The Singles Jukebox

That eureka moment hits us like a…

[Video]
[6.50]

Julian Axelrod: Now that Mitski’s making Movie Soundtrack Money, she can hide her soul from the public eye and stand behind a character — at least in song. In theory, Mitski playing a bi cowboy arsonist should produce the greatest song in the history of recorded sound. But she loses a bit of herself in the role, making for one of her least memorable mood pieces in recent memory.
[6]

Tobi Tella: There’s always been a sense of existential dread surrounding Mitski songs, and this brings all that to the forefront. The opening lines sets up the power of the negativity that gets broken up in small moments before diving headfirst back in. It’s shallower than expected, perhaps, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; it’s a declarative statement rather than an open-ended question.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Boasting and testifying like a Shirley Manson who comprehended understatement, Mitski offers a film soundtrack theme whose gloss transforms what would’ve been skeletal power chords into cement roller trucks. As usual, her inability or disinterest in going beyond the three-minute mark bespeaks modesty.
[7]

Ian Mathers: Getting Mitski to do a song for a horror movie makes so much sense on the face of it, and “Cop Car” — which has a real “I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me” vibe — does not disappoint. If anything, the narrative bleakly suggested here sounds more interesting to follow than the adaptation the song actually accompanies.
[8]

Alex Clifton: Ways you know this is a Mitski song: references horses, dogs, water, and death in less than three minutes; vengeful guitars that sting combined with an almost ghostly voice; and a deep-rooted fear of listening to it in a dark room because I’ll start crying.
[7]

Vikram Joseph: This starts off like a lost Puberty 2 track, but veers away from the structural intricacy and profound pathos that made that album such an intense and redemptive listen. The thick guitars writhe and seethe, but for all the fury “Cop Car” still feels slight. A Mitski outtake is still an outtake, as it turns out.
[5]

Brad Shoup: The guitar hums and crackles like a malevolent headache… imagine if she went full doom metal instead of inhabiting soundtrack camp? I dunno if that’s strings or a bunch of e-bowing at the end, but the final minute is given entirely over to the suggestive horror of her guitar’s tone. It’s not as funny as the line about blocking the exits, but it’s more eldritch. 
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: Prickly, thorny indie rock with vocals on edge, dark lyrics, and nasty, loud guitars. This is likely the best thing I’ve yet heard from Mitski.
[7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: It sounds less like Mitski and more like someone with a passing familiarity with her work doing a Mitski impression– all art-goth menace, none of the specificity or skill.
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: Be the Cowboy was a highlight of its year but, “Geyser” excepted, deceptively muted and almost old-fashioned, as conversant with indie as Americana or even Disney music. “Cop Car” is not that; it’s Mitski conversant with grunge and Southern gothic (this time it sounds like being the cowboy), and reminds me alternatively of Rose Kemp or that section of late-’90s alt rock containing Furslide and other Buffy-soundtrack artists. Mitski’s voice, though, is singularly hers: prickly, stretched filament-thin but somehow not snapping. All the breakage happens in the arrangement: galloping at full speed away from anything resembling emotion, directly into a squall because it’s safer. This is much more exciting. It’s also about two minutes too short.
[7]