“Be the Cowboy” by Mitski
Release Date: August 17, 2018
Length: 32 minutes
Be the Cowboy was Mitski’s first album to chart on the Billboard 200, and it’s easy to see why. Drawing from a blend of art pop and electronica, the album uses bright, synth-driven arrangements, heard on tracks like “Geyser” and “Why Didn’t You Stop Me?”, to contrast deeply lonely lyricism. In a statement, Mitski said she was inspired by "the image of someone alone on a stage, singing solo with a single spotlight trained on them in an otherwise dark room”. Be the Cowboy is powerfully, melancholily upbeat, like a woman who is trying to keep it together, even through the aching pain of social isolation.
“Me and My Husband” , a recognizable highlight of the album, comes off as an ironic piece; Mitski says, “At least in this lifetime, we’re sticking together”, and “So I bet all I have on that furrowed brow”, presenting nuclear stability as something performative. Like “A Pearl,” the song suggests devotion rooted more in obligation than desire, revealing how overwhelmed Mitski feels by expectations to appear composed and fulfilled. The opening line of “Washing Machine Heart” immediately sets the theme of emotional disposal. “Baby, though I’ve closed my eyes, I know who you pretend I am”, Mitksi sings, hinting at a partner who is emotionally checked out, a dynamic echoed elsewhere on the album in songs like “Come Into the Water” and “Old Friend.”
“Nobody” is deceptively upbeat, and perhaps the most explicitly melancholic song of the album–the first line literally consisting of “My God, I’m so lonely”. It’s very straightforward and unapologetic in its lyricism: “I’ve been big and small…and still nobody wants me”. Similar to “Blue Light,” the song disguises its true meaning beneath danceable rhythms, but Mitski’s desperation grows clearer with each second of the song. Be the Cowboy uses its instruments cleverly. It reverberates what we’ve seen in the news before– conversations about the loneliness epidemic and its impact on younger generations. Through balancing catchy melodies with emotional depth, whether in the bombast of “Geyser” or the gentle farewell of “Two Slow Dancers”, Mitski expertly appeals to both casual listeners and those searching for something deeply, albeit painfully, relatable.