Mitski Boxed Set Catalogue by caratarmey

+ Take Your Space Boxed Set +

PRELUDE

I first heard MitskiÕs music when it was a backing track in the 2019 Netflix romantic comedy, Someone Great. Her song, ‘Your Best American Girl,’ plays as the couple on screen fights, makes up, and is left wondering if their relationship is going to survive. This scene stood out to me because the music crescendoed into something so triumphant during a moment that was bittersweet and unsure. As I listened to it more, I realized that scene perfectly captures the essence of contradictions in Mitski’s music. She presents herself as selfdeprecating and confident. She wants human connection, but pushes people away. She is culturally Eastern and Western, but feels like both labels are not truly right. Internal conflicts are what make us human and create our identities and that is probably what attracts Mitski’s fans to her music. She is both apologetically and unapologetically herself. By revealing her true self to us, she challenges us to be human and to accept others as humans. It seems strange that I first heard Mitski’s music — songs that have become to mean so much to me — in a seemingly insignificant way, but I find now that it was a fitting way to be introduced.

Mitski Miyawaki is a Japanese-American singer known for her poetic songwriting and dissonant instrumentation. Although she was born in Japan, Mitski lived in 13 different countries throughout her childhood because of her father’s job. She went to high school in Turkey and eventually ended up studying at Purchase College at suny. While at Purchase, she created her first two albums, Lush and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business, and met her future collaborator and producer, Patrick Hyland. Her breakout song was ‘Your Best American Girl’ from her fourth album, Puberty 2. It sounds like a modern indie-rock song with its defiant chord progressions and echo-y vocals, but its lyrics question Mitski’s cultural identity and the loneliness from not knowing where you fit. ‘Your Best American Girl’ was the first song from Mitski I heard and I was shocked at how strongly I related to it. I was initially interested by its instrumentation. The songs starts quietly, builds to a loud and defiant chorus only to finally shrink back down again.

TRYING TO BE THE BEST AMERICAN GIRL

Then, I read the lyrics. The lyrics put into words the feeling I have been trying to define about my own identity. Like Mitski, I feel like I am in between Eastern and Western cultures but neither feel really attainable. In an interview with the podcast, Song Exploder, she says, “You always want what you can’t have. And that all American thing, from the day I was born, no matter how hard I tried, I could not enter that dream. That all-American white culture is something that is inherited instead of obtained.” Listening to the song feels like feels personal and like I am seen, even though it can be adapted to so many people’s identities. This song feels like a letter of self-acceptance for Mitski from Mitski and its message feels empowering. Later in the interview, she says, “Yes it’s a sad song but I wanted to make sure it reflected all of the contrasting feelings. Like, you can be heartbroken about a relationship but also from it, realize that you are you and you’re okay with who you are or you’re okay with where you come from.”

Similar to Mitski, I do not want my cultural identity to define everything I do. She only explicitly talks about race in ‘Your Best American Girl’ and has some subtext in her music videos. Just the fact that Mitski is a successful, popular artist means a tremendous amount to fans like me because it shows that we are allowed to exist and create. She says, “I write personal stories about relationships, and living in this world and being a human being… but I happen to live in a world which views me as an Asian American. So my experiences are tainted by that, even if I’m not conscious of it. Someone said ‘the personal is political,’ where it seems like me just being honest about my experiences as a human being and as a person translates as being political about being an Asian American person. I’m not in this to be political or a social activist, it just happens that my being honest is a very political thing.” It feels comforting to know that this songs exists. Until you listen to or see other people or media that reflects who you are, you feel less seen and alone. There is a teaching philosophy known as 'mirrors and windows' that applies to Mitski's music. Windows are stories where we learn about other cultures and perspectives. Mirrors reflect what we know and make us internally examine ourselves and our identities. For me, there were many windows, but not too many mirrors. For a lot of people, Mitski’s music is one of the first true mirrors that we have encountered.

Ă&#x2019;IĂ&#x2022;m not in this to be political or a social activist, it just happens that my being honest is a very political thing.Ă&#x201C;

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DREAMY VIGNETTES

It is tempting to call Miski’s lyrics and songs “diaristic”

because of how striking and personal her lines are, but it is a disservice to her meticulous songwriting and compositional skills. She said in an interview with Issue Magazine, “Somehow I keep being infantilized in my portrayal as an artist, keep being called ‘raw’ as if music just happens to me and I’m simply an unconscious vehicle for it. It’s very gendered. Yes, music is mysterious and sacred and unknowable, but I also practice this goddamn craft like my life depends on it.” In another interview, she mentions that it is a belittling tactic used when covering women musicians. It is an excuse to not take them seriously because they write “confessional” lyrics. Her lyrics are poetic and intimate. They also feel effortless, cohesive, and seamless. In her songs, Mitski plays with different points of view and style of narration. Especially in her album, Be the Cowboy, she embraces her license as an artist to craft narratives that are not from her experiences. With empathetic observations, Mitski is able to enter into different views and make them relatable to her. Even when the scenario is fictional, it feels like she is telling the truth. When narrating from a personal experience, she embodies the unreliable narrator. We see her defiance, loneliness, and selfishness. She does not expect the listener to agree with her. She only wants us to listen to her story.

