Mitski takes her title of “Best American Girl” seriously. Forget her glum song lyrics bemoaning her upbringing — the New York songstress has plenty of hip cred to her name. She’s woke about the Dakota Access Pipeline. She’s an honorary vixen of the Harvard Lampoon, and spent the day with the humor magazine (much to the dismay of a fan and MFA employee who offered her free admission on Twitter). She shares tweets from Piers Morgan about wanting to die. She has a Bandcamp plentiful with the latest strain of indie-rock songs. For these reasons — although we suspect the bangin’ bandcamp ranks highest by far — Mitski packed the confines of the Paradise Rock Club last night (November 1) with fans eager to cry along with her sadcore indie.
With a lens on her lyrics, the past hasn’t been too kind to Mitski, but she stands as the tragic hero fronting millennials and their woes everywhere; she’s her relatable as can be for inward-searching indie mongers. Less doleful critics nodded to her fourth album, June’s Puberty 2, as one of the year’s most notable releases, a well-earned pearl for Mitski after what appears to be a significant amount of bleary-eyed suffering (not to mention a real testament to the album’s quality, because who has ever liked anything associated with puberty?).
British trio Fear of Men tweaked the vibes of the room before Mitski with their synth-tinged, female-fronted indie, spearheading the mood with blunt lyrical declarations like “you give me trauma.” Along with fans getting sad wine-drunk, the Paradise had been properly prepped for Mitski.
Mitski’s set rummaged through her past four albums, zipping through memories and emotions, from upbeat zingers (“Townie”) to low-fi simmers (“Thursday Girl”). “I will take good care of you,” she solemnly promised on “I Will,” a resonant song for the fans mourning… something at the sold-out show, only to turn around and beg to be killed in Jerusalem on “My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars.” In another loop on her emotional roller coaster of a set, Mitski lulled fans to sleep with “A Burning Hill,” playing solo onstage with her acoustic guitar.
For an encore, she performed a stripped-down stew version of the Calvin Harris and Disciples collaboration “How Deep is Your Love,” colliding mainstream with the distant yet glorified cult of sad girls. Her bandmates fleshed out the cover with searing guitar licks and an electronic drum pad, although fans were far too fixated on Mitski’s coos to appreciate it.
Mitski’s crowning moment came mid-set, however, when she played the most popular song from Puberty 2. The room brimmed with mutual satisfaction between the crowd and Mitski herself when the beginning notes of “Your Best American Girl” tumbled from her bass guitar and triggered the crowd to recite the poetry about big spoons and amorous affairs.
Boston made Mitski their best American girl. We just hope she doesn’t regret it.
Follow Victoria Wasylak on Twitter @VickiWasylak.