The general new-music-listening public has their sights on one album for this month, but another less-popular entry is currently fighting for the top praise from the critics. While Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS is unquestionably the most popular album of September 2023, the new record of indie artist Mitski received her best reviews of all time in an already storied career. Find out below if this record wins the top spot this September.
Mitski’s The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Following the world discovering Mitski thanks to dynamic indie rock singles in 2016 and a synth-laden indie pop return over the next few years, the Japan-born American singer-songwriter shifts gears yet again to match her signature dour performance. In The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, she shockingly takes inspiration from classic country artists, plumbing the depths of her emotions to craft a severe yet intimate reflection on anguish, longing, and sadness. Though it still sounds like standard Mitski inventiveness, especially to fans of her breakout record Puberty 2, the songs on The Land Is Inhospitable frequently call upon the instruments used in slow The Byrds songs and spaghetti Westerns.
Since judging these two recently-released albums of vastly different approaches can be tricky, here are some metrics by which GUTS and The Land Is Inhospitable can be compared through objective and subjective measures.
Popularity: Olivia Rodrigo
GUTS wins this category by any wide-reaching standard determinable. The streaming numbers showcase the difference, with “vampire,” the lead single of GUTS, currently sitting at over 400 million Spotify plays and the top two songs on The Land Is Inhospitable barely surpassing 12 million. Until Mitski’s new album can get a trending sound bite on TikTok, she will not have a chance of beating Olivia Rodrigo.
Critical Review: Toss-Up
Here is where Mitski stands a chance: The Land Is Inhospitable has so far averaged out to be her highest-ranking album on aggregate music review sites like Metacritic. On some active fan-based forums like AOTY.org, Mitski considerably outranks Rodrigo, but on others like BestEverAlbums, the results are much closer. However, Rodrigo is also receiving her career-best appraisals right now. On Metacritic, GUTS recently moved above The Land is Inhospitable in the Best of 2023 ranking by one place, with the former getting a score of 91 and the latter a 90. The official call here is too close to make.
Which Album Is Better?
In this highly subjective world of music criticism, we can only hope to be as objective as possible here; with that in mind, the winner of this match-up in terms of overall quality is GUTS. Rodrigo manages an advanced range of emotional topics through a broader sonic palette, digging into her core as much as Mitski does in The Land Is Inhospitable while appealing to a larger audience. Mitski’s inward-looking twang only fails when compared to GUTS, as the beloved indie artist once again appeals to her fans by doing what she wants, with no compromises in any aspect of her vision. The problem is that a more songwriting-confident Rodrigo does this on GUTS, too, and the experience is far more gripping.
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We is streaming now on every music platform.
