Mitski put out what will surely rank as one of the year’s best albums, Be the Cowboy, just last month. The record has skyrocketed the indie favorite into a new echelon of notoriety, something demonstrated by her appearance last night on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
She sat down with Noah to talk about her record’s title, specifically the “arrogance and freedom” of the cowboy myth and how it relates to her life as an Asian American. Other points of discussion included the specific “structural, societal loneliness” of touring, as well as the gendered viewpoints presented in critiques of her work. “I don’t think I would get as many critiques where people say my music is ‘confessional’ and ‘raw’ if I wasn’t who I am,” Mitski said. “I think there’s so much effort in taking away my authority or autonomy over my music. It’s coming out of my own brain… but for some reason people really need to imagine me as some sort of vessel for emotion or vehicle for music instead of the creator.”
After the charming and insightful interview, Mitski delivered an acoustic performance of her single “Geyser” on a rainy set. Check out video of both segments below.
Mitski is just about a week away from kicking off a new European tour leg. She’ll follow those dates up with a stretch of North American shows, one of our most anticipated tours of the fall.