The refreshing thing about this set of songs is that they are neither jaded nor condescending. The songs on Puberty 2 suggest Mitski has gone through quite a lot of these small miseries, and demonstrate her ability to take these experiences and channel them into engaging lyrics. I remember as well the years before that: the painful humiliations of an awkward puberty, the soul seeking, the rejections and the blinding euphoria of a requited crush. I can recall what it felt like to be twenty-five, the age that Mitski is now - the revolving door of lovers and disappointments that I had. I was similarly moved listening to Mitski’s new album. The first time I heard Liz Phair’s 1993 track “Flower” as a teenager, I remember the elation I felt listening to such a fearless and shocking anthem of feminine sexuality. Puberty 2 connects deeply because of this daring and openness. The complexity of this vignette exemplifies a songwriter who is unafraid to show her vulnerability, daring enough to sing of her libidinous urges, and willing to divulge the minutia of her days and the shortcomings of her years - however devastating some of them have been - on a grand scale. Happiness is a fleeting emotion, and that satisfied elation quickly sours as we find Mitski on a post-coital cleaning mission, conquering cookie crumbs, unwashed dishes and mixed emotions. Within the first thirty seconds of “Happy,” the opening track on Puberty 2, Mitski, in a deadpan drawl, wistfully recounts, “I told him I’d do anything/to have him stay with me/so he laid me down and I felt happy/come inside of me/He laid me down and I felt happy.”
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