Even when I'm in a scene I don't think of myself as being in the scene. I'm very conscious of myself being an outsider. I think that has to do with m… - Mitski

I felt it was shaving away my soul little by little…The music industry is this supersaturated version of consumerism. You are the product being consumed, bought, and sold. Even the people on your team who are your friends, the very foundation of your dynamic is that they get a percentage of your income. Every time I turned something down, it would mean that they would make less money.

I write personal stories about relationships, and living in this world and being a human being…but I happen to live in a world which views me as an Asian American. So my experiences are tainted by that, even if I'm not conscious of it. Someone said 'the personal is political', where it seems like me just being honest about my experiences as a human being and as a person translates as being political about being an Asian American person. I'm not in this to be political or a social activist, it just happens that my being honest is a very political thing.

When people looked at me they couldn't recognize any of the history of me, like, 'Where is she from? What's her ethnicity? Who is she?' I just didn't make sense to anybody.