I LOVE MITSKI INTERVIEWS

here's the link if you wanna read the whole thing :) but im just gonna paste the ones i really like

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'A Pearl' really gets me, especially the line "you're getting tired of me, and all the things that I don't talk about." The economy of words is great... But I guess the overall message of this song is that it takes time to adjust to peace in a relationship; does that surprise you?

I think what's more surprising to me is when you're OK - but you're not used to being OK, and when you've been unhappy for so long that being unhappy is your norm and what you're uncomfortable with - so when you're not unhappy, when you're finally fine, you don't know what to do with yourself. You repeat self-destructive behaviours because it's what you know, it's what you feel you deserve and what you're comfortable with. If it's just your life then you can be as self-destructive as you want, but what makes it complicated is if you have someone else in your life who cares about you, if you're in a relationship, and you're supposed to be fine and you have someone asking about you and caring about you, but you just can't stop being unhappy, because being unhappy is what you want. That feeling of someone else being involved in your wellbeing, and not being able to be well for them.

Why does this manifest as a pearl in your song?

Because it's this little thing that's very pretty to you, and you roll it around in your hand, and it's almost like Smeagol from Lord Of The Rings, where it's just a pretty little thing in your hand that you hold on to. You don't have to hold on to it, but in your mind you feel you have to, and at night instead of going to sleep you wake up and look at it. And that's a metaphor for something unhealthy, something that's no longer serving you, but you can't stop rolling it around and looking at it.

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Was 'Nobody' always written as a disco song? Was that something you'd wanted to do?

Yeah it was. I just wanted to write a four-on-the-floor dance track, because I like dancing. And there's something about being so hopelessly lonely that you're like "all I can really do is dance. There's nothing else I can do; I can’t talk this away, I can't fix these problems, I'm just going to go out and dance."

The "one good movie kiss and I'll be alright" in 'Nobody' line makes me wonder if you have any particular favourite movie kisses?

The only thing that's popping up in my head is The Notebook [laughs]. It's just very, very heavy handed romantic stuff.

Is that the kind of thing that the person in 'Nobody' is dreaming about?

Yeah, something that's not real. Something that's just utterly romantic, and in the imagination, but not in real life.

It's that what's causing them to be even more lonely?

Probably!

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Is 'Pink In The Night' your direct image of what it feels to be truly in love? You feel like you're glowing pink?

Yeah, just that visual of someone glowing pink because they're so infatuated.

But even though in the song you seem so happy, your heart is breaking…

The heartbreak doesn't have to be a hard, horrible bad thing. It's just like "I'm so infatuated and in love that I feel myself crumbling... but in a good way!"

Waiting for someone to come to put them back together...

Rob, it doesn't have to be a bad thing [laughs]. It's just something very joyful and wonderful about breaking down, and kind of coming apart, there's something very delightful about that.

I see, wow... I don't think I've had that revelation yet...

Just you wait!

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What is the symbolism or source of 'Blue Light'?

Have you ever been in a completely dark house, but there's a TV on somewhere, this weird blue light, it's sort of that idea. In that song it says "I'm walking through the house naked" and in my mind it's like a dark house, and you're kind of going crazy, but the TV's on.

And then there's that part where the song kind of breaks down and loses form, it feels like being lost at sea, it's kind of scary... did you want it to be scary?

Yes. I wanted to portray an uneasiness. Just kind of going crazy.

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In 'Two Slow Dancers', the smell of the gymnasium sets the scene so well...

My idea is that it's two people at a school reunion...

That's what I thought; a high school reunion, lovers from a former life meeting again. It's amazing that that line "Does it smell like a school gymnasium in here? It's funny how they're all the same" conjures that so well.

Thanks! I went to a lot of different schools and I realised "you know they all smell the same."

It's a kind of gross beginning to what's a romantic song.

Is it gross?

I imagine the smell of a school gymnasium being mostly stale sweat...

The thing is it's not about a romantic relationship, it's about two real lives lived. And there's something very visceral and real about that. These two people have lived their whole lives, and they're older and they have problems, and their lives are complicated and they're just experiencing this one dance together where they get to pretend that they're young again. But it's in this context of life mess.

(two slow dancers kinda reminds me of brokeback mountain)

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And what do you think people should feel when they finish Be The Cowboy?

It doesn't matter. When you listen to an album, it's yours. It's no longer the artist's, so you can do what you want with it.

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