How Mitski Embodies the Magic of Live Music

by Ben Rothman

When I saw Mitski live at the Beacon Theatre on February 22nd, I was not exactly sure what to expect. I believe Mitski’s career and public perception generate some sense of cognitive dissonance: On the one hand, she is critically acclaimed and recognized for a storied discography filled with earnest, powerful lyricism. On the other hand, her virality on social media apps like TikTok brings in a side of her fanbase keen to lunge onto her “sad girl” aesthetic. On past shows of this very tour, some audience members would break the silence between songs to loudly joke around and heckle the singer, much to the chagrin of both Mitski and other fans. Some of that heckling was present in New York, but it did not define the night. Rather, seeing one of my favorite songwriters perform in the flesh made me think about the magic of live performance, and how it can dispel the mystery around an artist’s persona in the modern age.

The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, released last October, is Mitski’s latest record and a massive moment in her career. It’s no surprise that she performed the album almost in its entirety. With the help of a full band, Inhospitable’s alt-country-tinged ballads translated perfectly to the stage. One highlight in the show was “Heaven,” a track about the deep yearning and pain one feels for an absent romantic partner. As she sang the lyrics, Mitski “slow danced” with a spotlight on the stage, emphasizing that feeling of absence. For the dramatic slow-burn “Star,” purple lights from the ceiling created a makeshift night sky. When she performed the album’s smash hit “My Love Mine All Mine,” dozens of fractured mirrors descended from the ceiling, wildly reflecting light into the audience, literally and metaphorically blinding them with the song’s loving message. Meanwhile, for the quiet longing of the soft country number “The Frost,” Mitski sat on a stool and strummed the air on an imaginary guitar. In keeping the arrangements of these songs more-or-less the same while adding poetic visual quirks, Mitski highlighted the brilliance of Inhospitable, a soulful album that may be her strongest work to date.

Alongside faithful renditions of her latest record, Mitski did not disappoint when it came to performing her older material. She transformed old fan-favorites in a mesmerizing fashion: by essentially country-fying them. The show opened, for example, with the song “Everyone” off of her 2022 album Laurel Hell, which had its ominous synths replaced with jaunty drums and wistful mandolin reminiscent of Dolly Parton or Emmylou Harris. Even more impressive, “I Don’t Smoke” from 2014’s Bury Me at Makeout Creek was transformed from a brutally noisy ballad to an honest-to-god honky tonk anthem, a switch that one would never guess could happen from listening to the studio version. It wasn’t just Mitski’s downbeat slow songs that got the country treatment, though- “Love Me More” (also from Laurel Hell) originated as a pulsating 80s-inspired pop song, while its live version became a country slow jam that brought out the desperation of the track’s lyrics. It is worth noting that on the other hand, some of Mitski’s biggest songs like “First Love/Late Spring’’ and “I Bet on Losing Dogs’’ were closer to their original versions, as were pop smashes “Nobody” and “Washing Machine Heart,” which served as the show’s incredible encore.

In between songs, in stark contrast to her often depressing lyrics, Mitski took the time to monologue. The morning of this concert, there had been an infamous nationwide AT&T outage, and the singer humorously admitted: “It was a bad thing, and I’m glad it’s sorted out. However, I do have to admit, there was a moment where I was like ‘Chaos!’” At another point, she demanded that the audience let loose and relieve their stress by howling at her like wolves. While one might interpret these cheeky moments as particularly “cringe” or indicative of a millennial sense of humor, something is endearing about their juxtaposition with Mitski’s quietly devastating lyrics and gutwrenching compositions. Perhaps the ability to stop between tracks and show her unfiltered personality on stage is another facet of Mitski’s performance. Her music is often categorized, by TikTok virality or the commodifying music business, as “sad girl pop,” a classification that fails to do justice to her versatility, humor, and depth. As I remember how Mitski laughed and danced to her songs, both faithful renditions and country-infused transformations, I cannot help but think about the importance of the concert for an artist’s persona, allowing them to transcend the boxes the music industry has placed them in and reach their fans where it is most impactful.