth or staying in the comfort of denial to
keep the peace ?

When I spent a gap year in Japan, I was able to witness a different way of thinking. As a foreigner, I had
the opportunity to observe it from a perspective distinct from that of native Japanese. What I witnessed
were hardworking and extremely disciplined students, but, above all, many seemed unhappy. Uniforms
were mandatory, and while there are positive aspects to this, such as potentially reducing
discrimination, Japan has actually one of the highest rates of school bullying. The negative side of
uniforms, in my opinion, lies in schools suppressing students' individuality, forcing them into conformity,
and creating a sense of uniformity. Most Japanese students, upon entering university, tend to express
their suppressed creativity by dying their hair and adopting eccentric styles. Throughout their school
years, they were prevented from being themselves, and university becomes the only time they can truly
unleash their creativity. The significance of clothing in expressing one's personality should not be
underestimated; it is a crucial element that reveals who we are since a person's physical presentation
is the first thing observed. Thus, I find uniforms to be quite controversial, and personally, I believe it's
better not to impose them on students. Another negative aspect of the Japanese educational system I
observed was the content of the courses. They heavily relied on rote memorization. For example,
English classes were of a high level, possibly higher than in France, yet almost none of the students
could speak English. Why? Because they memorized without truly understanding what they were
learning, and most of their tests were multiple-choice questions. In France, we have dissertations and
essays to teach us to analyze and develop our critical thinking. They lack similar educational objectives,
meaning, for instance, in politics, most of them lack knowledge or interest because they aren't taught to
have it. Many Japanese lack confidence in themselves and their own thoughts; they feel unable to
assert their opinions because they aren't adequately prepared to do so in school. Consequently, they
are very shy, reminiscent of the "Drama club," as I sensed a form of hypocrisy. The Japanese are
extremely kind and respectful, but I didn't feel honesty when talking to them. They never express their
true thoughts to avoid offending you; they always say what you want to hear, constantly adapting to you.
This can be frustrating because sometimes you want to hear the truth, engage in debates, and be
challenged. However, in Japan, it's impossible because they will do everything to avoid offending you,
and personally, I found this aspect particularly dislikable. I felt like a character in a play where I was the
only one aware that it wasn't real. If you speak the truth, they find it disrespectful or offensive when, in
fact, you're just expressing your thoughts. I believe it's crucial to be oneself and assertive. I don't see the
point of living in an environment that is fake, as expressed in the lyrics: "Everyone is so soft, so
sensitive. “Do I offend you? You're hanging on my sentences. You can keep your costume, and you can
keep your mask. I'ma take a bow, so you can kiss my ass”
I found it challenging to adapt in Japan because, as a French person, I'm accustomed to asserting my
opinions. In fact, most Japanese individuals I've met who have visited France felt a bit overwhelmed by
this aspect of the french culture, as they are generally reserved, while we tend to be more expressive.
It's noteworthy that Japan has a high suicide rate, and, in my opinion, this stems from the constant
repression of one's identity and desires, leading to an unimaginable level of stress. There's significant
pressure on students: they have almost no vacation time, work all day, and face considerable identity
challenges. Another problematic aspect of the Japanese culture is appearance. It's crucial to
understand that there are numerous adolescents with eating disorders because of the media, television
etc... Societal expectations in Japan and Asia convey the message that one must conform to a
particular standard of beauty, emphasizing the importance of being skinny to be considered attractive.
Meeting these beauty standards is incredibly challenging. Ultimately, for me, this emphasis on
appearance is also part of a form of superficiality. Talking about appearance, in the movie, between
each song, Cry Baby changes her hairstyle, illustrating how she evolves both physically and mentally. In
contrast, the antagonist, Kelly, never changes her hairstyle and thus, never evolves.

As I said, I also wanted to express my opinion about the french educational system. Why doesn't
France adopt the American education system? We are at the bottom of the education rankings, but why
is it so? In Germany, they have school from 9 am to 3 pm at most, while we have it from 8 am to 6 pm
every day and we can't take it anymore, yet they perform much better than us. Moreover, teachers ask
us for 2 hours of homework every day, while in other countries, students have more time for
extracurricular activities. Universities in France are free, but besides that, I really don't want to go there.