ÒItÕs very gendered. Yes, music is mysterious, sacred and unknowable, but I also practice this goddamn craft like my life depends on it.Ó

When she write her lyrics, Mitski draws inspiration from poets and their ability to convey an entire story with a few words. Mitski references poets like Charles Reznikoff — she even named a song after him — and John Giorno. From the poetry of Reznikoff, she is influenced by how condensed his lines are and how they immediately conjure an image. With music, you have to be economical with your words because there is only a short window of time to convey a message to a listener. You can hear this technique in songs like ‘A Burning Hill’ and ‘Lonesome Love.’ Mitski is only putting on a business shirt or getting ready for a date, but she chooses her words carefully to create an immediate image and feeling to stick in her listener’s mind. The idea of trying to convey an idea in a brief amount of time is probably why Mitski repeats important lyrics often in her songs. Repetition of words is her way of underlining something critical. In ‘Nobody,’ she repeats the word ‘nobody’ for the chorus at least ten times. Each time she sings it with a different cadence or rhythm, but the repetition emphasizes the downward spiral of her loneliness. Mitski’s songs are typically short — around two to three minutes each — showing how deliberate she is with her lyrics. Her songs feel like vignettes, each capturing a momentary feeling. In each song, she establishes a setting and creates a mood. It feels like you are invited into an art exhibition and encouraged to explore different rooms for short periods of time, finding small details in each that you enjoy. The songs seem content to be brief and ephemeral. That is not to say that the songs feels resolved or comfortable with itself by its end. It feels like there was a story before the song started and there will be a story after it ends. Mitski is not looking for closure through her lyrics, she is only to describe what is happening in great detail.

BREAKING SHIT AND TAKING SPACE

On her most recent album, Mitski challenges herself and

others to ‘be the cowboy.’ She describes the mono-myth of the cowboy as ‘very American’ and as the ‘idea of a man riding into town, wrecking shit’ then leaving as the hero. She takes the mythos of the cowboy and weaves it into the narration of all her songs. She is reclaiming and subverting the idea of the tough cowboy. There is dissonance between the stereotype of an Asian woman and of an all-American cowboy that Mitski enjoys experimenting with in her lyrics. She says, “This album is about not taking responsibility for your mistakes. Just fucking up and being like, ‘Whatever.’ That is what a white guy would do. In cowboy movies, [the guy] is destroying a town but then they are the hero. I am entitled to things too.” Mitski is not claiming to be the solution for how women and people of color should take up space. For me, she is someone who knows where she stands in society and culture, and how to subvert people’s expectations in spite of her position.

She describes the mono-myth of the cowboy as something Ôvery AmericanÕ and the Ôidea of a man riding into town, wrecking shitÕ then leaving as the hero of the story.

TAKE UP SPACE

BE THE COWBOY DON'T APOLOGIZE Mitski successfully writes stories from her point of view and translates them into narratives that are universally relatable. Her writing does not prevent people from sympathizing and understanding her perspective. For Mitski, ‘being the cowboy’ is not only being the stoic, tough guy, but also being human and imperfect. I admire the courage she has to have to share her thoughts to the world and the artistry she possesses to make her songs magnetic and impactful. She says, “I don’t want artists to be shitty people but I don’t want artists to be held up to the same standards as politicians. We shouldn't have to be superheroes.” The idea of being the flawed cowboy is an overall theme in her work, even though it was only explicit in her last album. This boxed set explores the idea of occupying the space you deserve. Women and people of color rarely feel like they have the right to take up space. Especially as a woman of color, Mitski calls this out and through her music, dares to take up her lyrical and sonic space.

EP3

EP1

CRUSHED LITTLE STARS

Screaming is one of the more shocking ways Mitski uses her voice. The four songs on this ep are dissonant, choppy, and uncomfortable. Mitski takes full advantage of fluctuating volume. Some songs start out quietly and then build to fully take up space through sheer loudness and rage while some songs are kicking out after the first measures. On these tracks, Mitski is more experimental with her instrumentation and non-musical sounds. Whether it be the low, pulsing synth in ‘Drunk Walk Home’ that sounds both like a heartbeat and feet stomping down the street or the jarring guitars in ‘My Body Is Made of Crushed Little Stars’ that feel like they cannot be contained, the instrumentation fills the room. When Mitski screams in her songs, it feels cathartic and empowering to the listener. On the track ‘Drunk Walk Home,’ she initially did not want to include her yells but decided to add them in because she thought she could do a better job screaming than her producer. The added sound feels like her anger toward the world is being released. Contrastingly, her wails on ‘Class of 2013’ about the uncertainty of adult life feel like Mitski is screaming to both open a wound and to heal it. It is uncomfortable to hear, but there is a cleansing feeling after listening to her songs.

