She hadn’t been home in years she wasn’t even sure where or what home was anymore. Ninety percent of her time was spent on administrative tasks and promotional duties instead of writing and performing, the part of the job she truly loved. Mitski (whose last name is Miyawaki, though she doesn’t use it professionally) was wrapping up a long, triumphant tour for her acclaimed 2018 album, “Be the Cowboy.” The music website Pitchfork had named it Album of the Year NPR proclaimed Mitski “the 21st century’s poet laureate of young adulthood” Iggy Pop, on his BBC radio show, called her “the most advanced American songwriter that I know.” She was about to turn 29 and had finally reached the perch of success and stability that she had been working toward for years, but she also felt disillusioned.
At the end of the summer of 2019, the indie musician Mitski was on top of the world, and she was exhausted.
