Mitski’s seventh album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, has solidified her status in the Sad Girl Hall of Fame. Mitski’s lyricism paints her struggles so meticulously that listening to the album feels like an invasion of privacy. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We shows never-before-seen sides of Mitski’s voice and lyricism, making it one of her greatest works yet.
Mitski’s past work contains a rich mix of different genres, subjects and tones, ranging from angsty screamo hits to relaxing lo-fi bops. Be the Cowboy, Bury Me At Makeout Creek and Puberty 2 are some of her most popular albums and have been praised for their rawness, originality and lyrical depth. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We has furthered this legacy, broadening Mitski’s genre range by including hints of country influence and sharing some of her most lyrically complex tracks while still managing to live up to her fans’ expectations.
This new album features a few different storylines, but the most resonant one is narrated in the series of songs, “My Love Mine All Mine,” “I’m Your Man” and “I Love Me After You.” In these three songs, Mitski writes about finding love, realizing she is the problem in her relationship and learning how to come to terms with it.
The track “My Love Mine All Mine” describes Mitski’s persistent love for her partner. In the lyrics “‘Cause my love is mine, all mine / I love mine, mine, mine / Nothing in this world belongs to me / But my love is mine, all mine, all mine,” she describes this love as being the one thing completely and totally hers and something no one, not even her lover, could ever take away. Mitski compares her love to the moonlight shining down on her and pleads to the moon to keep shining down on her partner, even in Mitski’s absence or death. In the song, she also implies her lover is a woman, a fact she has kept private until now.
Two tracks later, the song “I’m Your Man,” describes the self-imposed downfall of her previously described relationship. In the lyrics, “You’re an angel, I’m a dog / Or you’re a dog, and I’m your man / You believe me like a god / I’ll destroy you like I am,” she is directly speaking to her partner and explaining her own faults. In this song, it becomes clear Mitski isn’t claiming to be the victim of this failed relationship but rather the perpetrator. The admission of guilt without a promise to be better is heartbreaking because it seems Mitski desperately wants to be better but finds herself unable to achieve this goal. She ultimately ends this relationship because she knows her partner deserves someone better. When the lyrics end, a choral arrangement begins to sing until the harmonious notes are disrupted by the sounds of dogs barking and birds chirping in the background, further demonstrating how chaos can rapidly overcome beauty.
The album’s closing track, “I Love Me After You,” provides somewhat of a resolution to the album. Despite eating an entire cake on Christmas and making herself throw it up, hurting someone she really loved and drinking too much, Mitski finally accepts all of her flaws. This song takes her first step into healing, becoming a better version of herself and loving herself despite all of her unbearable regrets.
Anyone who listens to this album can learn valuable lessons from it: We, as humans, will never achieve perfection, and all of us will inevitably make mistakes that hurt ourselves and the ones we hold dearest. Despite all our flaws, we have to continue loving ourselves, even if we are as inhospitable as the burned and barren land we leave in our wakes.
