The Muse of Modern Music: the massive influence of Joni Mitchell today
“I want to be Joni. Fucking. Mitchell,” Lorde declared. When asked about the dizzy heights she hoped her career would reach, she could only think of one example or one idol to aspire towards. She’s not alone in that. For so many modern acts, Joni Mitchell is the pinnacle, serving as a God to worship and a teacher to follow.
Almost from the second that she broke out, Mitchell has had this mythical quality about her. Back in the late 1960s, when she first stepped onto the folk scene, she quickly won the respect of her peers. The world may look towards Bob Dyan or Leonard Cohen as supreme examples of lyrical or musical skill, but they sought her. “Joni was some kind of musical monster,” Cohen once said, “There was a certain ferocity associated with her gift. She was like a storm. She was a beautiful young woman who had a remarkable talent.”
That sense of awe that those around her got in the ’60s stuck around, being passed down from generation to generation as she earned keen fans and loyal disciples in Prince, Stevie Nicks, Alanis Morrissette, and beyond. It was a sense of awe that seemed to get passed down. As new artists listened to her work and took note, a clear lineage of modern musicians was formed, all inspired by the same muse.
Today, you can Google near enough every major modern songwriter and find a glowing quote they’ve said about Mitchell. Björk said, “It is hard to even begin to talk about what Joni Mitchell means to me.” Lana Del Rey revealed that the artist means “everything” to her. Taylor Swift, an artist who now dominates the world of confessional songwriting that Mitchell helped establish, has spoken about the impact Blue had on her, calling it her favourite album of all time “because it explores somebody’s soul so deeply”.
That confessional lyricism is perhaps the easiest way to trace Mitchell’s impact. While she was in no way the first person to do it and definitely didn’t invent writing about herself, her ability to weave deeply personal experiences with poetry, imagery and mystery has inspired songwriters since. You can hear her impact in the works of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, both as solo artists and as Boygenius. Even newer than that, Mitchell’s hands are all over up-and-comers like Katie Gregson Macleod, Lizzy McAlpine or Nell Mescal. Really, whether they mean to or not, any female artist who has put pen to paper and mythologised their own life in art is nodding towards Mitchell.
But Mitchell is more than just that. Beyond Blue or Clouds, as she matured into her career, her music expanded so far beyond folk and lyricism. Her engagement with jazz especially makes her a fascinating and bold artist. With each later album, she dared to cast off what was expected of her and try new things. That’s what is so inspiring to James Blake, who said, “Joni’s music always reminds me that melody is flexible and that if you want to reinvent yourself as she continually has, you should command it to bend and ebb and flow.”
He added, “She is a great remedy to melodic block,” heralding her as a master of not just words but instrumentals as well.
Haim agrees, as they once noted it’s Mitchell’s breadth and depth that made them fall for her, as her discography delivers “a little bit of everything”. As Haim’s indie-rock and Blake’s electronic streak sit seemingly outside of Mitchell’s genre reach, it shows just how wide her net of influence is cast. St Vincent is in there too, while always being rockier; she bowed to the artist in her song ‘The Melting of the Sun’, singing, “Saint Joni ain’t no phoney”.
With 19 studio albums, each one offering up new sounds, new ways of wording emotions and new, adventurous moves, there is so much of Joni Michell to discover. Even if you love Blue or Court and Spark, you only know the tiniest slice of her enigmatic career. And then, with each new song you hear and development you trace, more and more artists reveal themselves as disciples. As a pioneer in so many different ways, Mitchell has been and will continue to be an inspiration to so many.
