The Mitski Discography Rate | winner revealed
- Thread starter fatyoshi
- Start date
she/her
Lost my fave tracks on "Lush" and "Bury Me At Makeout Creek". Most of my 10s gone.
Class of 2013 and anythin' but Geyser and A Pearl from BAC.
Lush
It's time is near.
He/Him
Folks just haven't worn their white button-downs, walked out and been seen as clean, gone to work and gone to sleep and loved some littler things, huh?
what's next?
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#20 - Francis Forever
8.458
High scores: 11 (@Euphoria), 10 (me, @DinahLee, @Remorque)
Low scores: 6 (@LE0Night)
fatyoshi's score: 10
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #19
10 voters - #16 (+3)
Final placement - #20 (-4)
In something of a potential upset, Francis Forever drops out at number twenty. I was almost certain this was a lock for the top ten before starting the rate so this definitely came as a bit of a shock.
Francis Forever is a bit of a straight forward one but I find beauty in its simplicity. The restlessness that can come with the absence of a loved one is captured incredibly well here. Mitski sings of writing this song at 3 am and it absolutely shows in the weariness of her vocal delivery throughout. It also conveys the almost randomness behaviors and thought processes can undertake during these times of distress. The way the second verse jarringly interrupts a description of a vibrant setting with "I miss you more than anything", as if without control is one of my favorite moments on this record. It really can be like that when something consumes you sometimes...
If it wasn't obvious enough from the blabbing away I did in the previous paragraph, I'm clearly a fan of this one. It wasn't ever an 11 contender but it was never gonna be anything less than a 10 either. I can see why this had crossover appeal with appearances on Adventure Time among other things. It's one of her ~signature songs for a reason.
General consensus of this one seems to be mostly solid. The lowest score was a single 6 so it seems more than anything it got done in by a lack of 10s to go with the 11. We're getting to a point where most of our lowest scores aren't gonna really be that low anymore. It's gonna be something.
We got one piece of commentary for this from Cutlery who gave this a 9. "So straightforward but not for that any less great. Oh the way she writes about being far away from a lover or ex-lover and put it so succinctly."
If @Euphoria has anything to add to go with their 11, feel free.
This leaves us with only four more Bury Me at Makeout Creek tracks left. Hopefully everyone feels like we chose the right ones, I'm not 100% sure. Either way, I'll be back for another tomorrow xx
---
#20 - Francis Forever
8.458
High scores: 11 (@Euphoria), 10 (me, @DinahLee, @Remorque)
Low scores: 6 (@LE0Night)
fatyoshi's score: 10
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #19
10 voters - #16 (+3)
Final placement - #20 (-4)
In something of a potential upset, Francis Forever drops out at number twenty. I was almost certain this was a lock for the top ten before starting the rate so this definitely came as a bit of a shock.
Francis Forever is a bit of a straight forward one but I find beauty in its simplicity. The restlessness that can come with the absence of a loved one is captured incredibly well here. Mitski sings of writing this song at 3 am and it absolutely shows in the weariness of her vocal delivery throughout. It also conveys the almost randomness behaviors and thought processes can undertake during these times of distress. The way the second verse jarringly interrupts a description of a vibrant setting with "I miss you more than anything", as if without control is one of my favorite moments on this record. It really can be like that when something consumes you sometimes...
If it wasn't obvious enough from the blabbing away I did in the previous paragraph, I'm clearly a fan of this one. It wasn't ever an 11 contender but it was never gonna be anything less than a 10 either. I can see why this had crossover appeal with appearances on Adventure Time among other things. It's one of her ~signature songs for a reason.
General consensus of this one seems to be mostly solid. The lowest score was a single 6 so it seems more than anything it got done in by a lack of 10s to go with the 11. We're getting to a point where most of our lowest scores aren't gonna really be that low anymore. It's gonna be something.
We got one piece of commentary for this from Cutlery who gave this a 9. "So straightforward but not for that any less great. Oh the way she writes about being far away from a lover or ex-lover and put it so succinctly."
