“Now here I lay as I study a blank wall/ Would you spare me your voice if I called?” A lyric from Mitski’s ‘Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart’ from her 2013 album ‘Retired from Sad, New Career in Business’. From the first song to the last, this album leaves a heavy impact on its listeners. Every lyric has meaning, and nearly every melody grips with dark tones and melancholy feelings, even if we can’t personally relate to the song. Nearly every song is perfect, and tells their stories clearly and concisely. The album focuses mostly on relationships, good and bad, and delves into topics plaguing a lot of those in toxic relationships and young adults. It’s a stunning album showcasing Mitski’s powerful writing and the power she has over emotion in her work.

Mitski’s first song of the album, ‘Goodbye, My Danish sweetheart’ sets the mood for the rest of the show. She uses an amazing strong beat to tell a story of regret in a past relationship, how she had made mistakes and didn’t give as much to the relationship as her lover did. She uses the line “Cause you waited and watered my heart ‘til it grew/ You just grew a little smarter too,” using it to show how her lover gave to her until they had enough . She even returns to this line later, “Cause I’ve waited and watered my heart ‘til it grew/ You can see how it’s blossomed for you” Showing her return of love to this person after they’ve already gone. The chorus keeps this theme, using the power of repetition in the instrumental and her own writing to her advantage to pull together this message of looking back and repeating sequences to further push what she is trying to say. This song leaves a heavy imprint on the listener. With a chorus and lyrics that tell a clear story and the use of repetition that guides others thoughts as she voices and sets the mood for the entire album following. This choice of starting with feelings of regret and loneliness, prepares us for what’s to come, and leads to a n emotional openness to the rest of the songs following.

While ‘Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart’ talks about regret in a past relationship, ‘Square’ tells regrets over a relationship that will never be. She shares an unrequited love for a man who will never feel the same way, trying to fit herself into his “square” life. “Everything had its own place/ And I wondered what space I would take/ In the order you kept,” She used strong lines like these throughout the whole song, pulling the listener even further into the story she weaves. She tried to adjust his habits “I tried to eat like your girlfriend” and fit herself by his side, but realized she couldn’t have him. As she finally acknowledges the fact of their relationship, the music grows louder, the use of loud violin under her singing growing this build up of emotions as she finally says goodbye to this man. She ends the song, making an almost tragicomic comment to herself about how long she waited for him to love her back, commenting on her own rush and growth of emotions as the music simmers down and her voice calms to a near whisper. This song is the longest of the album, and it shows. With a heavy improvement on the use of music to further her story and setting a darker mood to her lyrics, she greatly improves from the first of the album. She tells the tale perfectly, the meaning not lost on a single lyric and every note of the instrumental behind it feeding the listener a beautiful story of sorrow. Her use of growing and quieting music shows her ebb and flow of emotions as she speaks, getting louder as she says goodbye and as she had first gripped with the thought of him not being hers. The music grips you tightly, and really pushes these emotional effects this album is known for.

With every note, Mitski seems to improve. With every song she seems to spin a new story with a nearly perfectly legible story, while still leaving it up to interpretation for the listener and having her instruments aid in the dark tone she tries to keep. Strawberry blonde breaks this running theme, breaking off from the sad melodies of the keyboard and instead leaning into the happier tones with the same sad lyricism.  Strawberry blond is the third song of the album, nearly the shortest, and the weakest for various reasons. The song can be wonderful on its own, with catchy lyrics and an upbeat instrumental track, but with every good comes something that can be criticized. TThe meaning of the song itself is Mitski’s experiences as a WOC, falling in love with a white man and trying to fit into his life. The lyrics start instantly, as she talks about loving someone, seemingly a white person evidenced by the lyrics. She longs to fit in his shape and be with him as she wants to be.  “All I need Darling is a life in your shape/ I picture it soft and I ache” The song is written to convey this message and does so very well. However, with every good there is a bad, as these lyrics fail to convey the same emotion as the rest of the album. Chipper songs can be sad, it’s quite common in a lot of music in this decade. But, here it wasn’t done nearly as well as those preceding it. While the lyrics themselves, with their intended meaning, fit the rest of the album to a T, the tune behind it doesn't. All songs surrounding this have slow melodies or a strong use of the violin, piano, or keyboard. Compared to the rest of this album, this song sticks out like a sore thumb. The dark tone of the album is interrupted and it ruptures the emotional build up made by the first two songs before it. While the song on its own is amazing, it would be much better on its own or in an entirely different album, one that better fit the image the song tried to give, and the up beat music behind it.

