The journey begins with a folksy ballad placed in a small town, so mundane and unexciting, only one type of soap is sold. Then, slow, drifting melancholy transitions into hooky chords and questions. “Where did I leave? Where did I go? Where’s my phone?” the listener is asked. Along the tour through a manic, misguided mind, a variety of musical genres and ideas are explored, drawing a roadmap of all the corners of a derelict, hopeless romantic’s limerence-tainted conscience.
From buzzy, raw rock to sensual jazz tracks, Mitski develops the album through her exploration of genres. Her divergence from a uniform style serves to illustrate distinct points of emotional importance and intensity, and her style selection helps to amplify themes within the album. For example, tracks such as “In a Lake” and “Charon’s Obol” take on more folk-inspired instrumentals, with prominent banjos and other strings adding to a nostalgic atmosphere, while tracks such as “That White Cat” utilize an edgier, unclean sound to convey feelings of resentment.
Mitski truly achieves lyrical zenith in “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me.” She shines most in her vivid imagery with standout lyrics like “I ride through a tunnel. It’s been dark the whole way,” from “If I Leave,” and “In the meantime, rescues by my side, our two cats, both asleep by me tonight,” from “Cats.” Her use of lush imagery puts the listener in the speaker’s shoes, allowing them to feel the nuance of the feelings expressed.
Themes of death and deterioration don’t solely manifest through the album’s tracks, for when reading through track names, these themes persist. Obviously, a name like, “Dead Women” would allude to a more macabre subject matter, but titles such as “Charon’s Obol” convey these themes less clearly to the naked eye. A Charon’s obol is a Greek term for a coin placed in the mouth of a corpse to help pay for the ferry that carries them across the lake of life. Additionally, a possible allusion to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” can be found on the album cover when looking at the wall behind the cat. Gilman’s short story of a woman’s descent into madness parallels the protagonist of “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me.”
Mitski continues to build the themes of the album through allusions and symbolism in the music videos released alongside the album. The music videos all take place in the same house, causing the house to feel more like a character than a setting. The unchanging setting and vintage look emphasize the feelings of isolation and loneliness the songs convey, making the house appear as a catalyst for the protagonist’s descent into mental instability. Additionally, Mitski uses Shakespearean allusion in the music video for “Where’s My Phone,” where she references the doomed love story, “Romeo and Juliet,” through Renaissance-inspired costumes and setting, and a callback to the balcony scene.
Since her debut album in 2012, Mitski has become increasingly wise and mature through each musical increment. Each album is a soundtrack influenced by a time in her life that she shares with her listeners, and it’s rewarding to hear how her style changes as she gains experience and shifts perspective. “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me” is no exception to this, as it captivates the listener through a well-balanced, well-rounded and well-written album that pulls from styles of Mitski’s past to strengthen her present work.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Mitski’s artistry in this album is undeniable and it features some of her most memorable tracks. It was the most fascinating to hear how she returns to styles of past albums. It feels like equal amounts of her paying homage to those parts of herself as it is expanding the character she explores within the tracks of the album, and it truly connects you to her work in a way that makes you tear up regardless if you relate to the songs or not.