If @Euphoria has anything to add to go with their 11, feel free.
This leaves us with only four more Bury Me at Makeout Creek tracks left. Hopefully everyone feels like we chose the right ones, I'm not 100% sure. Either way, I'll be back for another tomorrow xx
i need a moment.
okay.
#19 - Class of 2013
8.467
High scores: 11 (@Trinu 3.0), 10 (me, @DinahLee, @Serg., @finito)
Low scores: 6 (@Cutlery)
fatyoshi's score: 10
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #38
10 voters - #36 (+2)
Final placement - #19 (+17)
At number we lose both another 11 and our final Retired from Sad, New Career in Business track. That means it's time to say bye to Class of 2013.
What kind of little song that could with this one's leaderboard movement. This started out at a dismal #38 but jumped a whopping 19 spots total as the following ballots came in. We love a comeback story. I'm glad this happened because a placement that low for this one would've really been a problem. I might have have needed to pop off in that scenario. We've all been spared of that mess, thankfully. At least for now.
I don't have a ton to say about this one in terms of personal analysis or projections, sorry. It kinda speaks for itself. Existence is terrifying and fills me with constant dread sometimes. I'm glad to not be alone in this experience.
I am pleased to see it take the top spot for the Retired from Sad, New Career in Business tracks, however. I wasn't as sure about the final placement for Lush tracks but I can fully get behind this one. Class of 2013 is far and away my favorite track on the album and none of the rest really came close. I'm especially fond of the live renditions with the fuzzy guitar.
@Trinu 3.0 sent some wonderful commentary to go with the top marks. I'll leave us with that for this elimination. I'll be back with a stats post for Retired a little later.
"Mom, is it alright
If I stay for a year or two?
Those two lines describe surprisingly well the point I currently am in my life.
In the summer of 2018 I took the decision to leave the UK for good after four years living there. My life over there was… bumpy, to call it something.
I had always prided myself in saying that I didn’t just have one best friend: I had two. One I knew since childhood and with whom I spent all my afternoons and evenings when I was back at the island and to whom I would tell all the stuff I’d do at uni and abroad (as he didn’t like travelling). The other I met at uni and we shared a passion for languages, books, travelling and blasting our music louder than the other one until the neighbors complained. But right after I arrived in the UK, one left for Japan and all but disappeared; the other one died.
What came after was a whirlwind of emotions and mental turmoil that I could only shut down drowning it, so I became what you would call a high-functioning alcoholic. Every day, right after work, I’d go to the same pub, order my six or seven pints, go home, have a pizza to sober up and do it all over again the next day. After three years of this, I realised that the only place where I felt like I didn’t need any of that, the only place where I felt like my mind was at ease was right here: at home.
And I still remember how happy my mom was when I told her I was coming back. I still remember how excited she was when I told her I was going back to school (to work in the same hospital she just retired from last year ññ) and how she took planes and queued for paperwork I needed while I was packing my stuff in Birmingham. And something clicked in me then. Something clicked and I realised how much my mom has done for me and my siblings. How much she’s given up for us. I realised how much I love her, how much I need her and how much I've missed her.
So this short song where Mitski is repeating over and over again Mom, help me; not only speaks volumes to me, but it resonates in my mind in a way that not many songs get to do because of how coincidentally identical my circumstances are to it. Mitski allows herself to be vulnerable because she knows she’s safe with her mother. She allows herself to take a moment (or two years) to think about what she wants to make out of this life where we are supposed to never stop producing and working and buying and selling and going up, up and up and get and a husband or a wife and a house and bring children and careful with that global financial crisis that pandemic (she knew in 2013!), don't even think of stopping, ummm.
She allows herself to breathe because she knows her mother will be there.
Mom, am I still young?
Can I dream for a few months more?
I’m sure her mom said yes. Mine did.
I also love a cheesy piano ballad."
okay.
