Mitski’s ‘I’ll Change For You’ creates a warm world for her world tour to follow
Wisdom would suggest that a world tour announcement should be celebrated with the release of a rousing new single, giving fans a glimpse into the sort of jubilant experience they might come to expect, but on ‘I’ll Change For You’, Mitski has taken a slightly different, albeit welcomed, approach.
As opposed to triggering a confetti cannon and announcing the party as well and truly underway, Mitski welcomes you into her home with a warm embrace and builds an environment that thrives on intimacy.
The soundscape she’s created on ‘I’ll Change For You’ has all the character of a creaking old building, that hides myriad tales of love, loss and heartbreak in the depths of its crannies. They’re drawn out slowly through the song, be it the muffled kick drum at the start, the tingling piano melody or Mitski’s voice itself, which is as haunting as it is delicate.
Given just how bare the emotions are being laid on the composition of this track, the lyrical content feels deeply appropriate. “‘Cause I’ll do anything / For you to love me again / If you don’t like me now / I will change for you,” she pines on the chorus, as subtle horn flourishes lift her up into the ether.
All of this builds to the somewhat humble crescendo that sees Mitski elevate entirely, off the back of her closing vibrato. It’s almost traditional in its theatrics, perhaps something a tearful Barbara Streisand would conjure up in the mid-1950s, but here, all of that convention has been wrapped up in a warm contemporary palette.
In any other album campaign, this track may have been left as a deep cut, a song left in the darkness, for patient fans to approach via the album as a whole, but there’s no necessity for Mitski to play by the rules anymore. This is her eighth studio album, and the right to operate solely within the parameters set by herself has been earned.
I spoke briefly about wisdom in the opening lines of this review, but that was purely a wisdom designed by my preconceptions of the music industry as a machine. ‘I’ll Change For You’ is simply a reminder that wisdom doesn’t exist within an artist contorting themself to industry norms but instead trusting the vision of their own artistry.
There’s perhaps never been an artist as trusting of themselves as Mitski is within this track. While on this song and its accompanying video, she tackles the dichotomy of feeling shunned by the world that exists outside of your own home, while safe within the inner walls, she’s positioned herself as an artist who is allowed to operate in the latter.
She’s earned her crust enough to invite us into her warm world she has created on this track, and within it, I would urge her not to change for anybody.
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