EP3

IÕm not doing anything EP1/ IÕm not doing anything / My body is made of crushed little stars. — ‘My Body Is Made of Crushed Little Stars,’ Puberty 2

CRUSHED LITTLE STARS

EP3

EP1

SCREAM

CRUSHED LITTLE STARS

1:57

MY BODY IS MADE OF CRUSHED LITTLE STARS + VERSE 1 +

I’m not doing anything I’m not doing anything My body’s made of crushed little stars And I’m not doing anything + VERSE 2 +

+ VERSE 3 +

I wanna see the whole world I wanna see the whole world I don’t know how I’m gonna pay rent I wanna see the whole world

I better ace that interview I better ace that interview I should tell them that I’m not afraid to die I better ace that interview

+ CHORUS +

+ VERSE 4 +

Would you kill me, Jerusalem Kill me, Jerusalem Kill me, Jerusalem Come find me

Uh I work better under a deadline I work better under a deadline I pick an age when I’m gonna disappear Until then I can try again Until then I can try again + CHORUS +

Kill me, Jerusalem Kill me, Jerusalem Kill me, Jerusalem Go and kill me

1:50

CLASS OF 2013 + VERSE 1 +

Mom, I’m tired Can I sleep in your house tonight? Mom, is it alright If I stay for a year or two? + VERSE 2 +

Mom, I’ll be quiet It would be just to sleep at night And I’ll leave once I figure out How to pay for my own life too + VERSE 3 +

Mom, would you wash my back? This once, and then we can forget And I’ll leave what I’m chasing For the other girls to pursue + VERSE 4 +

Mom, am I still young? Can I dream for a few months more?

In lamenting, Mitski lets us into her experiences and looks for solidarity. The songs feel like they bleed, bargain, and plead. Though she laments, Mitski is not looking for pity. There is a confidence in her voice when she sings about her and fears. Her listener can take what they need from a song and it seems like she does not care if you are sympathetic. The tracks on this ep are of the loneliest songs of Mitski’s discography. Her wailing feels like reaching out to someone who will listen or to find any connection. Mitski writes about loneliness in a various ways. In ‘Nobody’ and ‘Fireworks,’ she proclaims how she is lonely but misdirects the listener with poppy, upbeat instrumentation. In contrast, ‘Two Slow Dancers’ is a simmering ballad that is painful in its nostalgia and longing for an idealized past. Although loneliness is pervasive in this ep, there are also glimpses of hope. Whether it is the acceptance of self found in the last chorus of ‘Your Best American Girl’ or the acknowledgment of the end of an era in your life in ‘Two Slow Dancers,’ Mitski is saying that loneliness is something you have to live with and like with most things, it will pass.

EP2

Bitter Fossilized Sadness

In lamenting, Mitski lets us into her experiences and looks + for solidarity. The songs feel like they bleed, bargain, and plead. One morning this Though she laments, Mitski is not looking for pity. There is sadness will fossilize / a confidence in her voice when she sings about her and fears. And I will forget how to cry. Her listener can take what they need from a song and it seems like she does not care if you are sympathetic. — ‘Fireworks,’ Puberty 2 The tracks on this ep are of the loneliest songs of Mitski’s + discography. Her wailing feels like reaching out to someone who will listen or to find any connection. Mitski writes about loneliness in a various ways. In ‘Nobody’ and ‘Fireworks,’ she proclaims how she is lonely but misdirects the listener with poppy, upbeat instrumentation. In contrast, ‘Two Slow Dancers’ is a simmering ballad that is painful in its nostalgia and longing for an idealized past. Although loneliness is pervasive in this ep, there are also glimpses of hope. Whether it is the acceptance of self found in the last chorus of ‘Your Best American Girl’ or the acknowledgment of the end of an era in your life in ‘Two Slow Dancers,’ Mitski is saying that loneliness is something you have to live with and like with most things, it will pass.

