4. “Heaven” (2023)

Mitski’s music often incorporates a faint nation affect, albeit filtered by her personal distinct sensibility. I hear a few of that on this pretty ballad from the brand new album, however I additionally hear Mitski experimenting with sounds she hasn’t earlier than explored on her data, like chamber-pop grandiosity and hovering orchestral accompaniments. (Hear on YouTube)

5. “Lonesome Love” (2018)

The nation affect is extra pronounced right here, on this galloping ditty from the aptly named 2018 album “Be the Cowboy.” So is Mitski’s wry humorousness: “Within the morning, in a taxi I’m so very paying for.” (Hear on YouTube)

6. “Keep Comfortable” (2022)

Right here is my favourite track from Mitski’s earlier album, “Laurel Hell,” which has the marginally deceptive popularity as her happiest, poppiest launch. (The opening observe, “Valentine, Texas,” is one in all many brooding songs that complicate that understanding.) On this track Mitski demonstrates how a lot depth she will be able to mine from a seemingly easy lyric and a satisfying chord development. “Open up your coronary heart, just like the gates of hell,” she sings, an ideal encapsulation of her macabre tackle romance. (Hear on YouTube)

7. “No one” (2018)

This glistening, disco-kissed confession of loneliness is maybe Mitski’s best-known track, because of its sudden recognition on TikTok. “I don’t get it, but it surely’s good!” Mitski advised me final yr, when requested about her fame on the app, which she will not be on, herself. “All the businesspeople are like, ‘That is so nice!’ And I’m like, ‘Please cease texting me these TikToks.’” (Hear on YouTube)

8. “Francis Perpetually” (2014)

An early instance, from “Bury Me at Makeout Creek,” of Mitski’s command of pop melody, “Francis Perpetually” charts the emotional and bodily restlessness that comes from lacking somebody: “I don’t know what to do with out you,” Mitski croons, “I don’t know the place to place my arms.” (Hear on YouTube)

9. “My Physique’s Fabricated from Crushed Little Stars” (2016)

I really like the rough-hewed texture and unrelenting fury of this spotlight from “Puberty 2,” which performs out like a stream-of-consciousness airing of quarter-life grievances: “I wanna see the entire world!/I don’t understand how I’m gonna pay lease!” Every line is delivered with the urgency of an inebriated epiphany shouted at a detailed good friend in the course of the waning hours of a home celebration. (Hear on YouTube)