top of page
Search
michikoyamada19
Jul 15, 20224 min read

Mitski: The Musician Who Sings Poetry



In the spirit of HERVoice Art Exhibition: Through HER Eyes, HERVoice will highlight one of the most poetic musician in the industry right now, Mitski.


Being half Japanese and half American, Mitski has always known she experienced womanhood differently than her American or Japanese peers. Her music often speaks to women of color (WOC) and lesbians, as she often wrote about the struggles of unrealistic beauty standards as seen through the male gaze and unrequited love. Critics often describe her work as poetry as she often used symbolism and word-play for her songwriting.


For this week's HERVoice article, we are going to explore three Mitski songs that truly moved people's hearts universally.


 

Liquid Smooth


Ladies, it's time to rise up for our national anthem. All women that feel victimized by the male gaze will strongly relate to the feeling of turmoil written in this song. Liquid Smooth explores the fear of growing old and losing all the beauty.


I'm beautiful, I know 'cause it's the season But what am I to do with all this beauty? Biology, I am an organism, I'm chemical That's all, that is all I'm liquid smooth, come touch me, too And feel my skin is plump and full of life I'm in my prime

This song is essentially a critique of how men and society value women's beauty and how the male gaze views beauty as something that is ultimately temporary. Mitski questioned herself for having such beauty if it was going to disappear eventually. ‘I’m beautiful, so what, what purpose does it serve?’


She refers to her worth as a season that will end. It implies how society ties beauty to youth and that she is now entering her "season" rather than seeing it as something timeless.


Mitski refers to herself as a biology, organism, or chemical, rather than as a person. This implies how society determines women's worth through their bodies, rather than for who they are. She refers "being in her prime, smooth, and full of life" to show how she thinks she is at the best time for being a beautiful woman and that her "beauty clock" is ticking after her prime.



 

Your Best American Girl


Mitski revealed in an NPR interview, “wanting so badly to fit into this very American person’s life, and simply not being able to, just fundamentally being from a different place and feeling like I would just get in the way of their progression in their life”.


Your mother wouldn't approve of how my mother raised me But I do, I finally do And you're an all-American boy I guess I couldn't help trying to be your best American girl

Being half Japanese, Mitski's upbringing and her view of the world is vastly different from her American lover in question. A lot of Asian-American parents who are first or second-generation immigrants often question and disapprove of the "American life", and vice-versa with white American parents.


A lot of American WOC (even some non-American WOC) who have been in a relationship with someone who is from a completely different background find this awfully relatable as the feeling of fitting into a significant other's culture is prevalent anxiety amongst WOCs and children of immigrants as the feeling of embarrassment and shame of their parents' "backward" culture lingers every step they go.


Your Best American Girl perfectly captures the longing of being loved meanwhile still having the feeling of despair of being in love with the person.



 

Class of 2013


Mitski graduated in 2013 from Purchase College's Conservatory of Music, hence the title of the song. In Class of 2013, Mitski tells a story of how she feels defeated by adulthood and the dilemma of moving forward. One part of womanhood in this that is so universal to all women is the feeling of guilt of not achieving what our mothers expected.


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

In Japanese culture, bathing with their parents is seen as a normal thing to do. However, for both Japanese and non-Japanese listeners, this line still gives an emotional impact as it paints the picture in which Mistki feels defeated and finds comfort through her mom. Too tired to clean herself, Mitski asked her mother to help her, reminiscing of what her mother used to do for her.


This may refer to the idiom "you wash my back, and I'll wash yours", which roughly means "I got your back if you got my back". If seen through this idiom, Mitski is emphasizing the idea of how a mother's relationship with their daughter is essential to womanhood.



 

References:


19 views0 comments

Comments

bottom of page