New Release Friday: Mitski's 'Nothing's About to Happen to Me'

MITSKI: NOTHING'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO ME

SCORE: 96/100

Nothing's About to Happen to Me is much more of a concept album than Mitski's previous works, with this album being narrated by an erratic, reclusive woman who is most calm in the many rooms of her house, where she is lost and afraid outside of the home. Mitski reigns herself into this character, making personally potent tracks that are full of lush arrangements and emotional balladry that are sure to choke any listeners up. 

This is one of the albums I had been waiting on for a while now, and it was also the one out of all of the releases of 2026 I had been the most afraid to listen to - not that the album itself wouldn't meet expectations, not in a way where I didn't know what to expect, but rather in a way where I knew all too well what to expect, and in a way where the singles alone were so gut wrenchingly potent that the album itself was sure to be absolutely flourished in overwhelming emotion. 

Mitski is an artist I have been a fan of for many, many years, and this album continues her sound and style to absolute mastery. She's growing older, but her maturity has always been in tact - and this album is a return to something much more stripped after the variety in her most recent releases, with elements of slacker rock and indie folk shining through a primarily chamber pop album at its core. Miyawaki took on writing the songs herself as she always has, and the result is an album packed full of potent and stunning songs that use emotion as their driving force. It's a warm blanket over her dedicated fans, and the entire project reminds me wholly of my girlfriend as she is also a big fan of Mitski - and cats. It's a wonderful thing to be able to connect art to those who you hold dearly; and Mitski's personal songwriting paints experiences and lifetimes through a lens that only she herself could create. 

When music is so expressive, it creates tunnels and portals to introspection - it's something to live alongside, and one of the most important things any person can do is reflect and express themselves, always. Similar to a songwriter, voicing my opinions and experiences is largely my form of artistic self-expression, and it's become my job. I'll be writing even when I'm eighty years old, and getting to listen to new albums by artists that have been present for many years and periods of my life is something where it feels like you are growing with the music - a very important feeling that few can truly come to understand and feel; when you're able to feel the music and sit with it, experiencing it rather than cashing on it, you create something so exceptionally important and impossible to ignore.

The album's narrator is in their own, closed off world that grounds and shapes them; they are not concerned with outside influences or chaos, they are concerned with the world they have built for themselves in their secluded home where the rooms paint pictures and pen stories with every turn, every hall, and every door. It's a project where the songs build up gradually before exploding into gorgeous melodies and varied genre meshes, and the sequencing of the album is truly perfect in how it comes together and uses builds and pacing to create something cohesive and entirely comprehensive in Mitski's discography - it's highly similar to both Lush and Bury Me At Makeout Creek, and it's a massive return to her earliest albums while creating something new and innovative, making for her first true "concept album", as well as something that provides some of her absolute sharpest material to date.

Out of any ballad or slow, sad song to be released in 2026, nothing will come anywhere close to meeting the potency of I'll Change for You. The album as a whole is so stunningly consistent that it's nearly impossible to pick a favorite track, but nothing will ever stick out to me as much as I'll Change for You did the minute I heard it when it was released as a pre-album single. The album utilizes songs that range from average length to on the shorter side of the scale, and deeply worked songwriting makes for songs that stick and hit with utmost potency and emotion at every moment.

The songs all come together into one bundle of feelings, and the album itself is an absolute powerhouse in writing and stylization. There are many singer-songwriters to choose from, and there are many artists in a similar genre set to Mitski - but no other artist could achieve the sounds that Mitski constantly weaves together. The entirety of the album is deeply atmospheric and built on a tightly wound narrative that has been worked and shaped into something refined and polished in every moment, and the end result is one of  Mitski's most importantly gorgeous projects so far - and it's clear she isn't anywhere near being out of material just yet. 

Nothing's About to Happen to Me is one of many albums to be released this year that no listener should miss out on - and it's one of the most important singer-songwriter releases of the year. Nowhere else will you find the immaculate pacing and songwriting that lies within this album, and it's one that no fan should leave out.