Alyssa Greene Lyrics – Prom

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

“Alyssa Greene” is the show’s quiet pressure-cooker - two and a half minutes where a cheerleader admits the rules that run her life. The melody keeps its chin up even as the lyric lists impossible standards, which is why it lands. No ranting, just a tidy confession that keeps slipping into defiance. On record it plays like a diary entry you can dance to later.

Highlights - punchy internal rhymes, a verse pattern that tightens the screws, and a B-section that exhales as Alyssa pictures a freer life. The album cut runs 2:30, placed right before the act’s cathartic late numbers, which gives it extra sting.

Creation History

Music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, performed on the Original Broadway Cast Recording by Isabelle McCalla. The cast album was produced by Scott M. Riesett and Matthew Sklar and released by Masterworks Broadway on December 14, 2018, with the CD following January 11, 2019.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Alyssa apologizes to Emma and tries to explain the closet she lives in - the haircut rules, the GPA rules, the church rules, the pageant rules. Emma hears it, still walks away. The scene hurts because both girls are right for themselves, just not aligned in time.

Song Meaning

It’s a pressure anthem. The verses catalog image maintenance; the hook admits the cost. Alyssa has learned to perform a version of herself to please her mother and to keep the family fantasy intact. The song lives where shame and love collide - protecting your parent’s hopes while betraying your own.

Annotations

The control mechanism is stated up top:

You know what my mother is like. She’s a complete and total control freak.

Even the wordplay is weaponized:

The As have to be straight.

Mom’s voice invades the lyric like stage direction:

You have to join the debate club.

Religious respectability gets folded into the checklist:

Bible camp each summer to keep you pure and clean.

The line that names the maze:

Endless rules apply when you’re Alyssa Greene.

And the transactional trophy cabinet:

Your mom’s made sacrifices so win Homecoming Queen.

Form, feel, and subtext

The number pivots cleanly into a contrasting section - the rhythm loosens as Alyssa imagines a world where she can “be brave,” a musical cue that her mother’s rules have left the chat, at least in her head.

That vow - “you won’t cave” - is the show tapping an earlier betrayal, when Alyssa froze during the prom fiasco and Emma went alone. It’s not a villain beat; it’s what fear does when image is the household god.

The next volley hits the mirror-work girls know too well:

But your feelings have to be phony.

Even the body isn’t spared:

Your weight has to be tracked.

Cheerleading reads as performance more than joy:

If you don’t like shaking pom poms, you’d better learn to act.

Then the gut punch reason for the pageant-perfect behavior:

Mom’s convinced if you’re perfect your father might come back.

Character arc and fallout

Emma can’t keep waiting. After the breakup, Alyssa repeats the refrain and the “she” in “you’re not what she wants” quietly flips from mother to Emma - the pronoun shift that tells you the closet now costs her two loves at once.

Key Facts

• Artist: Isabelle McCalla
• Composer: Matthew Sklar
• Lyricist: Chad Beguelin
• Producers (OBC track): Scott M. Riesett, Matthew Sklar
• Release date (digital): December 14, 2018
• Label: Masterworks Broadway (Sony Music)
• Album: The Prom: A New Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Length: 2:30
• ISRC: USQX91803011
• Music style: contemporary musical theatre ballad with a pop pulse and confessional patter
• Orchestrations: Larry Hochman; Music direction/supervision: Mary-Mitchell Campbell; Music director: Meg Zervoulis
• Notable screen cover: Ariana DeBose performs the song in Netflix’s 2020 film adaptation and on its soundtrack
• © Copyrights: 2018 Sony Music Entertainment / The Prom Cast Album Recording LLC

Questions and Answers

Who produced “Alyssa Greene” on the original cast album?

Scott M. Riesett and Matthew Sklar.

When was it released?

December 14, 2018, with physical CD on January 11, 2019.

Who wrote it?

Music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin.

Is there a notable cover?

Yes - Ariana DeBose leads the film version on The Prom soundtrack (Netflix, 2020).

How long is the track, and what’s the original key?

2:30, typically performed in Ab major.

Awards and Chart Positions

The song’s parent musical earned multiple 2019 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and Best Direction, while the 2020 film adaptation received Golden Globe nominations. The track itself wasn’t pushed as a standalone commercial single to traditional charts.

How to Sing Alyssa Greene

Range & key: Commonly set around Ab3 to Db5 in Ab major. If you’re transposing, keep the conversational verses speaky and the B-section legato - the color shift sells the arc.

Breath map: Place breaths after each rule in the opening list - it sharpens the satire without rushing. Save a deeper tank for the “other lifetime” passage so the phrase floats without clipping the ends of lines.

Text first: Crisp consonants on “perfect,” “tracked,” “act.” Let vowels warm on the word “brave.” The subtext is love mixed with fury - sound tender, not bitter.

Acting beat: On the last refrain after Emma exits, aim smaller. The hurt shrinks the room, and the mic will do the lifting.

Additional Info

Masterworks later issued the OBC on vinyl; Discogs and label materials document the engineering and personnel bench that gives the album its gleam, including Lawrence Manchester behind the console and an orchestra under Larry Hochman’s orchestrations. In the Netflix film, Ariana DeBose’s take broadens the song’s footprint for a global audience.