analysing some mitski lyrics 🎶

No one really asked for this but I’m here to deliver anyway!

Mitski is my favourite music artist and I know her entire discography a little too well. I decided to share my interpretations of what some of her lyrics mean. I’ve just chosen a few lines that I like from one song off each album but I might do a full lyrical analysis of a whole song at some point too! We’ll see where it goes.

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A hopeless violence

I named it love

— Door (Album: Lush)

In this song, the speaker¹ talks about a door to themselves which they couldn’t find before. When they finally find the door, this feeling is what they discover on the other side.² The simple but devastating juxtaposition of “hopeless violence” and “love” is what makes this line so impactful. Love, despite usually being seen as a joyful emotion, can sometimes be associated with pain and suffering and the use of the word “hopeless” in particular draws connections to the concept of being a “hopeless romantic.” This line implies that love is futile, causing unnecessary “violence” and suffering. But the fact that the speaker “named it love” is significant. It shows that even love in this hopeless, violent form can still be recognised by the speaker, maybe because of their own painful experiences with it. In the song, there is also a pause before the word “love,” making the listener wait to hear what this seemingly distressing concept will be called, and the reveal of it being love all along is both shocking and devastatingly relatable.

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What is that quiet of snow in the night?

The dark rings with white noise

As you stand and drown

Maybe it's all of these snowflakes

Screaming a choir of mute

As they brace for the ground

— Square (Album: Retired From Sad, New Career in Business)

This song is about someone navigating a one-sided relationship in which they care about the other person much more than that person cares for them, slowly realising that love shouldn’t be this painful.³ In these lines, the speaker describes a snowy night in intricate detail. The song is addressed to this person that they love so the question they ask (“What is that quiet of snow in the night?”) could be rhetorical or it could also be addressed to this person, implying that the speaker may think that the person can provide them with all the answers they need. The word “quiet” is used as a noun here, which is a bit unusual, but it displays just how tangible the silence is, despite the “snow” falling around them. The next line mentions “white noise,” another term related to sound which becomes a recurring motif in this verse. This seems to contradict the first line because the atmosphere around the speaker has both “quiet” and “noise” at the same time. The phrase “a choir of mute” is also contradictory and adds to the running theme of sound. It seems that the speaker is in an environment full of all the noise of snow falling around them, of “snowflakes screaming,” but it all fades into the background (much like “white noise”), maybe because the person they love is simply “standing and drowning,” not engaging with them or answering their questions. The speaker can’t focus on the noise around them because all they want is to hear their person. The image of them standing and drowning could imply that this person is unresponsive, even to such a disastrous event, and can’t offer the speaker what they need. It shows that while the speaker feels the world is collapsing around them, killing them, the person they love does not feel as deeply as them. You could argue⁴ that the speaker’s inner emotional turmoil is reflected through the snowflakes, “screaming a choir of mute as they brace for the ground.” The sound metaphors could suggest that the speaker feels that no matter how much they scream, they will never be heard by the person in front of them. “Bracing for the ground” could be preparing themself for the end of this relationship. Although they know how painful it is to stay in the relationship, they now have to face the pain of the “ground,” the unknown experience of having to live without this person that they loved so deeply, but who never truly heard them.

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And I was so young when I behaved twenty-five

Yet now, I find I've grown into a tall child

And I don’t wanna go home yet

Let me walk to the top of the big night sky

— First Love/Late Spring (Album: Bury Me At Makeout Creek)

This is a song which describes the vulnerability of falling in love for the first time. The speaker talks about turning from a mature child, forced to grow up too quickly, into a childish adult, as if their first love has caused them to live out the joys of childhood that they never got to experience because they “behaved twenty-five.” They are now allowed to experience both the pleasure and vulnerability of a child. The line “I don’t wanna go home yet”⁵ could be seen as an immature phrase, creating the image of a child who has had too much fun at someone else’s house and doesn’t want to leave yet. But the next line, “let me walk to the top of the big night sky,” feels like someone speaking with the knowledge and maturity of having grown up, but also the impossible dreams of a child. It’s as if the speaker has been forced to grow up and face the cruelty of reality, but now that they are becoming more childish, they want an escape. They desperately want to simply leave the earth and walk into the sky. While the “big night sky” may be a magical place to a child, for an adult it could create a feeling of existential dread. The word “yet” in the previous line shows that this escape into the night sky can only be temporary, and the speaker will have to let go of the childish fantasies they developed while falling in love for the first time, and will now have to face reality once again.

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Calmly and rhythmically run

And when I find that a knife's sticking out of my side

I'll pull it out without questioning why

— Fireworks (Album: Puberty 2)

This song seems to be about numbness replacing sadness and depression, until memories come back and remind the speaker of the past. These lines in particular are a way of describing the feeling of ignoring the root of your pain and hurting yourself even more. At first though, the speaker is simply going for a run, “calmly and rhythmically,” maybe stepping towards healing, until they find a knife in their side. The image of a “knife sticking out of” someone is intensely violent and distressing, a complete tonal switch from the calming and healing feeling caused by running, but the speaker now seems numb to this physical pain, a metaphor for the emptiness they now feel instead of the sadness they used to. The fact that they would “pull it out without questioning why” might seem shocking to the listener. The speaker doesn’t know who put the knife in their side, and they will not even try to find out who it was or why this happened to them. Perhaps this is because for many people, the root of their emotional distress or misery can be hard to place, so maybe the speaker has stopped questioning why they are facing this pain because they themselves don’t know what caused it. Also, “pulling out” a knife would not ease pain in the slightest — it would make you bleed out. So not only is the speaker ignoring their pain, they are hurting themself by letting it continue to grow, instead of allowing themself to heal, perhaps because they think they deserve to suffer. They don’t question this act of severe violence against them and even go as far as to hurt themself more, when a moment ago they seemed to be healing. These lines show a drastic change between the peaceful act of going out for a jog and the gory image of pulling a knife out of your own body, depicting how quickly emotions can change when experiencing mental illness. The speaker sabotages their own journey towards healing by ignoring the violence and suffering they faced and causing themself to bleed out.

