Exploring Mitski: Journey of an Indie Music Icon

Mitski "Mitsuki Laycock" is a particular indie artist that has captured my and many other people's heart over the last year, the authenticity within her sounds and lyrics have drawn me to visit all of her discography which is just all exceptional - her music really means a lot to me, I've even bought tickets to see her soon! I feel as I can definitely say she is my favourite singer and in celebration I'm going to dive into her history as an artist and how she grew to be an indie music star.

Mitski after studying film originally shifted her focus into a career in the music industry - she enrolled in 'State University of New York at Purchase' which while studying there she composed, recorded and self released her first two albums "Lush" (2012) and "Retired from Sad, New Career in Business" (2013) as a part of her student projects.

Lush (2012)

Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013)

After her graduation she started work on her 3rd album "Bury Me at Makeout Creek" (2014) while under the label "Double Double Whammey" she released 3 different singles for the album while eventually releasing the whole piece on November 11, 2014 exploring a more punk/rock/grunge sound from her previous work - this album even reached enough popularity to be covered by Olivia Olson on the popular cartoon "Adventure Time" where track "Francis Forever" was used on the show.

Bury Me At Makout Creek (2014)

After releasing Bury Me At Makeout Creek Mitski went and signed on to her current label "Dead Oceans" and started producing her 4th album "Puberty 2" (2016), she released 3 singles in advance and released it officially on March 1st 2016. At this point Mitski started to gain a lot of popularity and traction, she started to support other established indie music artists on tour such as "Pixies" and "Lorde" by opening for them and being the opening act to their shows.

Puberty 2 (2016)

After gaining a lot of traction she went on to create her 5th album "Be the Cowboy" (2018), a more alternative pop style with 3 singles and eventually releasing it on May 14 2018. This album includes as of current her most popular song on her discography "Washing Machine Heart" with 569,541,723 plays on spotify alone as of October 2023, the album was also described as album of the year by many different music magazines/websites.

Be the Cowboy (2018)

Mitski then went onto create her 6th album "Laurel Hell", exploring a more snyth-pop style within the tracks. She finished the album during the COVID-19 lockdowns, sprouted 5 singles for the album and then released it on February 4 2022.  Many media outlets described the album as to not be as strong as her previous work, her most mixed album in terms of reviews (I love it though).

Laurel Hell (2022)

Enter current year and Mitski surprises her audience with announcing her 7th album "The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We" (2023) while releasing the 1st single "Bug Like An Angel" and then two other singles she released live on BBC Radio. She then released the album September 15 2023. This album explores the country/folk side of her composition and she describes it as her most American album yet. 

The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (2023)

The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We includes a massive hit on the popular app TikTok sporting over a million videos using the song "My Love Mine All Mine" which has skyrocketed her success on Spotify with the song at #3 on USA Spotify charts and currently is one of the most popular female USA Spotify artists right now (thanks to @mitskidata on twitter/X).

Mitski continues to grow rapidly with her success and has touched the hearts of many people with her skills of song writing, composition and ability to explore many different sounds ranging from punk rock, pop, country, folk and continues to sell out venues for her concerts coming in the future. I'm excited to see what she has to show in the future.