With the start of a new year comes the beginning of Mitski’s latest pre-release for her upcoming album set to release in February. Giving her notorius short time frame between announcements and release, not even 24-hours after the initial announcement for the track, listeners all around could consume “Love Me More” on January 12 on all platforms.
In the same vein as her previous pre-releases, Mitski’s latest song is not very high energy – or at least not in the traditional sense. Similarly to “The Only Heartbreaker,” the track’s sounds both overlap in paying homage to the classic 80’s style of soft pop. However, as the former song feels similar to Wham!’s discography, “Love Me More” is more akin to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero” in both theme and sound. In the production, both have a backing choir (though, Mitski’s is more subtle as opposed to Tyler’s) and dynamic techno-beats in the building chorus. In addition, both deal with pleading and borderline begging for love in different avenues. While Tyler’s classic 80’s track reeks of intense love and lust, it also seems to display unrealistic expectations of their ideal lover, almost as if they could never be tangible or real.
For Mitski, it’s almost the opposite: instead of pining over an unattainable partner, the singer-songwriter shows unrealistic expectations for how her current relationship should be manifesting. In the opening lyrics, she explains: “if I keep myself at home/ I won’t make the same mistake/ That I made for 15 years.” She falls into the same routine, unable to break the cycle she’s found herself in. In the outspoken lyrics, she wants her partner to “drown it out/ drown me out.” The change in possession is very interesting to note with its subtle impact. From turning into said ‘it’, she sees herself as either broken or inhuman, or potentially a combination of both. By continuing this repetition, she can leave the world behind and fall into complicity, which is up to the listener’s interpretations to be a blessing or a curse.
With the latest music video accompanying the single, Mitski shows a compilation of shots and scenes that comprise an intricate story. As many songs of hers have, this track has garnered many theories and statements from fans alike. One of the largest components of the music video is the introduction of a Mitski doll, which is both mischievous and mysterious in nature. The doll plays with perception, acting like Mitski and sometimes pretending to be her in shots. One example is when the real Mitski goes from performing on the television, only to shift into the doll version seconds later. Pertaining to the 80’s nods, the colorful lighting for the scene of her in the wall of pianos gives the same ambiance as any music video from that decade. Though short-lived, it is a nice and subtle callback to the era. As the music video continues, so does the Mitski parallels, this time with her echoing poses around a white room, creating symmetry with her own form. Her feelings of desperation come through as she tries anything to become the perfect version of herself, now so disordered that she can’t track down which iteration of her is the ‘true’ one. The ending shot may lead to her continuing this journey, as the traffic stop sign goes from a red heart to a plain green stoplight, queuing for Mitski to ride away in search of herself.
As a fan of her whole discography, “Love Me More” ranks somewhere in the middle for me, and sadly last in her pre-releases. To prepare for the other songs on the upcoming album “Laurel Hell” I’ve had the craving to replay all the single releases so far. However, when it comes to “Love Me More,” I forgot the tempo and retained none of the lyrics after two consecutive listens. After said replays, I moved on to other songs and had no desire to listen to the song for the rest of the day. Sadly, I cannot pinpoint why this song doesn’t resonate with me as the other songs do. However, I’m not the only one who thinks this way – as engagement and buzz with this track were considerably lower than the previous spontaneous releases. Overall, some listeners will instantly fall in love with this 80’s dance style release, but many will learn to appreciate the track and what it has to offer to the upcoming album’s essence.
Sierra Thornton can be reached at [email protected].