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Just how many stars will I need to hang around me

To finally call it Heaven?

— Remember My Name (Album: Be The Cowboy)

In this song, the speaker discusses their need to be remembered and validated, even immortal. These lines ask a rhetorical question but given this song’s many references to celestial things (“stars,” “Heaven,”⁶ “the sky”), it almost seems like the speaker is talking to the universe itself, begging the void for answers. The “stars” could be seen as the speaker’s achievements, proof of their greatness. But also, the image of the having to “hang” the stars up around themself makes it seem like what they’re doing is all an act, as if the “stars” are simply part of a set. The speaker knows that what they’re doing isn’t real. They know their goal of reaching Heaven is not truly achievable, so instead of asking to get to Heaven itself, they ask to “call it Heaven.” They know that this will never be Heaven, but they want to pretend. These lines are a desperate cry for validation from the universe, for a chance to be remembered even if everything they are doing is a lie. Although they know they can’t truly reach immortality, they want to get as close to it as humanly possible. These lines use a lot of celestial imagery, a concept that may remind humans of how tragically insignificant we are. The speaker fears this insignificance and wants to connect themself to the universe, to celestial bodies, to Heaven itself, in an attempt to be remembered and immortal.

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Open up your heart

Like the gates of Hell

— Stay Soft (Album: Laurel Hell)

This song is about an unhealthy relationship between people using sex to make sense of and hide their pain. In these lines, the speaker seems to be addressing the person they are in a relationship with, encouraging them “open up.” This could be seen as them wanting their partner to be more emotionally and even physically vulnerable with them. However the comparison, “like the gates of Hell,” might be highlighting the complexity and unhealthiness of their relationship. The “gates of Hell” would be expected to let in sinful and evil people, which may be how the speaker views themself. It also might show that the speaker views their partner in a negative light. The fact they they compare their partner’s “heart” to “the gates of Hell” implies that they see something hellish inside of their partner. So perhaps the speaker views themself as sinful and their partner as a home for their sin. This song also has sexual and biblical references present throughout it, alluding to the sins of Adam and Eve that got them cast from Heaven.⁷ These lines show the speaker and their partner engaging in something that may be viewed as sinful, but they are embracing Hell instead of rejecting it.

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Now I bend like a willow, thinking of you

Like a murmuring brook curving about you

As I sip on the rest of the coffee you left

A kiss left of you

— Heaven (Album: The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We)

This is a song about cherishing the time spent with a loved one, probably a romantic partner. There is lots beautiful lyricism in this song but I really like these lines in particular because they create some gorgeous imagery. The speaker compares themself to a “willow,” a plant known for its ability to withstand unfavourable conditions and even prosper in them. This could be showing that the speaker views the relationship as difficult but they are able to get through their hardship and instead compare it to something beautiful. There is even more natural imagery in the next line when the speaker compares themself to a “murmuring brook,” instead of the usual phrase “babbling brook.” While a brook would typically be noisy (babbling), the speaker instead uses the word “murmuring,” a much more soft and quiet sound. This could be read as the speaker being submissive and forced to quieten down when with their partner, while still trying to romanticise their relationship by comparing it to nature. However it could also be seen as a calm and soothing image, as if their partner makes them feel at peace. The idea of the speaker “bending” and “curving” towards their partner might show that they would go out of their way to meet their partners needs, making their partner the centre of their world. The next two lines show the speaker admiring even the small domestic moments in their time spent with their partner, comparing something as seemingly insignificant as leftover coffee, to something worth romanticising. Instead of being annoyed at their partner leaving their coffee on the table, the speaker takes a sip from it and finds joy in this indirect “kiss.” These lines show the speaker romanticising every moment of this relationship, even when it feels more strained and even in moments that may seem insignificant, creating a peaceful and idyllic scene.

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1. I’m going to keep saying “the speaker” because although it is Mitski singing, she might not be talking about her own experience or narrating from her own perspective. Also, these are simply my interpretations of the songs so it would feel disingenuous to describe the feelings as if they are exactly what Mitski herself intended or felt while writing these songs.

2. The door metaphor also reoccurs in the song “I Want You” on her second album but that’s a tangent I don’t have the time to get into in a footnote.

3. I would love to break down every line in this song but it may destroy me.

4. And I WILL argue!

5. I honestly thought the line was just “I don’t wanna go home.” Like I didn’t hear the “yet” somehow and I only realised while writing this post because I had to double check the lyrics and then I listened to the song and realised that the “yet” is so clear. How did I not hear it?

6. There are two songs in Mitski’s newest album called “Star” and “Heaven” and I’m not saying there’s a connection there but there’s a connection there.

7. I’m no Christianity expert by the way.