Songfacts®:

• Sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on me, bitch, you so melatonin
  
  "Sleeping on" someone is common slang for underestimating them or failing to give them the attention they deserve. In "Melatonin," Tinashe takes the expression in a literal direction. Since melatonin is the hormone that regulates sleep, she suggests that anyone continuing to overlook her talent might just need a dose of it themselves.
  
  It is a pointed complaint from an artist who is hardly an unknown quantity. Tinashe has scored huge hits with singles like "Nasty" and "No Broke Boys," both of which racked up tens of millions of streams, yet she frequently feels she receives less recognition than her peers. The implication here isn't a lack of proof for her talent; it's that some people appear to have nodded off while watching her rise.
• Tinashe isn't the first artist to recruit melatonin for a little lyrical mischief. The sleep hormone has cropped up across hip-hop and R&B, usually as a way to put rivals to bed, describe dull music, or explain why rest remains elusive.
  
  In Kid Ink's 2015 track "Ride Out," from the Furious 7 soundtrack, melatonin represents talk so boring it could put someone out cold.
  
  Latto takes a more aggressive approach in her 2023 hit "Put It On Da Floor Again," treating melatonin as something she hands out to competing female rappers before sending them to bed.
  
  Drake takes the opposite angle on "No Face" (2024), rapping that melatonin can't fix his restlessness and insomnia before joking about his therapist quitting.
  
  Cardi B brings the hormone back to pure musical flex on "Pretty & Petty" (2025), describing her smooth delivery as a "melatonin flow." In rap, sleep can be a sign of weakness, a weapon against rivals, or an unfortunate side effect of being Drake.
• Despite the title, "Melatonin" is no lullaby. It's a hyperpop- and EDM-driven dance track built around a heavy four-on-the-floor beat, featuring dark, techno-leaning production that sits comfortably alongside electronic club anthems without chasing radio formulas.
• Ricky Reed, Zack Sekoff, and Nightfeelings produced the track. Reed's production résumé includes work with Lizzo (such as "Truth Hurts"), Camila Cabello, and Halsey, while Sekoff is an electronic producer best known for his collaborations with Vince Staples. Nightfeelings has built a reputation through production credits for Kim Petras, The Kid Laroi, and Steve Lacy.
  
  Reed and Sekoff previously teamed up to co-produce Tinashe's smash hits "Nasty" and "No Broke Boys."
  
  On "Melatonin," Reed and Sekoff handled synthesizer, bass synth, and drum programming, with Nightfeelings adding extra synth work.
• The music video, directed by 91 Rules, shows Tinashe swapping through several high-fashion outfits, while leading a crew of dancers and partygoers. The fast-paced visual matches the track's restless energy, leaving zero room for anyone to take a nap.
• "Melatonin" is part of Tinashe's Popstar album, which debuted at #6 on the US Albums Chart, her first-ever Top 10 appearance on the tally.
  
  "The concept actually came to me right away," Tinashe said of the album title. "I think I mostly started with concept and then unpacked what that meant, and started writing songs that delved into all of the different feelings that I feel when just thinking about what that means to me. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to name the album that at first. I just knew that that was the energy I wanted to bring to the table. Then eventually, I was like, 'You know what? This album is called Popstar.'"