…A lot of the 'yous' in my songs are abstract ideas about music...I will neglect everything else, including me as a person, just to get to keep makin… - Mitski

“I’d always been fascinated by death, which sounds so morbid. Especially being a woman trying to make music, I think there’s a sense that you’re never young enough, or your career is going to end soon. So there’s that element of ‘I’m going to die soon.’ Maybe not physically, but I’m going to run out of time very soon. It’s always on my mind. I have to do things now.

The phrase 'Be the cowboy you want to see in the world' has been an inside joke between me and myself…I would always kind of say it to myself in situations where I feel like I'm sort of trapped in my own mind. Like, 'Oh, what would a swaggering, western movie cowboy do in this situation?'

“I think it's a very feminine album…There can be something incredibly violent about being a woman and having desires as a woman – not so nice, not so soft. And I think that's an interesting experience to draw on…"