I always see videos of American universities where people go, choose what they want to study, and
spend the best years of their lives doing it. There, the system of Majors and Minors is so well done,
whereas in France, we are obligated to focus on a really specific and closed subject, and dedicate
ourselves to it until the end. In my opinion, it wastes so much opportunities and puts students into
boxes. University is described as the best years of your life, and in France, I feel like I'm going to the
slaughterhouse. It seems that what we do in class is useless; we must study outside of class because
the courses are not comprehensive. All the hours we spend in high school, in the end, we only retain
10%. We are so behind; we are not taught to think actively enough; in fact, we are educated to be bored.
Most students don't want to study because they are not taught how to study efficiently; they have lost
faith in education. We could have better-structured classes, less memorization, more debates and
attention, and fewer hours, with more extracurricular activities. In France, we go to high school just to
go to class, and then we go home, while, from my experience, in Japan or the USA, there are many
clubs, events, merit scholarships, etc., that motivate students to enjoy going to school. In France, we
spend almost all our days in class, and yet we don't like going, can't we see the problem? We waste
time doing so many hours of class that could be reduced if more effective. It impacts how we work and
think on a daily basis. Personally, it takes me a lot of time to concentrate on my homework because my
brain has internalized that it's boring and a chore, so I procrastinate. However, since time immemorial,
the brain has always loved learning and debating. What's wrong with the system that makes all
teenagers unhappy and disgusted with studying? How can we be motivated if we don't find meaning in
what we do? I would like to study abroad, yet if I go see a career counselor, they will influence me to
stay in France for the economy. Most dreams are shattered in high school by a venal authority (see "the
principal" from the same album). Moreover, high school or college students have no power over
authority and are more easily sensitive to injustice or external influences. They will easily listen to
adults who have lost faith in life and will belittle their students. Thus, teachers must become aware of
the impact they have on their students and guide them positively. The future of students is determined
by an overall average: but what about talented students in one field and not another? If a student is a
genius in biology but has a very low level in languages, their opportunities will be limited just because of
a field in which they don't even want to go. Having spent a month in high school in Germany, I was able
to observe that their English level was much better than that of the French, notably thanks to debates.
For a course to be effective, I don't see the point of memorizing what we will forget in two months. I
think we should make classes more interactive. Classes where students could communicate much
more would help us in the future. It would help us with everything, for our social skills, it would help us
gain confidence in ourselves and develop our critical thinking: on a personal level, on a social level, and
even on a knowledge level. For example, in the media, we are bombarded with information, but at
school, we are not taught how to face it. Instead, we memorize literary analyses. How can that generate
interest in students? We observe the world with ignorance, influenced by the rate of information thrown
at us daily, unable to distinguish the true from the false. For me, everything I've said is part of this
"mask," meaning that the school system is defective, teenagers are suffering, but it's all hidden and
ignored by this same system. So, we are all crammed into schools, learning like robots, without realizing
it because it's what we've always had in front of us. We're not going to question this system if our
chances of seeing another one are masked by ignorance. We move forward in this system, driven by the
masses, and we have no say. The mask remains because what could be more stable than an integrated
and functioning mentality? If we changed it, it would require far too much effort, efforts that most
participants in this system are not ready to provide. And I complain about the French system, which I
find extremely deficient, but what about many other countries? We are one of the freest. Many
countries are extremely behind, with limits on expression, moral clichés deeply rooted in religion,
marriage (LGBT), sexism, etc. All these clichés that have persisted for so long and whose origin is the
abuse of power and the fear of difference. Why would we question a mentality that doesn't even make
sense? It astounds me that people are convinced and ignorant enough to still prevent women from
expressing themselves or different communities from being free today. It's a perfect example of a
Drama club, a play in which everyone plays a role assigned since birth without being able to question it,
and in which people will be judged as soon as they deviate from it. It is impossible to succeed socially
without wearing a mask, without respecting conventions. Conventions that mean that in certain
situations, we don't say what we think. In Albert Camus' book "L’étranger", the character has no mask
and says everything he thinks, but above all, he thinks everything he says. And it's extremely disturbing.
Why? Because society believes that there are things that cannot be said. Maintaining a social
relationship implies that sometimes, you have to tone down your sincerity, not to create discomfort, not
to spoil the moment. Thus, the "normal" is not the natural, it is the normed, the conventional, the
superficial...
At the end, we are left with the same question, is honesty better than denial, which keeps us in peace?