Mitski and Sad Art - Stevie Hardwich

    Mitski is a musician known among her fans for making gut-wrenching music. Not much is known about her personal life, so interpretation of her songs is often all we have. Her music is often in a story format, and have various different protagonists. In Me and My Husband the singer is a wife in a seemingly happy relationship with her husband, but if you listen to the lyrics you can tell how deeply unhappy she truly is. In I Bet On Losing Dogs, the singer is a gambler who goes out of her way to choose losing dogs, or relationships she know will not have a happy ending. 

    Almost all of Mitski's music is sad, if not bittersweet. On of my favorite songs, Last Words of a Shooting Star, comes from the point of view of someone in a crashing plane. The flight attendants tell the passengers that the "turbulence wasn't forecasted," and the singer comes to terms with the plane crashing. She ends up grateful that the plane is crashing, saying "I am relieved that the turbulence wasn't forecasted, I couldn't have changed anyways. I am relieved that I'd left my room tidy. Goodbye." The character has accepted their death on this plane, and is actually relieved that the plane is crashing. She wasn't happy in life, and she's glad that she will be loved in her death. She cleaned her room before she left, so the people that take care of her things will think of her fondly. 

    What makes her art so interesting is how many interpretations people have about her lyrics. She doesn't normally explain her art, instead preferring for the listener to interpret it themselves. Sad art is one of the most relatable forms of art, as everyone has experienced some kind of suffering in their lives. Music like Mitski's makes dealing with this inherit suffering less lonely.