New year, new music: A look at 2022’s new releases

February 17, 2022

2022 has already established itself as a big year for music. After COVID-19 mandates in the past two years, we have seen little to no live shows and a complete shutdown of performing arts. Now, things are looking brighter and livelier for music lovers with huge festivals like Coachella announcing their headliners. This is a look at a few of the albums that have come out this year. 

Mitski’s Laurel Hell

Track List

  • Valentine, Texas
  • Working for the Knife
  • Stay Soft
  • Everyone
  • Heat Lightning
  • The Only Heartbreaker
  • Love Me More
  • There’s Nothing Left Here for You
  • Should’ve Been Me
  • I Guess
  • That’s Our Lamp 

Including Music Videos for:

  • Love Me More
  • Working for the Knife
  • Stay Soft
  • The Only Heartbreaker

Review

It’s Oct 5, 2021. Mitski’s social media is turned back on after a hiatus announced in 2019. Fans are ecstatic. “Working for the Knife,” a song about career exhaustion, is released and tour dates are immediately sold out.   

After four years, “Laurel Hell” marked Mistki’s legendary return to the music industry. Compared to her past works, “Laurel Hell” is still packed with deep lyricism, but this time it’s paired with a synth beat that makes you want to dance. This difference in tone and message is exemplified by the name of the album itself. “Laurel Hell” is named “after a folk term for the thickets of mountain laurel found deep in the southern Appalachians. The flowers are gorgeous, like little rhododendrons, but the plant is poisonous, with low, twisted branches that are impossible to pass through,” Mistki shared with Rolling Stone. 

This concept “of trying to break free of such an entanglement appealed to Mitski. ‘It was just too perfect,’ she says. ‘I’m stuck inside this maze…I can’t get out, but it’s beautiful,’” Mitski continued in her interview.

Mitski specializes in voicing this twenty-something angst and with “Laurel Hell,” she explores the burden of feelings, whether it’s love or the lack of. 

Each track is rich with great lyrics and a fun new sound for the artist, rooted in a classic Mitski feeling.