Japanese-American singer-songwriter Mitski against the world.
- Kamila Niemotko
- Dec 13, 2022
- 4 min read
Mitski Miyawaki, known as Mitski, is a Japanese-American alternative singer and songwriter. Most of her works are pop and alternative/indie rock. She started her career in 2012 and creates music to this day.
Childhood and youth
Mitski was born in Japan, but due to her father’s job, she frequently moved around the world during her youth, living in China, Malasyisa, the Czech Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Turkey. She graduated from high school in Turkey before moving to the United States, where she attended Hunter College in New York City before transferring to SUNY Purchase for music composition.
Beginnings of a career and a passion for music
2012-2014
Mitski discovered her passion for music after graduating school. "Bag of Bones" was the first song written by her.
After transferring to SUNY Purchase, Mitski made her first two albums – "Lush" (2012) and "Retired From Sad, New Career In Business" (2013), which were her junior and senior projects in .college. While recording she collaborated with a 60-person student orchestra. In 2013, Mitski also collaborated with indie-rock artist Mike Rasimas, providing vocals for the original song "Ego".
Her third record, "Bury Me At Makeout Creek" differentiates between her earlier works because of the exhaustion she felt after graduating, as she says in an interview: "I was really, really exhausted. I was in school, and working to pay my rent, and working on the two projects and trying to graduate from college and by the end of it". The professional setting changed to recording songs at home and makeshift studious. Raw, impulsive guitar replaced orchestral and classical piano. At this time, Mitski was a vocalist for the short-lived prog-metal band "Voice Coils."
2015-2017
In 2015, Mitski signed with independent record label "Dead Oceans." On March 1, 2016, she released her fourth album, "Puberty 2," and shared the lead single, "Your Best American Girl". Before the release of the album, she also released a second single, "Happy." The album had a huge success, and the single "Your Best American Girl" was named the 13th best song of the 2010s.
In 2017, Mitski was an artist as a supporting act for the band "Pixies" where she covered songs like One Direction’s "Fireproof." Frank Sinatra’s "I’m a Fool to Want You" was covered by her for the 7-Inches For Planned Parenthood compilation album. Mitski also did the opening for some of Lorde’s concerts on the Melodrama World Tour.
2018-2019
On May 14, 2018, Mitski released the lead single "Geyser" with a music video and started pre-orders for her fifth album, "Be the Cowboy." Then she released the second single, "Nobody," which was also accompanied by video. The final single, "Two Slow Dancers," was released on August 9 along with a lyric video.
2019 Break
In 2019, Mitski made a decision to take a break from her career and eventually wanted to quit music. In September 2019, she announced her final performance on her Be the Cowboy Tour.
2020—present
In October 2020 Mitski provided a soundtrack for the graphic novel "This Is Where We Fall." It was a fresh restart for her artistic career, as she describes it: "It was exciting to make a soundtrack for a comic book, It allowed me to work outside of my usual songwriting form and try to approach it like a score, but without any of the cues that come with working alongside a moving image, which ended up being both freeing and challenging."
In 2021, Mitski released her first single since her hiatus, "Working for the Knife." A little time after that, her latest album, "Laurel Hell," came into being. In 2022, Mitski performed at a lot of festivals and had tours all around the world.
Music style
Mitski is known for her volatile version of indie rock. The distorted guitars, electric organs, or show-tune piano motifs that characterize her music. Pop, folk, and fierce punk are also genres that influence her style.
Performances
An important part of Mitski’s performances is her choreography, which is heavily inspired by Butoh, which is a form of dance that developed in post-war Japan. The choreography shown in Butoh is filled with chaotic emotions that are shown with the help of precise, repetitive gestures. Mitski uses this technique to empathize with emotions in her songs during concerts.
Singing about love, sadness, and identity
Mitski has described her music as a place where people "can put all of their feelings, their ugliness, that doesn’t have a place in their own lives." Her songs are often filled with various metaphors, which resonate with her listeners. The short story told in each song creates a wide space for interpretation. Sadness and anxiety are often depicted in her artwork, and the honest expression of those feelings is one of the reasons so many people rely on her songs.
Love also plays a huge part in Mitski’s songs. In one of her interviews, she says that her works never show love in a real sense but rather fixation, power, and loss. "Washing Machine Heart," one of Mitski’s most popular songs, describes how exhausting and hurtful human relationships can be. Another topic that Mitski’s songs are about is identity. As an Asian American woman, her struggles in society are an inherent part of her work. The song "Your Best American Girl" clearly depicts the experiences of a person of color, so for this reason, a lot of people may find it relatable.
Interesting and fun facts about Mitski Miyawaki:
In a 2016 episode of the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time, her song "Francis Forever" was covered by Olivia Olson as the character Marceline the Vampire Queen.
She adores Hayao Miyazaki's films.
She has two cats.
Artists that inspire Mitski are Connie Converse, Frank Ocean, David Lynch, Jeff Buckley, M.I.A., Björk, Kate Bush, and Ikue Asazaki.
A lot of younger listeners began to appreciate Mitski‘s music in the last few years, and now a big part of her fan base is made up of teenagers.
Sources:
留言