sigh. what is it with me & constantly wanting to write about artists the day they’re performing in my area but i can’t go???? it’s TRAGIC because every concert is such a fucking amazing experience & they’re my happy place, ESPECIALLY if i LOVE the artist & their music & i have a special connection. last month i went to an arcade fire concert knowing zero (0) of their songs and still had an amazing time @ the greek theater in berkeley! so basically i’m missing out on so many concerts from artists that literally hold such special places in my heart. the subject of this post, mitski, is no different!
there are lots of mitski fans out there who can probably psychoanalyze every one of her songs & their lyrics (her lyrics are so brilliant/clever/complex), but sadly i’m probably not one of them. basically, if you don’t know her, she’s notorious among those that know her (it’s a very certain type….) as basically depression music but also I AM MY OWN WOMAN music but also OH GOD I’M SO FUCKING ALONE CRY W ME music….
if you follow her twitter, you’ll probably notice how funny she is. and expressive. basically she encapsulates the wisdom yet also relatability that comes with the emotions that she’s pouring out into her music! mitski is such a precious soul & i love her to death we must protect her FOREVER. i could literally just have a blog dedicated to her tweets / lyrics / life decisions. (she liked one of my tweets on twitter once…. the prerogative to make a mitski blog is ALREADY THERE my friends)
anyway, i occasionally fall down a whole of reading articles and interviews and as much insight into someone’s life as possible and that just happened for me about mitski. i find artists, especially musicians, so fascinating and honestly they’re really what inspires me that there’s more to life than the monotony of my current one as a high schooler. not to go off onto a tangent here, but i’m glad i’m at the intersection of the internet/venting my ideas/my interests!
ANYWAY. her music is incredible and i could go on forever about my own interpretations of her lyrics (actual poetry), but i’ll just point out one song of hers that means so much to me: “last words of a shooting star.” sure, there are more lyrically resonant or sonically brave songs, but this one has such nostalgic value for me because it got me through a really weird time in my life?? it really just calmed me down when i had really bad anxiety, and mitski’s eternally reassuring voice, even when singing about morbid thoughts like “I always wanted to die clean and pretty / But I’d be too busy on working days,” really did me wonders. also, hope! she sings about her reality, and the way love ties into it. many of her songs are love songs, but in the weirdest, unpredictable ways.
and while my dreams
made music in the night
carefully,
i was going to live
kinda that vibe of “life is so bad i wanna die rn but i mean….. slight possibility of it getting better maybe? but more likely not but we’re out here doing our best anyway”. also add in a dash of impressively sardonically clever wit & amazing expressions of really big themes in life? bam! you’ve got the deep thoughts & existential crises that are about to go with the icon that is mitski. oh, you can’t forget the rock & roll + indie folk too.
ALSO: a lowkey mindblowing realization that i had just now after reading a couple more reviews of mitski: “be the cowboy” parallels the ethos of my other favorite band “boygenius” that i’m about to talk about later! great minds think alike, and badass women are always gonna mindfucking be on top of it. recognizing the oppressive white male patriarchy & wrly poking fun at it but also pissed as fuck & using the enemy’s tactics for own advantages??? CHECK!