In Praise of the Lush Album

Since quarantine, the American singer-songwriter Mitsuki Laycock, known professionally as just Mitski, has increasingly garnered more attention from fans worldwide, more so than ever in the past. She is praised for her unique storytelling and symbolism in melancholically toned songs that resonate with much of her listener’s thoughts. In a time like quarantine where it wasn’t hard to feel somber when everyone was receiving the news of increasing COVID cases, many themselves becoming infected with the virus, the passing of countless loved ones, and of course the intense isolation, it’s not hard to understand why she had gotten a surge of popularity given her music style. Not including her musical works post-quarantine, the most popular album among fans and critics of Mitski is inarguably Be the Cowboy or Puberty 2, both great albums in their own right with songs I am fond of. However, I wanted to focus on Mitski’s first album and my personal favorite, Lush. 

Released in 2012 as a junior year project for the college she was attending, the majority of the songs Mitski wrote for Lush were from when she was eighteen. The recurring themes found throughout the album deal with the fleeting feeling of beauty, gender role issues, toxic relationships, and ambition for the unattainable (Xu). However, it is done in such a way that doesn’t feel too obvious, the themes blending in so that it doesn’t feel like it is screaming in your face to get the message across. Even in some of the more less subtle songs, such as Brand New City where the lyrics include ‘But if I gave up on being pretty, I wouldn't know how to be alive/I should move to a brand new city and teach myself how to die,’ clearly conveying that if she no longer felt pretty she wouldn’t know how to live anymore, the line’s impact isn’t lessened and the lyricism makes it repeatable. Another highlight from the album that stood out to me was the song ‘Eric’ which holds a tune that is eery and hauntingly beautiful. While the lyrics may seem explicit in some parts, like every Mitski song as the artist claimed, the meaning of every song is up to each listener's interpretation. An interesting perspective that could be taken from the song was one I came across on a forum page, “Sacrificing most of your desires for the sake of having a small part of what you want.” I thought this might be connected to how at the end she says she would ‘sell my whole to you’ just for a part of them. Real Men is another favorite from the album for its intense musical buildup that implies criticisms of toxic masculinity.

I could go on forever talking about each song on the album, and I wish that it got more recognition as the more ballad-like songs deserve attention for their flexible lyricism rather than the more pop, yet still poetically written songs that she more recently releases. For Mitski at such a young age to be able to write songs that hit hard, at least for me, is an impressive feat, especially on her first independently released album. I urge whoever is reading this to listen to at least one song from the album if you haven't already.