#19 - Class of 2013
8.467
High scores: 11 (@Trinu 3.0), 10 (me, @DinahLee, @Serg., @finito)
Low scores: 6 (@Cutlery)
fatyoshi's score: 10
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #38
10 voters - #36 (+2)
Final placement - #19 (+17)
At number we lose both another 11 and our final Retired from Sad, New Career in Business track. That means it's time to say bye to Class of 2013.
What kind of little song that could with this one's leaderboard movement. This started out at a dismal #38 but jumped a whopping 19 spots total as the following ballots came in. We love a comeback story. I'm glad this happened because a placement that low for this one would've really been a problem. I might have have needed to pop off in that scenario. We've all been spared of that mess, thankfully. At least for now.
I don't have a ton to say about this one in terms of personal analysis or projections, sorry. It kinda speaks for itself. Existence is terrifying and fills me with constant dread sometimes. I'm glad to not be alone in this experience.
I am pleased to see it take the top spot for the Retired from Sad, New Career in Business tracks, however. I wasn't as sure about the final placement for Lush tracks but I can fully get behind this one. Class of 2013 is far and away my favorite track on the album and none of the rest really came close. I'm especially fond of the live renditions with the fuzzy guitar.
@Trinu 3.0 sent some wonderful commentary to go with the top marks. I'll leave us with that for this elimination. I'll be back with a stats post for Retired a little later.
"Mom, is it alright
If I stay for a year or two?
Those two lines describe surprisingly well the point I currently am in my life.
In the summer of 2018 I took the decision to leave the UK for good after four years living there. My life over there was… bumpy, to call it something.
I had always prided myself in saying that I didn’t just have one best friend: I had two. One I knew since childhood and with whom I spent all my afternoons and evenings when I was back at the island and to whom I would tell all the stuff I’d do at uni and abroad (as he didn’t like travelling). The other I met at uni and we shared a passion for languages, books, travelling and blasting our music louder than the other one until the neighbors complained. But right after I arrived in the UK, one left for Japan and all but disappeared; the other one died.
What came after was a whirlwind of emotions and mental turmoil that I could only shut down drowning it, so I became what you would call a high-functioning alcoholic. Every day, right after work, I’d go to the same pub, order my six or seven pints, go home, have a pizza to sober up and do it all over again the next day. After three years of this, I realised that the only place where I felt like I didn’t need any of that, the only place where I felt like my mind was at ease was right here: at home.
And I still remember how happy my mom was when I told her I was coming back. I still remember how excited she was when I told her I was going back to school (to work in the same hospital she just retired from last year ññ) and how she took planes and queued for paperwork I needed while I was packing my stuff in Birmingham. And something clicked in me then. Something clicked and I realised how much my mom has done for me and my siblings. How much she’s given up for us. I realised how much I love her, how much I need her and how much I've missed her.
So this short song where Mitski is repeating over and over again Mom, help me; not only speaks volumes to me, but it resonates in my mind in a way that not many songs get to do because of how coincidentally identical my circumstances are to it. Mitski allows herself to be vulnerable because she knows she’s safe with her mother. She allows herself to take a moment (or two years) to think about what she wants to make out of this life where we are supposed to never stop producing and working and buying and selling and going up, up and up and get and a husband or a wife and a house and bring children and careful with that global financial crisis that pandemic (she knew in 2013!), don't even think of stopping, ummm.
She allows herself to breathe because she knows her mother will be there.
Mom, am I still young?
Can I dream for a few months more?
I’m sure her mom said yes. Mine did.
I also love a cheesy piano ballad."
