Welcome back to this week’s edition of the Wichitan’s Song of the Week. In celebration of Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, this week’s pick is “My Love Mine All Mine” by Japanese-born singer-songwriter Mitski.
Released September 15, 2023, the song was a single and the seventh track of her seventh studio album “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.”
“My Love Mine All Mine” is a song about the feeling of being in love, the sense of safety that comes with it but also the vulnerable and mortal feeling it brings.
Mitski sings about how, in a world where she doesn’t have much, she is grateful that she has love. She sings to the moon about how she wants the world to feel her love but, most especially, an unnamed person. She wishes to be there for that person and to love them even after death.
In “My Love Mine All Mine,” Mitski has rediscovered a new way of looking at love which is an altruistic way.
Born in Mie Prefecture, Japan, Mitsuki Miyawaki Laycock most is a Japanese American indie rock singer-songwriter most famously known for her unique sound, emotionally raw lyrics, powerful stage presence and prominence in the indie music scene.
Although Mitski was born in Japan, she was not raised there as she moved around the world a lot because of her father’s job with the United States Department of State. She settled in the United States at the age of fourteen, where she first explored her love for music when she joined her high school choir.
At the age of eighteen, she wrote her first ever song on the piano while living in Ankara, Turkey.
While enrolled at Hunter College in New York, She decided that she wanted to pursue music and transferred to SUNY Purchase College to study studio composition.
While at SUNY Purchase, Mitski released her debut album, “Lush,” in 2012. Her second album, “Retired from Sad, New Career in Business” came out in 2013 and her third album “Bury Me at Makeout Creek” came out in 2014.
However, it was her third album that garnered widespread attention and critical acclaim. The album’s fusion of indie rock, punk and folk elements, coupled with Mitski’s introspective and saddening songwriting, helped establish her as a rising star in the indie music scene.
Her subsequent albums “Puberty 2” (2016), “Be the Cowboy” (2018), “Laurel Hell” (2022) and “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We” (2023), further solidified her reputation as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary indie music.
“Be the Cowboy” in particular received widespread acclaim, topping numerous year-end lists and earning Mitski a dedicated fanbase.
Mitski’s music often explores themes of identity, loneliness, desire and the complexities of human emotion. Her lyrics are characterized by their honesty and vulnerability, drawing listeners into deeply personal narratives.
“My Love Mine All Mine” is my favorite song from the album and my favorite from Mitski’s entire discography.
In “My Love Mine All Mine,” Mitski begins by setting a scene for the listeners. She immediately lets listeners know that the entire song is a conversion between her and the moon.
In the song, she tells the moon that she is very grateful for the chance to have been in love and to have been loved. She then asks the moon if she can send her love up so it can outlast her and so that the entire world can feel her love after she’s gone.
In the second part of the second, she begins to tell the moon about an unnamed special person she calls “her baby.” She sings that this person is the reason she understands the importance of love and the value of her heart.
She then asks the moon to shine her love on Earth especially for her (the unnamed person).
In “My Love Mine All Mine,” Mitski introduces the listeners to a new way of looking at love, an altruistic way. In the song, she thinks of the permanence of love even after she dies.
She tries to explain that when someone dies, it is the absence of their love that causes the loved ones they left behind to be in pain and sorrow. This is why she talks to the moon. She asks the moon to place permanence on her love so that it is still reflected after she is gone.
Another point she brings up is that her love is the only thing she truly owns in her life. She describes her love as the safest thing she owns in life and because of that, her love is hers and will always be hers.
As stated in previous editions of the Song of the Week, lyricism is an important aspect of any song and Mitski understood that when writing “My Love Mine All Mine.” In “My Love Mine All Mine,” Mitski utilizes storytelling, metaphor and pathos to tell a story about one of the most important things in life, love. My favorite lyric in the entire song is:
“Nothing in the world belongs to me.
But my love mine, all mine, all mine
My baby, here on earth
Showed me what my heart was worth.
So, when it comes to be my turn.
Could you shine it down here for her?”
As stated above, vulnerability and the complexities of human emotion are recurring themes in Mitski’s discography. In “My Love Mine All Mine,” Mitski sings about a vital part of humanity that she believes a lot of people overlook, which is love and the power it holds.
Love is the only thing she believes anyone can genuinely rely on, and it makes her so happy, and she wishes to spread that happiness. The song is a great listen with a powerful message.
