In an age where so many pop stars are embracing their "joy and happiness" eras while the rest of us depressed folks pick up the shattered pieces of our post-pandemic lives, it's nice to know that our patron saint of being-in-our-feelings, Mitski, has at long last returned to guide us through these trying times.
Three years since the release of her landmark album, Be the Cowboy, Mitski is back with a brand new single "Working for the Knife," pretty much picking right back up where she left off mulling over an all-to-familiar mix of existential dread and ennui.
Related | PAPER People: Mitski
"It's about going from being a kid with a dream, to a grown up with a job, and feeling that somewhere along the way you got left behind," Mitski says of the track. "It's being confronted with a world that doesn't seem to recognize your humanity, and seeing no way out of it."
The track arrives alongside a Zia Anger-directed music video shot at The Egg in Albany, New York that sees Mitski — donning her old cowboy hat — roaming around and doing classic Mitski things in an empty theater in a bitingly self-aware nod to the past year's reality.
Luckily that won't be the case for much longer, with the announcement of massive 50-date North American and Europe tour starting 2022. Tickets for the tour go on sale October 8.
Photography: Ben Hassett for PAPER
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