Before listening to this album, I thought the title was ironic. I foresaw that this album would be very impactful to me like many of her other melancholic creations; however, after tuning in I must agree with Mitski, nothing was about to happen to me. The expectation was not quite met.

On Feb. 27, Mitski released her eighth studio album “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me.” This album contains a total of 11 tracks and has a run time of 34 minutes and 27 seconds.

This album explores themes of security in isolation, independence, and trying to make it through life with your own unkept mind by your side.

Mitski uses cats repeatedly to represent said themes. There is a graceful white cat painted onto the cover and songs titled “Cats” and “That White Cat.” The symbolic feline mirrors Mitski's feelings about herself and how she goes on in the world: lonesome and defying others’ expectations and thoughts targeted towards her. Maybe that’s poetic within itself.

I did not find this to be her best work and had higher expectations for this album, but superseding those expectations was never her goal. With this album, she wanted to express her own feelings and not cater them to the public and worry about their thoughts on the subject. Like a cat, she did as she wanted and did not worry about pleasing those around her; she did it for herself, not selfishly but gracefully.

Nonetheless, this album unfortunately did not satisfy me. In 9th grade, I was enchanted by Mitski's haunting essence demonstrated in her music. It all felt very dark yet true and comforting. Her music was a place of unique habits and thought-inducing patterns. Her instrumentals paired extremely well with the messages she conveys and her solemn voice. However, in this album, I feel like she strays away from this. She may have explored some of these themes in her previous ballads; however, her execution feels much different. It doesn’t have the same presence as her albums before. Every song, each melody, and every lyric feels rushed. There is no time to soak in what is being offered.

All of that said, I am not trying to completely hate on this album. I am aware that I am comparing the present to the past. I know that things are bound to change as time moves forward. People change, whether it is their hair, opinions, or stylistic choices, and those changes are not designed to please everyone. There are songs that I did consider good and were intriguing enough to listen to again.

For instance, I enjoyed track nine, “That White Cat.” This song follows more of her alternative roots rather than the folkish guitar she has leaned into on this album. In this track, she presents a story. Her house becomes taken over by a cat, and later on, more animals like possums and insects inhabit her house as well. She states that the house is no longer hers, but now “it’s his house,” referring to the cat. She later sings how she has to go to work “to pay for that cat’s house” and provide for all the other animals who have conquered it.

I see her house as a metaphor for herself and the controlling animals as societal expectations. They take over her with their negative thoughts and critical words, and despite their cruel behavior, she still strives to please them, working endlessly to satisfy them. She mentioned that the bugs that moved in are occasionally eaten by birds. This represents the occasional breakthrough of striving to be yourself and serve yourself rather than others. However, this idea is annihilated when “that white cat” kills the birds. Society compresses any sense of self-expression, ripping off the wings of the bird, destroying all freedom.

This song really explores the feelings of needing to keep up with the Joneses and satisfy the others around you. It provides an example as to why it is important to ignore everyone else and strive for your own goals, not the ones set by others.

In retrospect, this album was not my favorite. Regardless, I appreciate the work put into it. It does have good instrumentals, and her voice sounds very nice. Her use of metaphor is very clever and adds so much substance into this record. Even if I much rather listen to her other albums and would recommend them over this one, I would still tune in and see for yourself if “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me” actually does make something happen.