Landia Copeland
On January 31st, 2012, Mitski released her debut album, Lush, and it has never been more culturally relevant today. Some tracks, like Real Men, Wife, and Pearl diver provide a detailed insight into the intricacies of human interrelations, whilst tracks like Liquid Smooth, Abbey, Bag of Bones, and Brand New City explore the concept of attractiveness in societal standards, specifically how these unrealistic standards could detrimentally affect one’s mindset. Looking closer, Brand New City is the track that I’d like to analyse in more complexity, believing (along with critics) that it elucidates a societal phenomena that women commonly have to endure, inflicted by a patriarchal society.
As an overview, I believe Brand New City is a great commentary on beauty standards for women. Throughout the entire song, Mitski employs metaphorical language during the verses, lending her songs to have a more poetic feel, without romanticising the delicate and pivotal subject matter ( which I think is an incredibly skillful example of her magnanimous repertoire). . These metaphors are used to convey her total exhaustion due to the generational, instilled act of conforming to the beauty standards, which, for so long, has taken so much away from herself. Thus, with this understanding, the repetition of the lyric “Honey, what’d you take?” is Mitski pleading with society, yearning to know what parts of herself have been stolen from her. Basically begging to know just how much of herself has disappeared in her futile quest to be perceived as beautiful to the masses, which unfortunately, is not at all uncommon in a male dominated society that uses beauty standards as a marionette by which to control women…
The first verse kicks off strong with the lyrics, “I think my brain is rotting in places, I think my heart is ready to die.” Delving deeper, Mitski is revealing to the listener, in an act of confidence, that there are certain aspects of herself that she despises, characterising them as detrimental to her mental wellness and physical health. These disease ridden parts of herself (it is implied) is solely imposed by society’s never ceasing demands . This line divulges a fear of ageing, something that society has pushed continually into a negative light as a means to disenfranchise older women, to render them obsolete. For me, I take Mitski’s “brain rotting” as symbolism to shine a light as to how she is rotting because of these standards and, quite rightly, is beginning to grow tired of it. The hyperbole of her heart being prepared to die because of her exhaustion, could unveil the fact that her ability to love freely is forever distorted due to these constraining beauty standards, seeing herself as men as they want to see her, not how she really is. And thus, her true self, once untainted, is rotting.
Her next line is, “I think my body is falling in pieces, I think my blood is passing me by.” Once again symbolism is utilised for her ageing,but this time more specifically for growing out of her prime. She perceives her body as falling apart, likely due to age, but instead of fearing for her health, or even seeing it as an example of her strength (because she’s survived thus far), she’s instead mortified of becoming disused,defunct, discarded, all in the eyes of endless beauty standards. She’s afraid of one day not conforming, and losing her self worth in the process, as her beauty, her youth, is what society prizes most. By placing her beauty on a pedestal, Mitski spins a woeful tale of how the process of ageing has made her lose everything about herself, but would this be the case if society viewed and judged women based on their intellect, not their beauty?
“Honey, what’d you take? What’d you take? Honey, look at me, tell me what you took, what’d you take?”forms the foundations of this song. Mitski asks this person, her honey, for something that they seized from her. But, the fact that Mitski doesn’t know what this “something” is, only that she oh so desperately wants it back, further conveys the ambiguity women can live in in a beauty-crazed society. The ‘honey’ she’s referring to here is what ,I believe, to be humanity itself. She’s begging for herself back, before she was ruined by these standards, before she was objectified, when she was whole. The ‘honey, look at me,’ part of the chorus is a line that is particularly interesting to me. I interpreted it as humanity not being able to admit that these beauty standards have stolen a piece of everyone. The reluctance to admit what we’ve done wrong while promoting these standards causes us to not be able to look her in the eye when directly called out. This is an incredibly effective metaphor to use in the chorus, as it shows in equal weight both Mitski’s pain , and anger and the hesitance from humanity due to not wanting to admit anything is wrong.
The next verse kicks off with the lines, “I think my fate is losing its patience, I think the ground is pulling me down.” In terms of tone, when Mitski sings this, everyone can positively assume she’s angry, yet, desperate. The song feels like she’s realising the person she’s becoming, and her tone makes it seem like she’s kicking herself for conforming to these standards in the first place, with the urgency and desperation spiralling as she transmogrifies into this state of anagnorisis. Here, Mitski draws upon the common societal belief that there’s always something more for women to do to make themselves look “prettier”, something they have to change to keep up. The double standards, and just the flat out hypocrisy. If she’s got thick thighs and a big bum, her stomach isn’t flat, and she isn’t pretty. But, if a woman has less curves, she’s not deemed attractive in society. She isn’t accepted. She isn’t deemed whole. Miski with this line is beginning to register that no matter how hard she tries, there is absolutely no way she’ll fit every single standard out there.
Similarly, with the bridge being, “But if I gave up on being pretty, I wouldn’t know how to be alive. I should move to a brand new city, and teach myself how to die”, Mitski is discerning that she has no sense of worth outside of her beauty, at least in her eyes. Thus, she couldn’t live at all without perceiving her life through a rose tinted, beauty obsessed lens. It is all she knows, perhaps likening her now living her life without being indoctrinated by the male gaze as a rebirth. She can’t easily give it up, because it has been her mindset for her entire life. The second half, “I should move to a brand new city, and teach myself how to die,” is her coming to terms with the fact that her mindset in regards to beauty is deeply unhealthy, and perhaps a form of self harm in regards to her self image. Her obsession with beauty is how she taught herself to live, and now, if she wants to move on and heal herself, she must learn to ‘die’, and shift her mindset so she does not prioritise these things so highly. If she doesn’t do this, it is to her detriment.
With Mitski closing the chorus for the final time, it is seen that she repeats it almost frantically, as if still clinging hopelessly onto the standards, even though she’s fully aware of how destructive they are. In the bridge, she knows what she has to do to lead a normal and happy life. However, she’s still unwilling to actually take that step, thus “I should move to a brand new city…” She knows she should, and yet she doesn’t. Letting go of a mindset that’s promoted everywhere you look is a very difficult and deteriorating process. The fact that Mitski even admitted that it was damaging in the first place is very commendable because it’s rare for individuals to even admit it to themselves. She’s taken that first step on a very long road to recovery, but is still scared to continue down that path.
To conclude, Mitski’s Brand New City is a masterpiece with compelling lyrics, interesting metaphors, and an excellent beat to go with it. It is a lament of one’s fall from grace, and the fear of growing older, which is a mindset pushed by unrealistic beauty standards.
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Landia started her writing journey back in 2020. Over the past 3 years, she has written countless short stories and essays, consistently growing and shaping her writing style. This is her first published work as an author.
Diamond Gazette 