The 25 year old SUNY Purchase graduate traded in homemade albums for the real thing and has released her 4th studio album. Know for her ability to make melodrama attractive, Mitski Miyawaki, who first discovered music at the hand of her mother’s Japanese Pop records and her father’s folk records, frequented the airwaves on Sirus XMU with the breakout hit single, “Your Best American Girl.” The single eluded that something good was coming and Mitski did not disappoint with her full length record, "Puberty 2."
Mitski explores the idea of pleading for happiness, forgetting how to feel sadness, and trying to be something you’re not for someone else. With the characteristic of complete candidness, the dreamlike sound of "Puberty 2" will transport you back to high school as you’re trying to forget your first love. After going through a rather recent break up, "Puberty 2" came into focus at the perfect time. What qualities do a good break up album posses and can Mitski's fourth studio album fit the description?
A breakup album is like a tricky mathematical equation. It must have just the right amount of of desperate love songs mixed in with kick-ass empowerment songs in order not to weigh down your already sunken heart. Mitski perfects this equation and provides the right amount of each in "Puberty 2."
The opening track, Happy, sets the scene of a narrative filled with obsession and loss. With sound effects throughout the song, the layered kick sample twists the knife in the already haunting song. Mitski’s voice trails in and out accompanied by a saxophone as she sings “So I can hear it rumble” all while you can hear her voice literally rumble. What starts out as very minimal with just the repeated sample, spirals and transcends into something much more chordal and harmonic.
Miyawaski produces lyrics with beautiful rifts that will seep inside your head and replace all the negative thoughts you once had. Instead of feeling sorry about the situation you’re in, you find yourself screaming “If I could see you, once more to see you” at the top of your lungs as Mitski hums the beautiful yet tragic lyrics of “Your Best American Girl.” The song tells the story of a love that simply cannot work because of the two’s different cultural backgrounds. Being Japanese American, Mitski offers something new to the indie rock scene. As she sings “I couldn’t help try to be your best American girl,” listeners gain a new perspective to the classic unrequited love story.
Shedding the extra weight that comes along with a breakup is made easy as Mitski delivers lines like, “You only love me when we’re all alone” in the song “Loving Feeling” as you realize what you probably couldn’t in the midst of a relationship. Finally, relief comes like the sun breaking through the darkness after what seems like an endless night. Relief comes through in the fourth track on Mitski’s album, “Fireworks”. “One morning this sadness will fosilize and I will forget how to cry” brings the relief that you thought was only a distant memory after a breakup.
Relief and comfort is solidified with the closing track, “A Burning Hill.” Mitski gently sings about “loving the littler things” and “going to work and going to sleep.” The lyrics slip and float out of Mitski’s mouth seeming weightless full of comfort. Mitski convinces us that however mundane these littler tasks can seem, they are progress, and often the last step, for someone who is getting over a breakup.
One can experience all of the necessary feelings that come with a breakup as they listen to "Puberty 2." This record projects a sense melodrama yet the maturity needed to get over an ex.
Mitski Miyawaski delivers the perfect soundtrack for a breakup as it is not too sad and does not call for much attention. However, if you give it even an ounce of attention, you will be transcended to nostalgia and eventually acceptance and relief after experiencing a tough breakup.