‘Humpty’ follows immediately after ‘Strawberry Blonde’, and it brings back the feeling the first two songs of the album brought us. Using a piano and violin, she brings back the slow melodic beats and tells a story of fragility after a broken relationship. She uses the metaphor of broken eggs, like Humpty Dumpty, and nearly whispers about trying to pick up the pieces. “All the eggshells are on the ground/ And I try, I’m trying to pick them up” but every shell she picks up only crumbles in her hands “But they crack and crumble, It’s all too much/ Too frail for me to touch”. She uses her voice to bring further emotion to the song, her singing getting more desperate as she gets further through. Using the power of her voice she elevates the emotion of the listener and helps them further feel her pain. Her writing tells the story far better than ‘Strawberry Blond’ and arguably is one of the strongest songs musically since ‘Square’. Her lyrics are directly to the point. With its lyrics so straight forward, it loses a lot of the interpretation the songs previous had, making it very easy to read the meaning rather than being able to see one that best fits along with the listener. While parts of the song are extremely strong, the feeling of fragility and weakness, other parts are fairly weak. It’s even on both good and bad sides, and fits perfectly where it is nearly in the middle of the release.

‘I Want You’ is one of the hardest songs to discern the meaning of. With many possible meanings and no solid meaning ever given, I’ve chosen to take my interpretation here with what I can tell from this song. Everyone seems to take it a different way, and it is a hot topic to discuss among fans of her work. The song, from what I’ve interpreted, is about regret over forgiving a past lover and taking them back. She uses “You’re coming back/ And it’s the end of the world,” telling the message of the dark pit in her stomach now that the person is coming back into her life. She further goes into this feeling, expressing greatly the feeling of emptiness in the relationship because of the fact “I found the door/ But when I stepped through/ There was no floor.” Overall, I want you is the perfect song for the middle of the album. The song uses its lyrics to help guide the listener to preferred feelings, while letting them create their own conclusions with various lines. Even with this “Vagueness”, for lack of a better term, it still leads back to the running theme of the album, relationships. It doesn’t disguise this fact, and displays its dark themes proudly, coming back to using the keyboard as the leading instrument. It brings a deep static drone that feeds the listener this feeling of dread and despair. This feeling persists as the keyboard keeps steady for the whole song. With a combination of vague but still deeply saddening lyricism and the droning of the keyboard instilling the deep sense of dread in anyone who listens, this song fits right where it stays in the middle of the album. It isn’t perfect, but even with its flaws it still keeps the emotional steadiness of the album and keeps the enjoyer listening.

Shame is arguably the darkest song of the entire album. The only instruments are a soft acoustic guitar and a violin. The song itself talks about the shame someone can feel for having sex, and hiding it out of internal shame. The violin makes the entire song, playing sharp and flat notes and building up the tension of the song as it grows snowballs louder and louder, nearly deafening your ears. Mitski sings the song almost like a desperate lullaby, with a sweet tone and gradually growing into a near howl as the chorus rises. The chorus is a simple 3 lines, shorter than her previous, but the lack of lyrics benefits the song perfectly. A feeling of secrecy feeds her shame, The sentiment of liking it slowly growls louder, more desperate as she starts to sew in regret and shame. “I never was very good/ I haven’t been so good” She repeats over the feeling of bliss she had, only feeling now that she’s done wrong, and is unable to take back this choice she’s made. It finally leaves Mitski in silence. seemingly addressing the person she’s loved “And I don’t need anything other than you.” A feeling of dread and despair plagues this whole song, and her strong use of the violin and its powerful notes portrays this song perfectly. This song, compared to the rest of the album, has the best instrumental, and every note of the song excellently overlaying the song with a heavy misery and unnerve unheard in the other songs before it. Where it lacks in an amount of lyrics, it makes up for abundantly with the track behind it. It’s an excellent showcase of Mitski’s musical ability as an independent artist and as a musician as a whole.

