Mitski on how she feels about returning to music: “Terrible. Absolutely terrible”

nme.com:

Mitski has got candid about her decision to take a hiatus from music and how “absolutely terrible” it feels to be releasing new music.In 2019, the indie star announced on Twitter that a gig in New York’s central park would be her, “last show indefinitely”.

When a fan responded to her now-deleted account, asking “You’ve been on the road for what…five years?” she responded, “Yeah.

It’s time to be a human again. And have a place to live.” At the time she assured fans that she wasn’t calling it quits, but “stepping away”.Now that she’s set to release her sixth album ‘Laurel Hell’ on February 4, she’s shared more details behind her decision to stop touring and making music.“You develop this constant ticker in your mind of people’s potential criticism or commentary on whatever you’re making, even in the middle of making it,” she told the BBC. “And that will never really go away, I don’t think.”She also discussed the real reason that she stepped away wasn’t “physical exhaustion”, but being overwhelmed by the “super-saturated” consumerism of the music industry.“It was simpler to just explain it away as physical exhaustion which, of course, was part of it,” she said. “But looking back, it was more mentally [about] being a working person in the music industry, which is like this super-saturated version of consumerism.”Mitski also said that during her time away from music she was “filled with regret and grief” thinking “maybe I’d made a big mistake”.