EP2

Bitter Fossilized Sadness

EP2

Bitter Fossilized Sadness

N No nob nobo nobod nobody

3:13

NOBODY + VERSE 1 +

My God, I’m so lonely So I open the window To hear sounds of people To hear sounds of people Venus, planet of love Was destroyed by global warming Did its people want too much too? Did its people want too much? + PRE-CHORUS +

And I don’t want your pity I just want somebody near me Guess I’m a coward I just want to feel alright And I know no one will save me I just need someone to kiss Give me one good honest kiss And I’ll be alright + CHORUS +

Nobody, nobody, nobody Nobody, nobody

Ooh, nobody, nobody, nobody + VERSE 2 +

I’ve been big and small And big and small And big and small again And still nobody wants me Still nobody wants me And I know no one will save me + PRE-CHORUS +

I’m just asking for a kiss Give me one good movie kiss And I’ll be alright + CHORUS +

Nobody, nobody, nobody Nobody, nobody Ooh, nobody, nobody Nobody, nobody, nobody Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody

2:38

FIREWORKS + VERSE 1 +

One morning this sadness will fossilize And I will forget how to cry I’ll keep going to work and you won’t see a change Save perhaps a slight gray in my eye I will go jogging routinely Calmly and rhythmically run + CHORUS +

And when I find that a knife’s sticking out of my side I’ll pull it out without questioning why And then one warm summer night I’ll hear fireworks outside And I’ll listen to the memories as they cry, cry, cry + VERSE 2 +

I will be married to silence The gentleman won’t say a word But you know, oh you know in the quiet he holds Runs a river that’ll never find home + CHORUS +

And then one warm summer night I’ll hear fireworks outside And I’ll listen to the memories as they cry, cry, cry Oh, one warm summer night I’ll hear fireworks outside And I’ll listen to the memories as they cry, cry, cry Cry, cry, cry

Cry Cry Cry

EP3

LATE NIGHT REVELATIONS

Confiding seems to be the softest and frailest ep theme compared to the others, but Mitski shows the great strength to let other people into your thoughts, doubts, and desires. Although she sing about situations and issues that do not personally relate to her, her lyrics are secrets she is entrusting to you. The songs on this ep feel methodical, flowing, and like they are about to burst. There is a sense of anticipation and eagerness to share her observations. In these four songs, we see Mitski at her most vulnerable. These confessions are filled with a full spectrum of emotions: guilt, shame, and hope. They are contradictory and relatable because of it. Some lyrics are mundane observations that feel overwhelming when described by Mitski. In ‘Pink in the Night,’ she describes how she could longingly stare at her partner’s back all day. Some lyrics are so specific, you can fully visualize them, like when she is writing about her heartache in her journal at 3am in ‘Francis Forever.’ Mitski shows the action of confiding can be both banal and earth-shattering when you let someone into your world.

EP3

LATE NIGHT REVELATIONS

EP3 + I've been trying to lay my head down / But I'm writing this at 3am. — ‘Francis Forever,’ Bury Me at Makeout Creek

EP3

LATE NIGHT REVELATIONS

CONFIDE

BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT

I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm

writing writing writing writing writing writing writing writing writing writing writing writing

this this this this this this this this this this this this

at at at at at at at at at at at at

3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM 3AM

2:30

FRANCIS FOREVER + VERSE 1 +

I don’t know what to do without you I don’t know where to put my hands I’ve been trying to lay my head down But I’m writing this at 3am + CHORUS 1 +

I don’t need the world to see That I’ve been the best I can be, but I don’t think I could stand to be Where you don’t see me + VERSE 2 +

On sunny days I go out walking I end up on a tree-lined street I look up at the gaps of sunlight I miss you more than anything + CHORUS 1 +

I don’t need the world to see That I’ve been the best I can be, but I don’t think I could stand to be Where you don’t see me + CHORUS 2 +

And autumn comes when you’re not yet done With the summer passing by, but I don’t think I could stand to be Where you don't see me

FRANCIS FOREVER I LOOK UP AT THE GAPS OF SUNLIGHT

I MISS YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING

2:17

PINK IN THE NIGHT + VERSE 1 +

I glow pink in the night in my room I’ve been blossoming alone over you And I hear my heart breaking tonight I hear my heart breaking tonight Do you hear it too? It’s like a summer shower With every drop of rain singing + CHORUS +

“I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, I love you, I love you!” + VERSE 2 +

I could stare at your back all day I could stare at your back all day And I know I’ve kissed you before, but I didn’t do it right + CHORUS +

Can I try again, try again, try again Try again, and again, and again And again, and again, and again

COLOPHON

This boxset was designed and produced by Cara Tarmey at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design during the Fall 2019 semester for Graphic Design iv. Many of the beautiful photographs used in the book were taken by Brooklyn-based artist, Ebru Yildiz. This book is set with F37 Flux from English type foundry, Face37, Knockout by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, and Calluna by Dutch designer, Jos Buivenga. This book is perfect-bound and printed on papers including Mohawk Pure White from their Superfine collection, Mohawk Night and Ice Silver paper from the Metallics in their Curious Collection, and Neenah Astrobrite Rocket Red. The box is made out of 1/8" black acrylic with laser-cut etchings. Special thanks to Michael Konstansky for helping with creation of the box and letting us into the laser-cutting lab at 2am.