He/Him
Retired from Sad, New Career in Business
7.784
#19 - Class of 2013 - 8.467
#33 - Strawberry Blond - 8.056
#34 - Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart - 8.042
#36 - Shame - 7.933
#43 - Because Dreaming Costs Money, My Dear - 7.747
#45 - Square - 7.694
#46 - Humpty - 7.55
#52 - Circle - 7.306
#53 - I Want You - 7.258
---
High scorers:
@pop3blow2 - 9.078
@ohnostalgia - 8.944
@LE0Night - 8.722
Low scorers:
@Cutlery - 5.972
@Euphoria - 6
insolentire - 6.444
Individual averages:
@pop3blow2 - 9.078
@ohnostalgia - 8.944
@LE0Night - 8.722
@DinahLee - 8.667
@Serg. - 8.556
@fatyoshi - 8.444
@Remorque - 8.389
@aux - 8.111
@Crisp X - 7.833
@Doenjang - 7.833
@finito - 7.833
@Trinu 3.0 - 7.778
@Phonetics Girl - 7.556
@constantino - 7.056
@Coochi - 6.889
insolentire - 6.444
@Euphoria - 6
@Cutlery - 5.972
@ohnostalgia - 8.944
@LE0Night - 8.722
@DinahLee - 8.667
@Serg. - 8.556
@fatyoshi - 8.444
@Remorque - 8.389
@aux - 8.111
@Crisp X - 7.833
@Doenjang - 7.833
@finito - 7.833
@Trinu 3.0 - 7.778
@Phonetics Girl - 7.556
@constantino - 7.056
@Coochi - 6.889
insolentire - 6.444
@Euphoria - 6
@Cutlery - 5.972
ñññ every time I wanted to gloat about my 11 surviving another cull I feared I was gonna jinx it.
But yeah, Class of 2013 has been my go-to Mitski song for a couple of years whenever I feel like a need a good cry and it'll stay like that! #19 is a nice place in this discography and it's a prime number so all good.
Let me go call my mom now ññ
But yeah, Class of 2013 has been my go-to Mitski song for a couple of years whenever I feel like a need a good cry and it'll stay like that! #19 is a nice place in this discography and it's a prime number so all good.
Let me go call my mom now ññ
Last one for the week.
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#18 - Cop Car
8.489
High scores: 11 (@Phonetics Girl, @Remorque), 10 (@Cutlery, @DinahLee, @Euphoria, @LE0Night)
Low scores: 4 (insolentire), 6 (@Trinu 3.0)
fatyoshi's score: 7
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #33
10 voters - #22 (+11)
Final placement - #18 (+4)
Next up we lose two 11s and one of our few remaining extras. We're getting dangerously close to an exclusively Bury Me at Makeout Creek/Puberty 2/Be the Cowboy upper portion of the leaderboard. Bye to Cop Car.
This is one of the scattered Mitski tracks (along with My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars and Geyser) that saw live debuts before any official recorded release. The track saw a few appearances in live sets in 2014 and 2015 but otherwise faded away. I had written it off as a one-off or live experiment/test type thing but it finally resurfaced last year as part of the soundtrack for The Turning. Perhaps not the most optimal context for the song to show up seeing as the film was absolutely rancid but at least this and the rest of the tracks contributed were solid.
This is probably my least favorite of the remaining tracks (though I like it still) so I'm not completely torn up about seeing it leave now. The sound is something unique with grunge elements and a generally darker sound to the instrumentation than usual. There's definitely a time and place for it for me.
Leaderboard placement for this one was definitely helped as both of our 11s and the sets of 10s came in with more votes. The lower scores from insolentire and Trinu 3.0 in the first set probably stopped this from rising any higher though, unfortunately. Top 20 isn't bad for something outside of the main discography regardless.
We got no commentary from either 11 voter so if @Phonetics Girl or @Remorque wants to add anything, feel free to do so. We did get commentary from our lowest scorer so I'll leave us with that and some performances.
insolentire said "While it’s a fine song, I feel that it doesn’t really suits Mitski. There’s too few vocals, too few of her timbre and personality. I see the intention, but it just doesn’t work for me."
(I timestamped these so hopefully they play directly at the Cop Car performances...)
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See you next week for another set of eliminations.
