Mitski Miyawaki, who records under her first name, just keeps getting better. With her past three albums, she’s grown ever more confident, shifting stylistically ever so slightly with each. Here, she’s right at home in a slightly rougher grungy, alt-rock sound, using all the soft-loud-soft dynamic power the best of the genre used so very well in the early-to-mid 90s. All of that is in service of her simple, yet razor-sharp lyrics. She works through trying to make a doomed relationship with an “all-American boy” work. “I guess I couldn’t help trying to be the best all-American girl”, she sings, as she knows she can’t be what he wants and expects, however hard she tries. There’s pain, to be sure, but a lot more warmth than you’d think. Blame isn’t placed anywhere, as Mitski handles the whole thing like an out-of-our-hands type of inevitability. Then there’s that sucker-punch chorus: “Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me, but I do, I think I do.” Growing more self-assured in who she is, you can hear her experience push and pull of wanting to be something else for this one person. That “I think I do” turns into an “I finally do”, and the realization serves as the final death-knell of the relationship. That’s the thing, though. There’s a difference between knowing and knowing, especially when it comes to incompatibility with someone you love. When that final, experiential knowledge comes, it’s crushing, no matter how inevitable it was. “You’re the one. You’re all I ever wanted. I think I’ll regret this”. Sheesh.
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