Mitski wiped her Instagram account on Jan. 13, signaling to fans that new music was on the horizon. Following multiple cryptic teasers, the singer released her eighth studio album, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me,” on Feb. 27. The project marks a stylistic shift toward more direct songwriting that resonated deeply with the Florida State fan base.
The buzz at local record store Retrofit Records proved Mitski’s latest era found an immediate home in Tallahassee. The shop hosted an official “TANSY HOUSE LISTENING EVENT” on Feb. 21, allowing fans to hear the record in its entirety on a Hi-Fi system a week before its digital release. To ensure an immersive experience, the event enforced a strict no-phone policy during the playback, encouraging attendees to engage with the music.
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The store provided Tansy House letterhead and art supplies for a community scrapbooking project where attendees created collages and journaled their reactions in real time.
Senior studio art and advertising major Sophia Parish joined the crowd at Retrofit Records, finding that the physical gathering made the emotional weight of the tracks feel more personal.
“I believe this is a strong album that carries many similar themes from albums past,” Parish told the FSView. “Honestly, gut-wrenching.”
‘Nothing’s About to Happen to Me’ explores the trapping nature of stardom
“Nothing’s About to Happen to Me” draws on some of the reflections on stardom present in Mitski’s last album, but differs in its presentation. These songs are highly internal, focusing on Mitski’s interior world as both claustrophobic and comforting. The album is narrated by a reclusive woman in an unkempt house, a safe space that slowly becomes a cycle of misery and anxiety.
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Environmental science and policy major Lee Klodner attended the session after following Mitski throughout her career. Klodner told the FSView the album’s emotional weight stems from its departure from Mitski’s characteristically dense metaphors.
“I thought that this album has been one of her strongest albums yet, especially since the lyrics are more straightforward and blunt than in other albums,” Klodner said. “I think the overall meaning is looking at how easy it is to spiral about things.”
FSU English professor and author of “British Rock Modernism,” Barry Faulk, told the FSView that the album moves beyond Mitski’s usual indie or country-rock sound.
“She seems to want to showcase her mastery of different musical modes on this record,” Faulk said. “The lyrics explore the usual themes of loneliness, depression, isolation, and the overall difficulty of being Mitski. However, this time around, there seems to be a new theme: Mitski’s ambiguous feelings about celebrity.”
The lyrics of “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me” are multifaceted. The fifth track, “Dead Woman,” comments on the loss of identity women often experience after death or victimization, which turns them into a “perfect victim.”
The following song, “Instead of Here,” personifies death as a gentle, maternal presence and ties into the album’s themes of mental decay and the desire to accept the call of the void.
Political science and literature, media, and culture major Sofia Peralta told the FSView she picked up on these themes immediately while focusing on the lyrics.
“This album is definitely about exploring and coming to terms with death, in my opinion,” Peralta said. “Nearly every single song in this album has some sort of reference to leaving things behind, losing yourself, wanting to be saved, seeing ghosts, and leaving things behind.”
A rise from humble beginnings
Mitski released her first two albums, “Lush” (2012) and “Retired from Sad, New Career in Business” (2013), while studying at The Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, SUNY. These piano-driven and orchestral records feature the tragic, poetic lyricism that became her trademark.
Mitski did not achieve widespread popularity until the 2014 release of “Bury Me at Makeout Creek” and the 2016 follow-up, “Puberty 2.” With these records, she traded straightforward piano compositions for a grittier sound and grungy subject matter. Her song “Your Best American Girl” cemented her place in the semi-mainstream indie-rock scene.
More: Mitski concert lets Tallahassee ‘Be the Cowboy’
The 2020s mark an era of Mitski refusing to be pigeonholed into the “sad girl music” genre. She has expressed exhaustion with constant performing and the unrelenting pressure of the music industry. Her albums “Laurel Hell” (2022) and “The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We” (2023) serve as direct responses to this creative struggle.
These records introduced Mitski’s interest in highly stylized performance art and integration of folk influences, both of which define her latest work.
The evolution of Mitski’s style
Stylistically, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me” is an amalgamation of the aggressive vocalization in “Bury Me at Makeout Creek” (2014) and the symphonic folk instrumentation of “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We” (2023). Mitski applies sophisticated arranging skills learned over her decade-long career to the messier sound of her post-graduation work.
“Initially, I would only listen to her when I was sad about something, and I would generally skip out on the songs that I felt weren’t relatable to me,” Peralta said. “Now at 19, I regularly listen to Mitski’s entire discography no matter what mood I’m in, simply because I love her music and songwriting so much.”
Both long-time fans and listeners recently introduced to Mitski through TikTok have praised the album. For both types of listeners, Mitski remains a reliable artist to follow as she constantly evolves and dissects modern life. The only remaining question: where will her style go next?
“I think this album actually might be a good place to start exploring Mitski’s music, if you haven’t heard her before,” Faulk said. “Her musical versatility exudes a confidence in her singing and songwriting that might win her new fans.”
Grace Myatt is a Senior Staff Writer for the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU community. Email our staff at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on FSU News: Mitski explores isolation and stardom on ‘Nothing’s About to Happen to Me’
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