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#18 - Cop Car
8.489
High scores: 11 (@Phonetics Girl, @Remorque), 10 (@Cutlery, @DinahLee, @Euphoria, @LE0Night)
Low scores: 4 (insolentire), 6 (@Trinu 3.0)
fatyoshi's score: 7
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #33
10 voters - #22 (+11)
Final placement - #18 (+4)
Next up we lose two 11s and one of our few remaining extras. We're getting dangerously close to an exclusively Bury Me at Makeout Creek/Puberty 2/Be the Cowboy upper portion of the leaderboard. Bye to Cop Car.
This is one of the scattered Mitski tracks (along with My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars and Geyser) that saw live debuts before any official recorded release. The track saw a few appearances in live sets in 2014 and 2015 but otherwise faded away. I had written it off as a one-off or live experiment/test type thing but it finally resurfaced last year as part of the soundtrack for The Turning. Perhaps not the most optimal context for the song to show up seeing as the film was absolutely rancid but at least this and the rest of the tracks contributed were solid.
This is probably my least favorite of the remaining tracks (though I like it still) so I'm not completely torn up about seeing it leave now. The sound is something unique with grunge elements and a generally darker sound to the instrumentation than usual. There's definitely a time and place for it for me.
Leaderboard placement for this one was definitely helped as both of our 11s and the sets of 10s came in with more votes. The lower scores from insolentire and Trinu 3.0 in the first set probably stopped this from rising any higher though, unfortunately. Top 20 isn't bad for something outside of the main discography regardless.
We got no commentary from either 11 voter so if @Phonetics Girl or @Remorque wants to add anything, feel free to do so. We did get commentary from our lowest scorer so I'll leave us with that and some performances.
insolentire said "While it’s a fine song, I feel that it doesn’t really suits Mitski. There’s too few vocals, too few of her timbre and personality. I see the intention, but it just doesn’t work for me."
(I timestamped these so hopefully they play directly at the Cop Car performances...)
---
See you next week for another set of eliminations.
she/her
I think I've seen at least 7 screen adaptations of Turn of The Screw and that was the only one I utterly hated. Floria Sigismondi did that, I guess.
I find Cop Car very evocative and sinister-sounding. Like, I felt those ramblings of a madwoman planning to commit first-degree arson, but also a deep metaphor for being haunted by memories? Idk, it's opaque and you can probably interpret the lyrics multiple ways. All I know, the atmosphere is incomparable.
well it's another week ":)"
let's get to it
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#17 - Susie Save Your Love
8.528
High scores: 10 (@Crisp X, @Trinu 3.0, @Serg., @Remorque)
Low scores: 6 (@Euphoria)
fatyoshi's score: 8
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #23
10 voters - #17 (+6)
Final placement - #17 (=)
Just one spot after Cop Car falls out, we lose our final non-album track as well. Our last collab, this time with Allie X falls out at number 17. Bye to Susie Save Your Love.
Susie is the ninth track on Allie X's sophomore album Cape God. As with Cop Car, this was another track that saw release after Mitski had already entered her current hiatus. When speaking to Apple Music she had the following to say about the track:
“I discovered Mitski’s music a couple of years ago and was instantly smitten. She has such a singular voice—it was so authentic, so sad, so relatable. Mitski’s taking a break from the music industry at the moment—she’s not on social media, she’s not touring. And so when I asked her to sing on the track, she was like, ‘I love this song so much, but I’m saying no to every feature right now.’ But then one day I was flying somewhere and when I landed, there was a text from Mitski saying, ‘Hey, no pressure, but if you still want me to do the feature on the song, I think I would like to do it.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god, yes!’ She doesn’t really do features, so I feel very lucky. ‘Susie Save Your Love’ is a song about being in love with your best friend and she’s dating a guy you don’t like—you know he doesn’t treat her right, and you just want to scoop her up and save her.”
This one is pretty relatable. Even if you can't relate to ever being in love with a best friend (God I Wish That Were Me.), the difficulty of not being fond of a friend's partner can also be common. This is one of my favorite tracks on Cape God and if it wasn't for Between the Breaths this would definitely be my preferred collaboration. God knows Wait with Ryan Hemsworth wouldn't have been in the running unless it was the only one.
