NOBODY, NO

“Be The Cowboy” is Mitski’s newest album following the release of 2016’s “Puberty 2.” The tracklist for “Be The Cowboy” includes 14 songs, with each song on it being distinguishable from any of the others due to the audacious range of its singer. The album starts off on a high note with “Geyser,” only to be topped by the song immediately following: “Why Didn’t You Stop Me.” “Why Didn’t You Stop Me” is a banger about the loss of the sense of self and relying on someone else. “Why Didn’t You Stop Me” is an amazing (but brief) song compiled of only four short verses, but what makes “Why Didn’t You Stop Me” so unique is its combination of an electric guitar and and a synth riff that would make anyone flip one’s lid. “Remember My Name,” the album’s sixth song, is also an absolute banger that wouldn’t have been as nearly as good if it didn’t have an electrifying guitar line to back up the just as electrifying voice of Mitski. “Me and My Husband” is a song that sounds and feels as if it were pulled straight off a Beatles album. The irony of the song is that the upbeat instrumentals juxtapose what Mitski is singing about. “I am the idiot with the painted face/ In the corner, taking up space,” she sings. “Come Into The Water” is an operatic gem of a song that belongs alongside the likes of Lana Del Rey’s “Dark Paradise” from her debut album “Born to Die.”

If there were any problems I have with the album, it’s that it’s not long enough with each song only lasting between one to four minutes with the majority running just a few seconds over two minutes. In the end, this is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, album to be released in 2018. For that, I’ll give it a 9.5 / 10.