LogFAQs > #956751181

66. Mitski Nobody (2018)
from the album Be the Cowboy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qooWnw5rEcI

Key lyrics:
Give me one good movie kiss
And Ill be alright

Some songs just come out at the perfect time in your life. Be the Cowboy dropped right before I asked for my divorce, and Nobody took on the role of an immediate comfort jam. Worse yet is the more universal role it has taken on amid the COVID-19 pandemic the opening lines referencing being so lonely as to open a window in the hopes of hearing passing strangers feels all too relevant. Like B.O.B. during the early 2000s, Nobody feels disarmingly prescient.

Even without that strange coincidence, Nobody first clicked because it so expertly captures the feeling of loneliness. In the first half, Mitski asks for an honest kiss; this turns into a movie kiss by the second. Even a simulation is better than the nothing she has. The chorus is legendary in its simplicity, taking on one word but delivering it in so many different ways. By the end, each syllable of nobody is dragged out until it no longer feels whole. This is a cry of absolute despair.

Naturally, such a dire theme is paired with much happier music. The song opens with a skittering drum pattern, immediately casting this as an indie disco jam. Mitski plays this up throughout the first half, all the sonic dissonance of a New Wave track. Theres even a double-clap during the second verse to really drill it in. But then we get to the extended chorus, where Mitski repeats nobody for an entire minute. The music just keeps rising, the disco beat morphing into an aggressive anxiety attack Nobody is no longer playing at New Wave irony, suggesting Mitski can no longer force the faade. This is an expertly aching song, dangerously catchy enough that I keep returning despite all the pain.

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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/