To be honest, I was kinda hoping for something a bit boppier with this collaboration. When hearing about this collaboration before it released my mind definitely went towards the sound of CollXtion I or Super Sunset. If the collab had happened during either of those eras I can only imagine how existence erasing it would've been. I'm glad we got Susie Save Your Love as it is, still.
For this one, constantino sent in some commentary to go with an 8. "HOW DID I FORGET THIS EXISTED?? The rush of Serotonin this induced when it came on was quite overwhelming."
I'll leave us with a visual, a track Xplanation, and a performance. I'll be back with a collabs section stats post in a bit.
let's get to it
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#17 - Susie Save Your Love
8.528
High scores: 10 (@Crisp X, @Trinu 3.0, @Serg., @Remorque)
Low scores: 6 (@Euphoria)
fatyoshi's score: 8
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #23
10 voters - #17 (+6)
Final placement - #17 (=)
Just one spot after Cop Car falls out, we lose our final non-album track as well. Our last collab, this time with Allie X falls out at number 17. Bye to Susie Save Your Love.
Susie is the ninth track on Allie X's sophomore album Cape God. As with Cop Car, this was another track that saw release after Mitski had already entered her current hiatus. When speaking to Apple Music she had the following to say about the track:
“I discovered Mitski’s music a couple of years ago and was instantly smitten. She has such a singular voice—it was so authentic, so sad, so relatable. Mitski’s taking a break from the music industry at the moment—she’s not on social media, she’s not touring. And so when I asked her to sing on the track, she was like, ‘I love this song so much, but I’m saying no to every feature right now.’ But then one day I was flying somewhere and when I landed, there was a text from Mitski saying, ‘Hey, no pressure, but if you still want me to do the feature on the song, I think I would like to do it.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god, yes!’ She doesn’t really do features, so I feel very lucky. ‘Susie Save Your Love’ is a song about being in love with your best friend and she’s dating a guy you don’t like—you know he doesn’t treat her right, and you just want to scoop her up and save her.”
This one is pretty relatable. Even if you can't relate to ever being in love with a best friend (God I Wish That Were Me.), the difficulty of not being fond of a friend's partner can also be common. This is one of my favorite tracks on Cape God and if it wasn't for Between the Breaths this would definitely be my preferred collaboration. God knows Wait with Ryan Hemsworth wouldn't have been in the running unless it was the only one.
To be honest, I was kinda hoping for something a bit boppier with this collaboration. When hearing about this collaboration before it released my mind definitely went towards the sound of CollXtion I or Super Sunset. If the collab had happened during either of those eras I can only imagine how existence erasing it would've been. I'm glad we got Susie Save Your Love as it is, still.
For this one, constantino sent in some commentary to go with an 8. "HOW DID I FORGET THIS EXISTED?? The rush of Serotonin this induced when it came on was quite overwhelming."
I'll leave us with a visual, a track Xplanation, and a performance. I'll be back with a collabs section stats post in a bit.
Collaborations
7.569
#17 - Susie Save Your Love - 8.528
#32 - Between the Breaths - 8.067
#66 - Wait - 6.111
---
High scorers:
@Crisp X - 9
@Remorque - 8.5
@aux - 8.417
Low scorers:
@LE0Night - 5.833
@Euphoria -6
@Doenjang - 6.167
Individual averages:
@Crisp X - 9
@Remorque - 8.5
@aux - 8.417
@pop3blow2 - 8.4
@Trinu 3.0 - 8.167
@fatyoshi - 8
@DinahLee - 8
@Coochi - 8
@finito - 8
insolentire - 7.667
@constantino - 7.667
@Serg. - 7.5
@Cutlery - 7.083
@ohnostalgia - 7
@Phonetics Girl - 6.833
@Doenjang - 6.167
@Euphoria - 6
@LE0Night - 5.833
@Remorque - 8.5
@aux - 8.417
@pop3blow2 - 8.4
@Trinu 3.0 - 8.167
@fatyoshi - 8
@DinahLee - 8
@Coochi - 8
@finito - 8
insolentire - 7.667
@constantino - 7.667
@Serg. - 7.5
@Cutlery - 7.083
@ohnostalgia - 7
@Phonetics Girl - 6.833
@Doenjang - 6.167
@Euphoria - 6
@LE0Night - 5.833
what's next?
