The new album The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We by artist Mitski has stirred up lots of attention on the internet, as Mitski usually does with her relatable and catchy songs with which many teenagers and certain demographics identify.
The tone of her new album is much more calming compared to her previous work, which makes it much more compatible with her poetic writing style, and, for some audiences, this album is more “consumable” than her previous work. The album consists of eleven songs that talk about “the mysterious world of making and the brutal world of living,” according to Mitski herself. Like her previous works, this album delves into ideas of addiction, hopelessness, love, and self hatred, and it does so in a more acoustic and calming way than “Be the Cowboy,” another Mitski album.
According to an anonymous music fan, the album “had a really impactful theme that anyone can relate to since we live in a patriarchal system and really just speaks to this godly yet fragile [entity] that has so much power over our lives.” They spoke about how Mitski utilized unconventional sounds to demonstrate her point in the song “I’m Your Man,” the tenth song in the album. They commented, “I think the dog barking is also really cool because it contrasts this choir which ties to the themes of the song really well, like where the choir gives so much power to masculinity, and the dogs are just the ugly side of it, and could also refer to the ‘judgment by the hounds’, [which is what] the subject of the song speaks about.”
The song examines power dynamics, and the central idea that “you’re my dog, and I’m your man,”like many Mitski songs in the past, can be interpreted in many different ways. First, it can be seen as Mitski talking about a toxic relationship, which is something she has explored before in the song “Me and My Husband,” with the idea being that there is a dangerous power dynamic between the couple. However, the more intriguing interpretation is that this song addresses her fans and how, as a celebrity, it is difficult to create freely due to expectations of fans. The line “one day you’ll figure me out,” followed by dog barking in the background, perfectly exemplifies this through indirect storytelling.
This song is one of many that presents multiple interpretations based on Mitski’s well-written lyrics, with the rest of the album exploring other similar concepts. For instance, the self-explanatory title of “I Love Me After You” explains how Mitski decided to take herself back and see herself as a person and not just a creator of entertainment for her fans. Other songs in the album present this idea of brutal living and brutal creation as well. In her already massively popular song “My Love Mine All Mine,” she talks about how she feels as if she only owns the love she can give to people and nothing else. In the song “I Don’t Like My Mind,” she reflects upon how hard it is to be alone, and how hard it is to not indulge in self-destructive behavior. Just like in the past, Mitski has crafted a brilliant album that demonstrates her themes extraordinarily well. Please give it a listen, if you haven’t already heard these songs played over random TikToks.