Laurel Hell

Taken by Ebru Yildiz (2021)

**Laurel Hell** is the sixth album by American artist Mitski released on February 4, 2022.

## Development

### Hiatus

*Laurel Hell* is a post-hiatus release, with Mitski's return occurring over three years after her last release *Be The Cowboy.* On June 4, 2019, Mitski tweeted "I've been on non-stop tour for over 5 years, I haven't had a place to live during this time, & I sense that if I don't step away soon, my self-worth/identity will start depending too much on staying in the game." Shortly after, she deactivated all of her social media accounts. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mitski detailed her thought process going into her supposedly last show – an added night to her sold-out performance at Central Park's Summerstage festival on September 8. 2019: “I was thinking this was the last show I would perform ever, and then I would quit and find another life." After the show, she realized the mistake of verbalizing this thought due to the connections she felt with the audience that night, but as her feelings toward the industry were a point of contention with her creative core, she was unsure of how to proceed with her career.

*Laurel Hell* was initially the product of contractual agreement, presumably that of either a first/initial contract period obligation or an additional later option as standard in many label-artist contracts. While she considered "handing it off" to her label and asking them to "keep her out of it" as to fulfill the release obligation, she eventually chose to present it publicly herself.

### Process

Most of the songs on *Laurel Hell* were written in 2018 and have gone through a number of rewrites; Mitski cited 20 for "The Only Heartbreaker" before reviewing it with songwriter Dan Wilson.

## Themes

Mitski defines the term "laurel hell" as adopted from that of the Southern Appalachians in the U.S., "where laurel bushes basically grow in these dense thickets, and they grow really wide...when you get stuck in these thickets, you can’t get out:

> "There are a lot of Laurel Hells in America, in the South, where they’re named after the people who died within them because they were stuck. And, so the thing is, laurel flowers are so pretty. They just burst into these explosions of just beauty. And, I just, I liked the notion of being stuck inside this explosion of flowers and perhaps even dying within one of them.”
>
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Mitski characterized the album as something of an ode to uncertainty. In an interview with NME, she stated:

> “I needed love songs about real relationships that are not power struggles to be won or lost. I needed songs that could help me forgive both others and myself. I make mistakes all the time. I don’t want to put on a front where I’m a role model, but I’m also not a bad person. I needed to create this space mostly for myself where I sat in that grey area.”
>
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In the aforementioned interview with *Rolling Stone,* Mitski reiterated her diversion from moral judgements on *Laurel Hell:*

> "I’ve often found myself in a situation where, narratively speaking, I’m the bad guy. We can acknowledge more than just black and white. If you present something that feels true to you, there will be other people who are like, ‘This is true to me too.'"
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## Sound

Mitski's detachment from black-and-white messaging is heavily supported by her sound, with the three promotional singles *(released as of January 8, 2022)* spanning a variety of genres.

## Critical reception

*Laurel Hell* has a score of 83/100 from 27 aggregated critic reviews on Metacritic, indicating universal acclaim.

## Physical releases

*Laurel Hell* was issued on CD, vinyl, and cassette through Dead Oceans upon release, including four CD variants with alternate covers, a indie store exclusive opaque red vinyl, a triple button red and black vinyl, a Vinyl Me Please exclusive black in red vinyl (limited to 1500 copies), a Secretly Society exclusive opaque grey vinyl and a Rough Trade exclusive triple button transparent cloud clear vinyl with a bonus CD included (limited to 3000 copies), on February 28th a limited edition galaxy black and red vinyl was released; it was also sold on tour at certain shows. The following year on April 23rd a Record Store Day Japan exclusive white with red and black spatter vinyl was released. In July a white cassette varient was released exclusively through Retrospekt. On December 9th a Rough Trade exclusive ruby and white bloom vinyl (limited to 1500 copies) was released along with a "Stay Soft, Get Eaten: Laurel Hell Demos" EP on opaque bone vinyl (limited to 750 copies) which features the same 4 tracks on the triple button transparent cloud clear vinyl's bonus CD. On July 26th 2023 a Urban Outfitters exclusive gold vinyl (limited to 5000 copies) was released.

Physicals Only CoverStandard CDStandard Black VinylRed CassetteWhite CassetteSTAY CDSOFT CDGET CDEATEN CDOpaque Red VinylTriple Button Red and Black VinylBlack in Red VinylOpaque Grey VinylTriple Button Transparent Cloud Clear vinyl With Bonus CDLimited Edition Galaxy Black and Red VinylWhite With Red and Black Spatter VinylRuby and White Bloom VinylOpaque Bone Stay Soft, Get Eaten Demos EPUrban Outfitters Exclusive Gold Vinyl
## Credits

* Mitski - vocals, songwriting, keys,
* Dan Wilson - songwriting (track 6)
* Patrick Hyland - production, recording, mixing, guitar, percussion, synthesizer
* Ted Jensen - mastering
* Ryan Smith - vinyl mastering
* Elizabeth Chan - drums (track 3, 8, 9, 11)
* K. Marie Kim - additional keys (track 9, 11)
* Evan Marien - bass guitar (track 9, 11)
* Brooke Waggoner - piano (track 1, 3)
* Ebru Yildiz - photography
* Mary Banas - album design

## References

1. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/news/mitski-announces-last-show-indefinitely/
2. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/mitski-new-album-laurel-hell-cover-story-1272973/
3. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/mitski-new-album-laurel-hell-cover-story-1272973/
4. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/mitski-new-album-laurel-hell-cover-story-1272973/
5. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/news/mitski-announces-new-album-laurel-hell-shares-new-song-the-only-heartbreaker-listen/
6. ↑ https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/mitski-shares-brand-new-single-heat-lightning/
7. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/mitski-new-album-laurel-hell-cover-story-1272973/
8. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/music/laurel-hell/mitski
9. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-albums-2022/
10. ↑ https://www.fopp.com/best-albums-of-2022/
11. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/06/the-50-best-albums-of-2022
12. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/best-albums-2022-beyonce-rosalia-b2244926.html
13. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/arts/music/best-albums-renaissance-bad-bunny.html
14. ↑ https://www.nme.com/big-reads/the-50-best-albums-of-2022-3363070
15. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-50-best-albums-of-2018/?page=5
16. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-rock-albums-2022/
17. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-2022-list-1234632387/mitski-laurel-hell-1234633181/
18. ↑ https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-50-best-albums-of-2022/