---
#16 - Why Didn't You Stop Me?
8.708
High scores: 10 (@constantino, @DinahLee, @pop3blow2)
Low scores: 6 (@Coochi)
fatyoshi's score: 9
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #20
10 voters - #18 (+2)
Final placement - #16 (+2)
Giving our 11s a break (at least for now) we get rid of a track with only a set of 10s in terms of high scores. Why Didn't You Stop Me? is the next track to go.
Why Didn't You Stop Me? felt like something of Mitski's first big pop moment in her solo material. It sees typical topics covered by Mitski in her work like dependency, unhealthy idealization, and so forth over a synth poppy backing. I remember listening to Be the Cowboy for the first time at midnight on release night and being destroyed by Geyser (more on this at some point later dddd) and then being trampled by this (and Old Friend) when I was down. This was such a shift at the time, especially going into the album without reading anything about it beforehand. The chords after "paint it over" in addition to the guitar break in the songs latter half are among my favorite parts of Be the Cowboy musically. Not THE favorite but they're up there.
I feel a tiny bit like giving this a 9 was a bit of an underscore but some stuff needed to not get 10s at some point. It hurts to see this out but I wouldn't swap most of the remaining Cowboy tracks with this and would've even swapped Old Friend and this one's places. That's no great insult, it's just what happens with rates when you feel so passionate about someone's full body of work I guess.
Voter reception was pretty solid with only a single 6 as the lowest score. The track started out at number twenty on the leaderboard early in and slid upwards to where it is now as more voters came in. I'd say we, as a collective were definitely feeling it a bitsy.
There's two pieces of commentary for this one so let's get to those.
Cutlery with an 8.5 said "This one has nearly no lyrics but god is it infectious. And relatable once again. How come people don’t stop me from doing dumb shit I fully decided myself."
constantino gave a 10 and kept it brief with "Synth-pop rights!"
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#16 - Why Didn't You Stop Me?
8.708
High scores: 10 (@constantino, @DinahLee, @pop3blow2)
Low scores: 6 (@Coochi)
fatyoshi's score: 9
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #20
10 voters - #18 (+2)
Final placement - #16 (+2)
Giving our 11s a break (at least for now) we get rid of a track with only a set of 10s in terms of high scores. Why Didn't You Stop Me? is the next track to go.
Why Didn't You Stop Me? felt like something of Mitski's first big pop moment in her solo material. It sees typical topics covered by Mitski in her work like dependency, unhealthy idealization, and so forth over a synth poppy backing. I remember listening to Be the Cowboy for the first time at midnight on release night and being destroyed by Geyser (more on this at some point later dddd) and then being trampled by this (and Old Friend) when I was down. This was such a shift at the time, especially going into the album without reading anything about it beforehand. The chords after "paint it over" in addition to the guitar break in the songs latter half are among my favorite parts of Be the Cowboy musically. Not THE favorite but they're up there.
I feel a tiny bit like giving this a 9 was a bit of an underscore but some stuff needed to not get 10s at some point. It hurts to see this out but I wouldn't swap most of the remaining Cowboy tracks with this and would've even swapped Old Friend and this one's places. That's no great insult, it's just what happens with rates when you feel so passionate about someone's full body of work I guess.
Voter reception was pretty solid with only a single 6 as the lowest score. The track started out at number twenty on the leaderboard early in and slid upwards to where it is now as more voters came in. I'd say we, as a collective were definitely feeling it a bitsy.
There's two pieces of commentary for this one so let's get to those.
Cutlery with an 8.5 said "This one has nearly no lyrics but god is it infectious. And relatable once again. How come people don’t stop me from doing dumb shit I fully decided myself."
constantino gave a 10 and kept it brief with "Synth-pop rights!"
