''Puberty 2'' is the fourth studio album by Japanese-American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

singer-songwriter

Mitski Mitski Miyawaki (born Mitsuki Laycock; September 27, 1990), known professionally by the mononym Mitski, is a Japanese-born American singer-songwriter. Mitski self-released her first two albums, '' Lush'' (2012) and '' Retired from Sad, New Caree ...

, released on June 17, 2016, the first release through

Dead Oceans Dead Oceans is an American independent record label formed in 2007 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Dead Oceans is part of Secretly Group, which also ...

. It was produced by longtime collaborator Patrick Hyland. Upon its release, ''Puberty 2'' received widespread acclaim from music critics, with many praising Mitski's emotional delivery and lyrically complex themes, which include longing, love, depression, alienation and racial identity. The album was preceded by the lead single "

Your Best American Girl "Your Best American Girl" is a song by Japanese-American singer Mitski, from her fourth studio album, ''Puberty 2'' (2016). The song was released on March 1, 2016, as the lead single from the album. It was written by Mitski and produced by Patric ...

" on March 1, 2016, alongside the announcement of the album, and the second single " Happy" on May 3, 2016. A music video for "A Burning Hill" was released on October 11, 2016, followed by a tour covering North American and Europe.

Background and recording

In a Q&A with ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' regarding ''Puberty 2'', Mitski stated that after the breakout indie success of her third studio album, ''

Bury Me at Makeout Creek ''Bury Me at Makeout Creek'' (stylized in all lowercase) is the third studio album by Japanese-American indie rock musician Mitski, released through Double Double Whammy on November 11, 2014. The album was written entirely by Mitski, with product ...

'', she felt out of touch with music, and that she "went back to her roots" in recording ''Puberty 2'' by drawing inspiration from the compositions of all three of her previous studio albums. She also stated that in contrast to her previous album, ''Bury Me at Makeout Creek'', ''Puberty 2''s music would not be made with the intent to be performed live at DIY venues in similar renditions, and instead she would create new renditions of the songs to perform live. The album was recorded entirely in the now-defunct Acme Studios in

Westchester, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

, over a two-week period with producer and longtime collaborator Patrick Hyland.

Composition

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' labeled the sound of ''Puberty 2'' as "an impressive collection of

D.I.Y. "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, wikt:modification, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individual ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

". According to Jillian Mapes of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'', ''Puberty 2''s composition contains second-wave

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

, "wistful

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such as ...

", "slow-simmering

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

", "brusquely strummed

folk-punk Folk punk (known in its early days as rogue folk) is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was popularized in the early 1980s by the Pogues in England, and by Violent Femmes in the United States. Folk punk achieved some mainstream success in ...

surf guitar Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental su ...

, and "plenty of '60s pop hooks". Mapes also noted Mitski's vocal delivery on the album to go through different "modes", including "

deadpan Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blun ...

disenfranchisement, smooth R&B, dream pop croon, gasping-for-breath pleas, ndwall of harmonies (with herself)".

Critical reception

''Puberty 2'' was released to widespread acclaim from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 87, based on 22 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Critics praised the album's more restrained and nuanced emotional trajectory, as well as its complex lyrical themes, which include longing, love, depression, alienation, and racial identity. Laura Snapes of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

commented on the album's subtlety, writing that ''Puberty 2'' "is a strike against the happy/sad poles that govern our lives." Katie Rife of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' deemed it "a triumphant new step in her evolution".

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

– music, performance, album art * Patrick Hyland – production, performance, mastering, photographs

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2016 albums Dead Oceans albums Mitski albums