“Star” by Mitski
“Star” is one of two Mitski singles which Dead Oceans released on 23 August 2023, the other being a song with a similar title in “Heaven“. Both of these tracks were written by Mitski, produced by Patrick Hyland and had their lyric videos directed by Ebru Yildiz.
Both singles belong to the singer’s seventh-studio album, “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We”.
Lyrics of “Star”
And it also appears that both “Heaven” and “Star” are love songs. In the chorus of this piece, the vocalist likens her relationship with the addressee to “a star”, in that “it’s gone” and they “just see it shining” as “it’s traveled very far”.
It’s not abundantly clear what those metaphors are supposed to mean. Indeed, also as with “Heaven”, this song leaves something to be desired in terms of readily understanding all that’s being relayed.
For example, the way verb tenses are liberally switched between past and present tense is such that it’s not abundantly clear if the featured relationship is currently active or a thing of the past.
But with that in mind, what it seems Mitski is getting at is the love between her and the addressee being intact, but the relationship itself having apparently dissolved. That idea is driven home in the second verse, where she asserts that “I’m yours no matter that love’s gone”.
And even that theory may not make complete sense, all lyrics considered. For instance, it’d be kinda weird for an ex to pledge their undying devotion while concurrently noting that the “love’s gone”. But using our own common sense, perhaps what Mitski is saying is that even though her relationship with the addressee is a thing of the past, it is such that what they shared has a permanent place in her heart.