‘Because Dreaming Costs Money, My Dear’ delves into a whole new story. Breaking away from the traditional formula of sad lyrics relating to romantic relationships, this song talks about moving forward with your dreams when faced with the saying of “We’ll Manage” and the comfort of a parent. Going through loss and persevering, even when the true “freedom” only goes to the rich. The main chorus best shows the message, almost speaking like reassuring a child. “So Darling, play your violin/ I know it’s what you live for/ Darling, play your violin/ We will manage somehow” Mitski sounds like a mother comforting her child. A feeling of reminiscence also hangs over this album, Mitski talking about places she’s lived and things she’s experienced in “I can still smell the fire/ Though it’s long gone out,” and “Once I lived in the sea/ Bring me to your ear you can hear/ The tide where I used to be.” The song itself differs from the rest of the album, its lyrics rather focusing on guiding the listener to follow their dreams instead of this picture of a story she wants to tell “Don’t you dare regret anything.” This song nearly acts like a counter to feelings of regret and giving up by speaking like a soothing mother, talking and looking back as she says it will be alright. It presents new topics and nearly calls out to the viewer to keep going with what they want and believe in. It takes a daring leap into a different kind of feeling, instead of feelings of regret and lost love, like the rest of the album, this song fights that. Even when things go wrong, keep going. This strong message sticks with you even after the album itself is long done, and it further shows Mitski’s ability to keep a message sticking with those who care to listen.

‘Circle’ is the strongest song of the album. The second to last song, it holds no punches in the story it punches you in the gut with. The story is of infidelity, lies, and commitment issues. The song is straight to the point with its story, our voice being that of a seemingly married woman who had just had an affair. “And it ate me inside, so one soft drunken night/ I slept with a man you knew,” She tells of sleeping with someone close to her lover, the feeling of going home after having made that choice. Regret fills the song, talking about how the person she was with loved and cared, and she couldn’t grow to be open around him. “You told me once/ You were happy to have me/ But I never gave me away,” The song ends with only one repeating line, sitting with anyone who listens “Nobody knows my lover is buried underground” The realization it’s too late, metaphorically or physically, to give to this person the love that was promised, hits like a ton of bricks. Whether her lover is dead or just left, she still feels this regret for sleeping with someone he knew. She still loves him, finally open to loving him fully, but it’s long too late to do so. This song is dark, from beginning to end, with the deep tones of an organ feeding and growing louder and louder as the realization hits. It eats at you even after you listen. The feeling of commitment issues in a relationship, the loss of them, and the feeling of disgust for moving on even after they’ve long since left. This song does perfectly what it wants to. It holds no punches, and the ending hits you right where it wants to. This song feels like a perfect semi final, expressing as much emotion as possible without feeling like it’s doing too much for what it is.

‘Class of 2013’ The finale of the album. ‘Class of 2013’ is the shortest song of the album, beating ‘Strawberry Blonde’ for stortest by a mere 5 seconds. This album was released in 2013, so this song was addressed seemingly to the graduates of that year. Freshly adults and not sure what they want to do with their lives. This plagues many young adults going through and graduating high school, the wonder of what to do with your life now that your days of being a kid are over. This song is my favorite of the album, with only 14 lines it is simple but is a mutual experience for those getting close to adulthood. It follows someone, a fresh graduate, asking their mom to let them stay a little longer until they can grasp adulthood. “Mom, I’ll be quiet/ It would just be to sleep at night/ And I’ll leave once I figure out/ How to pay for my own life too.” This feeling of fear now that you have to take care of yourself, wanting to go back home to the comforting figure in your life, it’s relatable to anyone nearing the end of high school or even adults who are struggling to find what they want to do with their own lives. The song is a great way to end the album, expressing a direct message to anyone who listens, and connecting every listener together in miscellany harmony.

Mitski’s ‘Retired from Sad, New Career in business’, is a fantastic album. From first song to last, this album connects together with dark stories, heavy topics, and gloomy backing tracks. The album weaves stories that pull the emotions of the listener and bring a whole range of people together in one album. Nearly every song is perfect, and even with flaws every song holds power over whoever listens. Her powerful writing sets the stage for a perfect album, and she executed it wonderfully. ‘Retired from Sad, New Career in Business’, is a nearly perfect Mitski album. It will always be a favorite of mine, and even with its flaws, I wouldn’t change a single song within the album.