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Hello! Welcome back to another week of the Earworm blog! This week, I'm continuing where I left off in last week's post, where I talked about Mitski's earlier projects in detail. I was going to do a blog post for her whole discography, but that would have ended up being really long! (Plus, I didn't really have the time to write that much... exams are a pain!!) If you haven't read my other post yet, it's worth your time to check that out too! So I'm keeping my promise and revisiting this topic for Mitski's last 3 albums! Let's get into it...
Introduction
I'm gonna keep this intro brief since I already gave her a full introduction in my last post, but I'll cover some key details here if you haven't read my other post. Mitski was a student at SUNY Purchase College, studying studio composition. She released her first two albums "Lush" and "Retired from Sad, New Career in Business," as projects for school and released the two albums on the music platform Bandcamp, which is where she initially released music before the success of her third album "Bury Me At Makeout Creek." She currently has 7 studio albums, with the most recent 3 albums being the subject of this post.
Be The Cowboy
Mitski's 5th album, "Be The Cowboy," was an interesting departure from her last two works. While "Bury Me At Makeout Creek" and "Puberty 2" are different in some ways, they share a lot of similarities and writing styles. In particular, they made more use of live instruments like guitars or brass instruments. On the other hand, "Be The Cowboy" goes for a different approach- being a combination of synth-pop and rock. While Mitski had experimented with similar sounds on past songs such as "Jobless Monday" or "Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart", this was a breath of fresh air for Mitski listeners. As for the album itself, it's pretty solid overall. This album also felt like there was more care put into making it truly feel like a full body of work rather than just some songs put together. That's not to discredit her past albums, but that's the only way I can describe the feeling of this album- everything from the track listing to its sonic identity feels very intentional. It starts out with "Geyser", which comes in with a loud chord that slowly fades into the vocals as she starts singing. The whole song slowly builds into a very satisfying climactic point near the end. This first song feels like an abrupt and immediate way of telling the listener, "This one's gonna be a bit different, okay?" While most of Mitski's music up until this point can be summed up as songs about heartbreak, this album shows us a different side of that coin. In "Why Didn't You Stop Me?", she talks about her decision to leave someone. But underneath the façade, she's created about being ready to leave, she's secretly killing for them to tell her to stay. It's a new take on her music- the kind of heartbreak that results from self-sabotage. To switch topics, this album might actually be her most popular yet. Several songs have broken past 100 million streams on Spotify, most notably "Washing Machine Heart" and "Nobody," which are easily two of Mitski's most-known songs due to going viral online. While these songs are good, I think Mitski's discography has more to offer. To ask me to pick my favorite song from this album is a really difficult task, but if I had to pick, I think I'd go with "Remember My Name". And actually, I think that's also the most underrated track. The electric guitar at the beginning that returns after the chorus is so fun to listen to. But it also has that unique synth sound to fall back on that helps it stand out from her other typical rock songs. This album might be her most well-received record yet, and I can definitely see why!
Laurel Hell
After a 4 year hiatus, Mitski returned in 2022 to give us her 6th album, "Laurel Hell". This album goes overlooked for the most part, and I think that's kind of a shame. You'd assume that this being her first album release in a long time it would get a lot of attention, but apparently not. While her fans definitely made noise and praised the album, the general public didn't really notice it for the most part. It is also her most divisive project among critics, with ratings ranging from it just being "okay" to "it's a masterpiece". What you think about this album really depends on your personal perspective and what you look for in music. While "Laurel Hell" is probably her weakest in terms of songwriting, it makes up for it in other areas. Its sound is reminiscent of 80's pop. Yep, at this point, Mitski fully dropped the indie-rock persona we came to know, which is just another example of her commitment to artistry and willingness to experiment. This new sound gave us a lot of complete bangers that are severely underrated. "Should've Been Me", for example, is a pretty surface-level song about how someone feels after not being able to explore a possible relationship with another person. The production is sooo good though, with an upbeat piano and synth that takes you all the way through the song. While this album is home to some of the highest highs of Mitski's career, there are admittedly some forgettable songs lingering on the tracklist. Then again, I can't understate how much I enjoy the production on this project, it has a lot of cool sounds that some artists haven't explored yet. It's a step in the right direction for her, and I can definitely appreciate that. My favorite song from this album is probably "Stay Soft", and the most underrated is probably "Valentine, Texas" (which feels like an ode to "Texas Rezkinoff" from "Bury Me At Makeout Creek").
The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We
Naturally, after making a full-fledged 80's pop album, Mitski decided to make a folk-country album. I honestly didn't see it coming when she announced it. I expected her to delve into the genre at some point, just not right after an album like "Laurel Hell". But one thing that Mitski's proven to us is that she's gonna do whatever she sees fit. So here we are, with her latest album, "The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We". And as someone who isn't really a fan of country or folk music, this album easily found it's way into my top 3 of 2023. I am completely devastated that this album received absolutely no award nominations, as it's one of Mitski's best works to date. I'll address the elephant in the room- "My Love Mine All Mine". I don't think anyone expected the song to explode as much as it did. When the album came out, I remember thinking, "Damn, this an amazing song. I wish more people would listen to it." and I just thought it would probably just go unnoticed by the general public. It was actually really interesting watching it blow up, cause I literally remember seeing it start to trend on TikTok, and the posts with the song only had a couple thousand views at the time. Now, it's already out-streamed every other song from her discography that spans over 13 years of music, sitting at an insane 1.5 billion streams on Spotify at the time of my writing. Anyway, the theme of this album is also different from her usual. Maybe the genre switch is the cause, but I can't tell for certain. Again, it's the typical pity party of heartbreak and sadness, but it feels like it's in a different font in this album. Its songs depict more of an empty and lonely kind of sadness rather than being a sadness that's too much to bear or a final breaking point (which is common among most of Mitski's songs). "The Frost" is a good example of this; despite the song not having sad lyrics that hurt like a punch to the gut, Mitski opted to use tricks like imagery to paint the picture. She doesn't talk about her own sadness after losing her lover, but rather the experience of it. The house being completely empty after they've left, how she doesn't have someone to make small talk with anymore. It's a really effective writing technique that she utilizes to create distance with the listener, which would normally be counterproductive for most sad songs, but in the context of the album, it's very effective. To wrap up, my final thoughts on this album are that it's a great feat for someone like Mitski to switch genres twice in a row and still be able to give us an amazing album such as this with a completely different sound. My favorite song from this album is "Heaven"; it's been my favorite ever since it was released as a single. And I may be wrong, but I think it's her first love song that actually isn't depressing! Things are finally looking up, guys. The most underrated song from this album is probably "I'm Your Man." I think it might be one of her best examples of songwriting yet, even if it took some time for me to really get into it.
Wrapping Up
I hope that these last two posts about Mitski have been able to provide a brief retrospective of her whole career thus far. I think Mitski is one of the greatest artists around, and I really hope that the recent success she's been finding can carry over to her next project, whenever that comes around. Actually, just a few weeks ago, her online store was closed for the near future, and the last time that happened, "The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We," was announced only a few months later. But who knows, only time will tell! If you are itching for some new Mitski music, I recommend listening to her recently released collaboration with Tamino called "Sanctuary". It's very similar to what can be found on her most recent album, so I would give it a shot if that was your style. Anyway, I don't really have much else to say, so thank you so much for reading to the end! Hope to see you next week too!
Earworm ~-~-~o
Thanks for reading!
-Joey :)
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