Tired of your Spotify playlists? The Purbalite is here to help, with our Essential Listening series.

Mitski’s mastery of heart-wrenching music with impressive vocals all started with her first, self-released album, Lush. 

Though the album was a project for one of her college courses, the album, compositionally, is unique, and Mitski’s voice immediately captures listeners. 

The first track, “Liquid Smooth,” portrays the experience many women have when looking for love. Mitski sings that she only feels desired for her youth and beauty. Men ignore her personality and only give her attention for her physical appearance. 

Mitski continues to touch on how young women prioritize their looks in “Brand New City.” The song has a rock-like sound that perfectly couples with lyrics like “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.” The song encapsulates the anger and resentment people feel for only being valued for their looks.

In “Real Men,” Mitski criticizes how society portrays a “real man” as someone who doesn’t show their emotions and how men are able to get anything in life just by asking. 

“Pearl Driver,” “Abbey,” “Wife,” and “Bag of Bones” continue to touch on these topics with pop-rock instrumentals to back Mitski’s excellent and emotionful voice. 

Her music only grows from this first album. Though it is not her most universal work, Lush is the perfect album to expand one’s music taste, especially those who are familiar with her recent work, Be the Cowboy and Laurel Hell.

Overall, Lush provides listeners with intoxicating sounds that will make them reflect on their own perceptions of beauty and how it is intertwined with society.