Adam KennyHow Mitski of her
Nothing’s About to Happen to Me is a really good way to describe the experience when listening to Mitski. Listening to “Last Words of a Shooting Star” or “Two Slow Dancers” would guarantee a wellness check from a friend. Mitski is an American singer songwriter who needs little introduction. Albums like Bury Me at Makeout Creek and Puberty 2 garnered Mitski a strong and dedicated following. Songs like “First Love/Late Spring” “I Bet on Losing Dogs” have hundreds and millions of listens. They’re often used in edits on TikTok and Instagram.
If I were to die clean and pretty
Mitski’s lyrics are to me some of the most devastating words I’ve heard uttered in songs. Her ability to convey a longing, desperation and tiredness over addictive hooks and instrumentation is unparallel. When Mitski is in the zone, there’s few who can outdo her. She has quite a strong discography for herself. Be the Cowboy was a major hit upon it’s release. Songs like “Nobody” and “Washing Machine Heart” have been heard more then some people’s entire discography ever will. Mitski mostly adopts an indie pop motif in her songwriting. She does venture into the accents of punk and thrash rock in some of her instrumentation. In my mind, she falls into a similar category as Kurt Cobain where the grunge and abrasiveness that they go for turns into its own melody.
I have found with some of Mitski’s recent releases, particularly Laurel Hell, that Mitski’s lyricism remains to be her strongest tool, but the music iteslf can fall flat. Laurel Hell had some great singles, but ultimately struggled to as an entire concept. The Land is Inhospitable and so am I suffered from a similar issue, whilst was an improvement in many ways, I still found it struggled to stick out amongst her albums.
Low expectations, lots of hope
Going into Nothing is About to Happen to Me, I had mixed expectations. I was looking forward to coming back to Mitski, but I wasn’t sure how much of the music would speak to me.
Nothing is About to Happen to Me starts off quite strong with “In a Lake”. Sonically, the music is incredibly familiar. Some of Mitski’s recent work ventured into different territory. Be the Cowboy was much more pop oriented than her other records. Laurel Hell ventured into a synth pop, retro sound. Nothing is About to Happen to Me brings us and Mitski back to her work like on Bury Me at Makeout Creek. Rock guitar riffs with some punk flavour. Mitski’s vocals are still as dreamy and depressing as ever. She could be singing about the happiest day in her life and it would still be devastating. Her voice has such a tortured innocence where she almost doesn’t understand why these things happen to her.
Old dogs betting on losing dogs
In many ways, I think Mitski returning to some of her more obvious musical strengths was the best choice for this album, however it also leads to the main issue.
The lyricism is incredible. Mitski’s writing is nothing that can ever be criticised. She’s able to poke the same topic of love, desperation and longing and come up with something entirely new. She’s curt, raunchy and at times vulgar. The juxtaposition of her having the sweetest voice saying stuff like “If night is like you punched a hole into tomorrow, then I would **** the hole all night long” definitely makes you raise an eyebrow. Again, all a part of the Mitski experience.
Lyrically incredible. Music wise…
Unfortunately, whilst the songwriting and lyricism is incredible, I find the overall music lacking at times. For instance, “Where’s My Phone?” catches my ear at times, but evidently sounds like something she did a few years ago for Bury Me at Makeout Creek. Her returning to her previous sound isn’t the issue, but the lack of a new twist on it is the issue. It feels less like this album has it’s own identity and more that it’s borrowing some of her other albums songs.
“I’ll Change for You” is a fantastic track. The instrumentation has some subtle RnB and jazz nods that works really well with Mitski’s voice. Then on the flip side you have “Rules” which is catchy, but again feels like something from the cutting room floor as opposed to something she made for this album.
Overall
Nothing’s About to Happen to Me is an interesting album. I think it’s been fun to hear Mitski go back to some previous ideas with at times a fresh take on things. Lyrically, she’s solid. Even the songs that didn’t wow me aren’t necessarily bad. I don’t think it’s fair to say there’s a bad song on the album at all.
However, there definitely is a feeling of “I’ve been here before” with them. I think Nothing’s About to Happen to Me is something that could possibly grow on me more as time goes on. I think it’s always great to have more Mitski, but I’m hoping that maybe in her next venture we get something with a bit more bite to it.
