AILSA CHANG, HOST:
If you've only ever heard one sound from the rock artist Mitski, there's a chance it might have been this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF TINY DESK CONCERT)
MITSKI: (Singing) Mom, would you wash my back?
CHANG: (Laughter) That is Mitski all the way back in 2015, screaming into her guitar while performing at NPR's Tiny Desk. It went a bit viral at that time. Mitski's music has transformed a lot over the five albums that she's released since, including this latest one, out today, called "Nothing's About To Happen To Me."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHERE'S MY PHONE?")
MITSKI: (Singing) Where did it go? Where's my phone?
CHANG: Here to talk to us about it is Raina Douris, host of World Cafe at member station WXPN in Philadelphia. Hey, Raina.
RAINA DOURIS, BYLINE: Hey.
CHANG: Hey. OK, so I got to talk to Mitski back in 2018 when I interviewed her. I've seen her perform. I love her. But for those of us who don't know much about her, tell us about Mitski's backstory.
DOURIS: Yeah. So she's been around making music since around 2012. Her music has developed a lot over the years, but at its core, I would describe her as indie rock. And she isn't what I would call a mainstream artist, necessarily.
CHANG: Right, right.
DOURIS: It wasn't until her seventh album that she had a song chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY LOVE MINE ALL MINE")
MITSKI: (Singing) 'Cause my love is mine, all mine. My love, mine, mine, mine. Nothing in the...
CHANG: Love that song.
DOURIS: Yeah. And, I mean, when I say that she isn't a mainstream artist, that doesn't mean she doesn't have a huge following. She does, and they are very dedicated. And there have been times where her fans have gotten maybe a bit too intense. In 2019, she took a hiatus. She deleted her social media, and she stopped touring. And then, a couple of years later, she came out of that hiatus and started releasing music again. So there are pressures, there are expectations that come with being a successful artist. And there's the fan attention, and that's something that Mitski has been open about struggling with a bit, and that's something that's reflected thematically and in the narrative-style storytelling on this album.
CHANG: Wait. Narrative-style? What do you mean by that? Like, give us an example.
DOURIS: Well, she was very influenced by Shirley Jackson novels when writing these songs. Some of the music follows a narrative similar to the character's perspective in Shirley Jackson's book "We Have Always Lived In The Castle." And there's a song, "The White Cat," (ph) which was inspired by Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting Of Hill House."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THAT WHITE CAT")
MITSKI: (Singing) The white neighborhood cat marking my house. It's supposed to be my house. But I guess, according to cats, now it's his house.
(LAUGHTER)
CHANG: It's kind of hilarious (laughter).
DOURIS: I know. As a cat owner, I really related to that. The press release for this album says itself, Mitski explores a rich narrative whose main character is a reclusive woman in an unkempt house. Outside of her home, she's a deviant. Inside of her home, she is free.
CHANG: Ooh.
DOURIS: And there's a theme of isolation to these songs and of separation from the outside world, which I find so interesting because Mitski has this active fan base, and she has had to set up some strong boundaries around her personal life.
CHANG: So when you listen to this record and you're thinking about a woman, an artist who has had to set her own boundaries, is there a song that reflects that?
DOURIS: The one that really grabbed me right away and the one that I haven't really been able to stop thinking about is a song called "Dead Women." It starts with the line, would you have liked me better if I'd died so you could tell my story? And in that song...
CHANG: Wow.
DOURIS: ...She's exploring this idea around how women's stories are so often co-opted by other people, often men. When a woman can't speak for herself - in this case, if she's dead - whether it's a famous woman or a victim in a true crime story, people can make that woman's life and personality fit into whatever narrative they want. So to me, that's extra powerful coming from someone like Mitski who is dealing with that interior and outside world and the pressures that come with being famous, and it really gets back to that feeling of wanting to have control over your own story and your own world.
CHANG: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEAD WOMEN")
MITSKI: (Singing) Would you have liked me better if I'd died?
CHANG: Raina Douris, host of World Cafe at WXPN in Philadelphia. Mitski's new album, "Nothing's About To Happen To Me," is out now. And you can hear more from Raina on this week's episode of New Music Friday from NPR Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEAD WOMEN")
MITSKI: (Singing) Rifle through it all. Fill the blanks with what you need. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Do-do..." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