I want to like "Why Didn't You Stop Me" more than I do, but I just find the music phrase that reappears throughout really quite annoying- the bit that starts at 34 seconds and runs through a couple of times. The next time it appears it runs through four times, and then another four times. I like the sung bits but that musical refrain is annoying and too repetitive.
hi
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#15 - My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars
8.781
High scores: 11 (@Coochi), 10 (me)
Low scores: 7 (@DinahLee)
fatyoshi's score: 10
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #14
10 voters - #14
Final placement - #15 (-1)
@Coochi and I deciding to serve taste since no one else did xx
In a moment of questionable voter taste, My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars falls out with an 11 and only one 10. What the fuck happened ddddddd?
This one really embodies Mitski for me. The absolute existential dread that radiates from the song, the chaotic strumming of the guitar, the rough early performances, just yes... It truly captures the more hellish elements of what it feels like being alive in your 20s within the past decade or so. This was one of my earliest favorites on Puberty 2 and it continues to be today.
Our lowest score was a single 7 so it seems that this placement comes from a lack of higher scores to help bump the average. Not an ideal situation and that ten count made me gasp but I'll let it slide, this time. Leaderboard placement was pretty steady throughout the voting period. It only dropped one spot to be where it is now with the last few voters. Not too bad.
My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars became a staple in live sets usually occupying a portion of the set where a set of songs were played solo with just Mitski and a guitar. I'll link some performances below after sharing our commentary. We got 3 bits for this one.
Cutlery gave it a 9.5 and said "Y******s bop. Is there a more relatable sentiment right now than wanting to travel everywhere but having no independency or fucking money yet? Also as a current job-hunting gal at the moment, I double, extra, triple relate to the noisy excellence."
constantino gave out a 9 and said "Muffy sis...the chaos, the frenetic energy."
insolentire offered an 8 and said "What I think is so great about Puberty 2 is how it is a consistently good listen from start to finish. There’s no a single dud track here, and even if dramatic feeling becomes a bit too much by the second half of the album, Mitski waters it down with two brilliant punkish tracks"
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#15 - My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars
8.781
High scores: 11 (@Coochi), 10 (me)
Low scores: 7 (@DinahLee)
fatyoshi's score: 10
Leaderboard trajectory:
5 voters - #14
10 voters - #14
Final placement - #15 (-1)
@Coochi and I deciding to serve taste since no one else did xx
In a moment of questionable voter taste, My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars falls out with an 11 and only one 10. What the fuck happened ddddddd?
This one really embodies Mitski for me. The absolute existential dread that radiates from the song, the chaotic strumming of the guitar, the rough early performances, just yes... It truly captures the more hellish elements of what it feels like being alive in your 20s within the past decade or so. This was one of my earliest favorites on Puberty 2 and it continues to be today.
Our lowest score was a single 7 so it seems that this placement comes from a lack of higher scores to help bump the average. Not an ideal situation and that ten count made me gasp but I'll let it slide, this time. Leaderboard placement was pretty steady throughout the voting period. It only dropped one spot to be where it is now with the last few voters. Not too bad.
My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars became a staple in live sets usually occupying a portion of the set where a set of songs were played solo with just Mitski and a guitar. I'll link some performances below after sharing our commentary. We got 3 bits for this one.
Cutlery gave it a 9.5 and said "Y******s bop. Is there a more relatable sentiment right now than wanting to travel everywhere but having no independency or fucking money yet? Also as a current job-hunting gal at the moment, I double, extra, triple relate to the noisy excellence."
constantino gave out a 9 and said "Muffy sis...the chaos, the frenetic energy."
insolentire offered an 8 and said "What I think is so great about Puberty 2 is how it is a consistently good listen from start to finish. There’s no a single dud track here, and even if dramatic feeling becomes a bit too much by the second half of the album, Mitski waters it down with two brilliant punkish tracks"