Laurel Hell is an album that was released by Mitski in Feb. 2022. This is her sixth album so far, and there was lots of anticipation surrounding the release as her last album came out almost four years ago. 

Her lead single, “Working for the Knife.” was released in Oct. 2021. This song is very memorable and the symbolism is just amazing. It was a great “comeback” song. Her second single, “The Only Heartbreaker” that was released in Nov. 2021 was really versatile as well and it gave me the feelings of her past albums. Her third single, “Heat Lightning” was a more sad and sorrowful song. Her last single before the initial album release, “Love Me More” was released in Jan. 2022. This song was one of her more upbeat, but emotional as ever songs. 

The full album was released on Feb. 4, 2022. The album was really versatile and definitely one of my favorites from her. It gave me lots of familiar sounds and music from her past albums. This album feels so much more flexible because I can hear similar and familiar production that compares to her other albums. I do enjoy the unique sort of electronic feel. 

The tracklist is very pretty to me and her song names have always been good, but I feel like this album is just remarkable. This album gives me an especial mixture of “Lush,” and “Be The Cowboy.” This album is great to start on and go shuffle free because you just can’t expect what kind of feeling the next song will bring and whether or not it’s an upbeat or a slow and sad song. 

In my opinion, the more upbeat feeling songs; “Stay Soft,” “The Only Heartbreaker,” “Love Me More,” “Should’ve Been Me,” and “That’s Our Lamp.” pair excellently with the more somber songs; “Valentine, Texas,” “Working for the Knife,” “Everyone,” “Heat Lightning,” “There’s Nothing Left For You,” and “I Guess.” on the album and actually compliment each other very well.

 It’s magnificent that the majority of her upbeat songs have music videos to give us some sort of visual. Out of all of her album aesthetics, I would have to say that this one is probably my most favorite just because of the color palette. Another reason is because the music videos are truly great. Overall, I would give this album a good 9.5, not just because of the songs and lyrics itself, but also because of the versatility and all of the different feelings and emotions that I can observe in this album.