Mitski‘s The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We proved to be her most exciting album yet. Many of the songs made waves online, but none garnered the same reaction as “My Love Mine All Mine.” TikTokers used the lulling ballad in the background of videos about life’s simple pleasures and other sentimental dirges. It’s been co-opted as a catch-all song about true love, but what did Mitski have in mind when she wrote this track? Find out, below.
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Behind the Meaning
The love that Mitski sings about in this track comes from inside her. It’s not given to anyone in particular—meaning it’s not about a specific relationship like most love songs. Instead, this track is a meditation on the beauty of love itself and its power to surpass our limited time on earth.
Moon, a hole of light
Through the big top tent up high
Here before and after me
Shinin’ down on me
Moon, tell me if I could
Send up my heart to you?
So, when I die, which I must do
Could it shine down here with you?
Mitski often personifies nature in her music. In this track, she asks the moon to preserve her love, even after she passes. She asks, Could it shine down here with you?
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In the chorus, Mitski takes ownership of her love, understanding how despite having no claim on anything outside of herself, her love is the one thing that she can claim. Nothing in the world belongs to me, but my love, she sings.
Though most of this song is about Mitski reveling in her ability to love in a general sense, she does begin to nod to a partner in the second verse. So, when it comes to be my turn / Could you shine it down here for her, she says to the moon again. These lines add yet another layer to this rich yet simple song.
My baby here on earth
Showed me what my heart was worth
So, when it comes to be my turn
Could you shine it down here for her?
As always, Mitski takes a common subject with this song and turns it on its head, creating something far deeper and more affecting than just a contemporary love song.
Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Panorama
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