Latest Release
- 15 SEPT 2023
- 11 Songs
- The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We · 2023
- Be the Cowboy · 2018
- Puberty 2 · 2016
- Be the Cowboy · 2018
- Bury Me At Makeout Creek · 2014
- Be the Cowboy · 2018
- Be the Cowboy · 2018
- Puberty 2 · 2016
- Mitski (Audiotree Live) - EP · 2015
- The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We · 2023
Essential Albums
- In an interview with the BBC in 2018, Iggy Pop called Mitski “probably the most advanced American songwriter that I know”—a rave that briefly tempted the Japan-born, New York-based singer to call it a career. “I thought maybe it would be best to quit music now that I’d gotten to the whole point of it, which is to be known by your personal saints”, Mitski tells Apple Music. “Very unfortunately, I can’t seem to quit music”. But even with a widening chorus of co-signs—and a recent stint opening for Lorde in stadiums and arenas—Mitski revels in solitude on her fifth album. The 14 tracks feature precise thoughts on loneliness and self-discovery, encased in ambient textures (“Blue Light”, “Come into the Water”, “A Horse Named Cold Air”) and tempos that range from dance music (“Nobody”) to pensive balladry (“Two Slow Dancers”). On the latter—one of her favourites on the album—she put old anxieties to rest. “For once, I didn’t let my deep-seated fear of losing someone’s attention interfere with doing what I felt was best for a song”, Mitski explains, “which was to make it slow, long, and minimal”. “Washing Machine Heart” uses the metaphor of laundering a partner’s soiled kicks for sonic and lyrical inspiration. “I imagined that’s the sound of someone’s heart going wild”, she explains, “and I thought about what would create that painful sort of exhilaration”. From the dejected sigh that opens “Me and My Husband,” an unflinching peek into relationship doldrums and suburban ennui, to the alone-on-Christmas levels of “Nobody” that Morrissey himself would eat a bacon sandwich to reach, Mitski knows her album is a mood: “I guess I'm just incredibly tapped into that specific human condition”.
- Puberty is a game of emotional pinball: hormones that surge, feelings that ricochet between exhilarating highs and gut-churning lows. That’s the dizzying, intoxicating experience Mitski evokes on her aptly titled fourth album, a rush of rebel music that touches on riot grrrl, skeletal indie rock, dreamy pop and buoyant punk. Unexpected hooks pierce through the singer/songwriter’s razor-edged narratives—a lilting chorus elevates the slinky, druggy “Crack Baby”, while her sweet sing-song melodies wrestle with hollow guitar to amplify the tension on “Your Best American Girl”.
- Her loud-quiet-loud third album was her indie breakthrough and launchpad.
Albums
- 2022
- 2024
- 2023
- 2022
- 2022
Artist Playlists
- Exotic, emotional worlds built from enchanting indie pop.
- The second leg features support from Arlo Parks, Ethel Cain, Laufey and more. Explore the set list.
- Listen to the hits performed on their blockbuster tour.
More To Hear
- The singer breaks down the story of her new album.
- The week's releases from Billie Eilish, Empress Of, and Khalid.
- The singer-songwriter chooses the 5 Best Songs on Apple Music.
- On Boston, living single, and the joys of DIY basement shows.
More To See
About Mitski
For every aspect of human emotion, there’s a Mitski song to cover it. The brilliantly defiant singer-songwriter can turn the knottiest feelings into ribbons of metaphors, and her empathetic touch reverberates throughout the many genres she’s made a home in: caustic rock (Puberty 2), mystical folk (The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We) and captivating art-pop (Be the Cowboy) are just a few. Born Mitsuki Laycock in Mie Prefecture, Japan, in 1990, Mitski travelled frequently around the globe as a child and developed a keen sense for knowing when she did not belong, which was often. Music—which she started writing at 18—was a salve for the pain of otherness, a way to examine humanity’s rough edges as both observer and participant: “I wanted to express something real and human in me,” she once told Apple Music. Her songs might be about personal moments, but Mitski writes lyrics that pierce the most distant of hearts (“Nobody”) and sings with a deep timbre of knowing sorrow.
- HOMETOWN
- United States of America
- BORN
- 27 September 1990
- GENRE
- Alternative