Fourteen years after her first full album release and seven after almost quitting music, Mitski shares her emotional eighth studio album, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me.”
Twisting away from the more optimistic tone of her 2023 release “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We,” this album provides an air of nostalgia for long-time fans. Mitski takes her time through the album, exploring feelings of alienation and separation from a relationship while discussing her need to run away and start over and fighting the urge to run back to her ex-partner.
Much like the rest of her music, she takes a very vulnerable approach, cathartically airing out her emotions song by song. Incorporating slower melodies with sprinkles of her older sound, Mitski once again succeeds in her field of ‘sad girl pop,’ mixing soul-crushing and catchy into a short and sweet 11-song album.
Each song is somehow slightly more lyrically devastating than the last, so dry those tears as we break into the album track-by-track.
“In a Lake” 9.2/10
This song opens quietly and explodes towards the end, a signature in Mitski’s music. Beautifully setting the stage for the rest of the album, the song transitions smoothly between slow and fast. She sings about running away from a small town to start over — leaving everything and everyone behind, including her own heartache.
“Where’s My Phone?” 7.5/10
In a more upbeat tone, Mitski builds on the theme of a clean slate. Despite the odd chorus, the lyricism in this song still shines, and the fast-paced and guitar-heavy instrumental is reminiscent of portions of her older works like “Puberty 2” and “Bury Me At Makeout Creek.” She spends the majority of the song pondering where her mind went while begging for her memory to be wiped of her past.
“Cats” 8.0/10
In this song, Mitski describes a failing relationship. Still in love, he tries to salvage it, while her partner remains starkly indifferent. Regretfully, she pleads for her love, repeating it is so simple and natural for her. By the end, Mitski reaches more of an acceptance, using a metaphor of her two cats running into the night to describe her partner being more free without her.
“If I Leave” 8.3/10
In “If I Leave,” Mitski continues the story of her previous song, wondering what would happen if she were the one to leave her loveless relationship. She doesn’t want someone else to love her partner, and she struggles to imagine a life without them, believing that they are the only one who can see her, forgive her and be kind to her. The end of the song pays homage to one of her early works, “I Will” (2014), where she references the same tunnel she once described a light at the end of (“And we’re not out of the tunnel / I bet you though there’s an end”). Now, it was completely dark: “I ride through a tunnel / It’s been dark the whole way.”
“Dead Women” 7.2/10
This song gets very literal, asking if her partner would prefer she had died so that they could morph the narrative of their relationship. Mitski references Virginia Woolf’s suicide, in which she drowned in a river. She also discusses the sexualization of women and how, even in death, their relationships are judged and their bodies are used.
“Instead of Here” 8.5/10
Once again referencing suicide, the song paints a picture of doing anything for love: her partner uses her as he pleases, and she faces the aftermath. She dreams of going to a place where nobody can reach her. Death breathing down her neck, she ponders the reason for her sorrows to no avail.
“I’ll Change for You” 9.5/10
Taking a different approach instrumentally, this song is a bossa nova-esque ballad wondering why she let her partner go. She wanders around, pondering the death of their relationship and pleading for a second chance. Repeatedly saying that she’ll change for them, Mitski creates a relatable and peaceful breakup song about wondering how things could have been different.
“Rules” 8.5/10
The abrupt transition from the end of “I’ll Change for You” to “Rules” is jarring when listening to the album chronologically. This song wastes no time, hooking the listener with a counting intro and leading into the “rules” of how her relationship will play out. Mitski will try to impress, her partner will leave and in the aftermath, she’ll change her appearance despite still feeling the same.
“The White Cat” 7.0/10
This is arguably the most forgettable song on the album. It’s lacking in the lyric department and has less of an instrumental background. The vocals are not melodic to make up for the lack of interesting instrumentals but instead are more of an angry shout. Mitski describes going to work to feed her cats in a type of existentialism, but the song does not stand out in comparison to other tracks.
“Charon’s Obol” 7.2/10
“Charon’s Obol” refers to a Greek burial tradition where a coin was placed in the dead’s mouth as a bribe to Charon, who carried souls across the River Styx. In this song, Mitski reflects on her past, implying that she is trying to break a cycle in her life and start anew.
“Lightning” 7.8/10
Mitski delves further into the ideas of rebirth and breaking cycles, using the cycle of rainfall and evaporation as a metaphor for her life. The album closes out with death and a game of “Marco Polo” as she speaks into the void — not as the call but as the response.
This album fits well into Mitski’s discography. Despite some initial disappointment from fans, this album remains very within her scope, sound and genre. Without laying the allusions and metaphors too thick, the meaning of these songs is evident on the surface and deepened upon analysis. The album blends beautiful melodies with her signature melancholy lyricism, making it an impressive addition to the portfolio of one of the most well-known sad girl musicians in the scene.
This article was edited by Mina O’Dell, Jessica Ackerman and Gabrielle McNamee. Copy editing by Avery Grossman and Ryan Sieve.
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