Mitski’s eighth studio album, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me,” debuted on Friday, Feb. 27.
The 11-track album merges Mitski’s emotional lyrics and indie-rock sound with classical elements. The album was recorded with a live band and orchestra through indie record label Dead Oceans.
“Nothing’s About to Happen to Me” follows Mitski’s 2023 album “This Land is Inhospitable and So Are We,” which featured her first song to enter the Billboard charts “My Love Mine All Mine.”
A January press release from Dead Oceans described the album as “Mitski immersing herself in a rich narrative whose main character is a reclusive woman in an unkempt house. Outside of her home, she is a deviant; inside of her home, she is free.”
Threads of domestic horror, a subgenre of horror which turns the comfort of the home into a place of fear, are spread throughout the album. Key aspects of the genre include psychological erosion and the isolation of domestic life, all of which Mitski touches on in her lyrics. Mitski alludes to horror writer Shirley Jackson, who wrote about themes of female isolation and repression within the home. Mitski also alludes to “Grey Gardens,” a documentary about relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and their decrepit Hampton estate.
The fuzzy-rock lead single and music video “Where’s My Phone?” was released on Jan. 16, which took inspiration from Jackson’s 1962 gothic novel “We Have Always Lived in the Castle.” The lyrics explore dissociation and paranoia as Mitski takes on the role as the “reclusive woman” who tries to protect her sister in the music video.
The second single and music video, “I’ll Change For You,” was released Feb. 3. In an interview with BBC Radio 1 about the song’s release, Mitski said she “wanted to write a song about being pathetic.”
The break-up ballad takes a slower tone with a Bossa Nova feel but continues the gothic imagery from the first music video. Mitski sings of self-destructive behavior and irrational actions after a breakup with the straightforward chorus, “I’ll do anything / for you to love me again / If you don’t like me now / I will change for you.”
My standout song was track five “Dead Woman.” Mitski’s vocals, combined with eerie string instruments, keep the gothic sound strong. Her macabre lyrics match the instrumental tone with themes of female narrative and agency. She uses imagery of death, embalming, funerals and wakes to create a claustrophobic narrative of domestic horror.
Overall, “Nothing’s Going to Happen to Me” takes a new avenue with classic Mitski themes that fits well with her discography. Much of her work is a part of larger ideas with themes of identity, isolation and love. This concept album delivers that through domestic horror imagery in her claustrophobic music videos and introspective lyrics.
I would not say this album is for the casual Mitski listener. I could see how the collection would be hard to appreciate if unfamiliar with her work, better suited for her seasoned audience. It sounds like a combination of all her past albums put together, culminating in a cohesive addition to Mitski’s discography.
