Background and career
Mitski Miyawaki (born Mitsuki Laycock; September 27, 1990), known professionally as Mitski, is an American musician and singer-songwriter. She self-released her first two albums, Lush (2012), and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013), while studying composition at Purchase College's Conservatory of Music. Her third studio album, Bury Me at Makeout Creek, was released in 2014 on the label Double Double Whammy. In 2015, Mitski signed with Dead Oceans and released Puberty 2 (2016), Be the Cowboy (2018), and Laurel Hell (2022), the last of which made the top ten in several countries. In 2022, The Guardian dubbed her the best young songwriter in the US. That same year, she co-composed "This Is a Life" with Son Lux for the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Her seventh studio album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, was released in 2023. Its single "My Love Mine All Mine" was Mitski's first to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Her eighth studio album, Nothing's About to Happen to Me, was released on February 27, 2026.
Mitsuki Laycock was born on September 27, 1990, in Mie Prefecture, Japan, to a Japanese mother and White American father. She has a younger sister. Mitski's mother, wanting her daughter to be born a Japanese citizen, flew while pregnant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Japan so Mitski would be born there, nearly giving birth mid-flight. She learned Japanese as her first language, and later adopted her mother's last name, Miyawaki. Due to her father's career in the United States Department of State, she frequently relocated throughout her childhood, living in 13 different countries and changing schools on a near-yearly basis. She later recalled the constant moving as creating "a permanent sense of being a foreigner and an outsider." Her childhood musical influences included her father's extensive Smithsonian Folkways collection and her mother's Japanese pop albums. Growing up listening to American pop artists who gained popularity abroad such as Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and NSYNC, Mitski's music tastes developed after discovering Jeff Buckley, and later, Björk, M.I.A. and Sheena Ringo. After arriving in the United States for the first time when she was 15, she attended high school in Alabama and Virginia. She graduated from high school in Ankara, Turkey a semester early, and began songwriting at the age of 17 or 18 during her spare time, writing what would become "Bag of Bones" from her debut album, Lush, as her first song. She moved to New York in 2010 and majored in film at Hunter College for a year, though she left the program due to a perceived lack of creative job opportunities in the field, instead favoring music.
After her time at Hunter, Mitski transferred to Purchase College, where she studied studio composition at the Conservatory of Music. Making use of the recording studios available at the conservatory, she recorded there for her end-of-term project during her junior year. She self-released it as her debut studio album, Lush, through Bandcamp on January 31, 2012. While at Purchase, she met longtime musical collaborator Patrick Hyland, who has produced all of her albums after Lush. Having previously working with student musicians on Lush, Mitski collaborated with a 60-person student orchestra for her senior project. She self-released Retired from Sad, New Career in Business as her second studio album on Bandcamp on August 1, 2013. Mitski graduated from Purchase in 2013, receiving a Bachelor of Music (MusB) degree. After graduating, she moved to Brooklyn; no longer having an orchestra at her disposal, she taught herself how to play the guitar. She additionally served as the vocalist for the short-lived progressive metal band Voice Coils.
Mitski's debut single, "First Love / Late Spring", was first announced on May 14, 2014 by Stereogum and released the following day; an upcoming full-length album on the Double Double Whammy label was additionally teased. She had previously met the label's founders, Dave Benton and Mike Caridi, during her time at Purchase. Her third studio album, Bury Me at Makeout Creek—named after a reference to The Simpsons—was announced on September 16 by Interview alongside the release of her second single, "Townie", with the album set to release on November 11, 2014. Two additional singles were premiered: "I Don't Smoke" by Stereogum on September 29, and "I Will" by NME on October 21. Bury Me at Makeout Creek received a 7.7 rating from Pitchfork and positive acclaim from other journalists. In a retrospective review, Stereogum regarded it as a turning point in her career, describing it as the album which allowed Mitski to "let out her rage." Mitski briefly signed to Don Giovanni Records on February 18, 2015, who reissued Bury Me at Makeout Creek with four bonus tracks on April 7. She released a cover of Fireproof by One Direction on April 15, noting it as a response to those who "de-legitimize music that has a majority of young girl fans" and against the "elitism of indie rock music." Though originally slated to release her next album on Don Giovanni Records, she signed with Dead Oceans on December 22, 2015, who announced a forthcoming album release.
She revealed her fourth studio album, Puberty 2, on March 1, 2016, alongside releasing its lead single, "Your Best American Girl", slating the album for release on June 17; a tour of North America and Europe was further announced. A music video for the single was released on April 13. The album's second single "Happy" was released on May 3. Mitski and Hyland recorded the album over two weeks at Acme Studios in Westchester County, New York. Puberty 2 released to critical acclaim, appearing in the top ten of several publications' lists for the best albums of 2016, including The A.V. Club, Paste, Stereogum, and Time. "Your Best American Girl" was further named one of the best songs of the 2010s by several publications, with Rolling Stone ranking it 13th and Pitchfork ranking it 7th. Mitski made her television debut on October 25, performing "Your Best American Girl" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Her song "Francis Forever" was covered by Olivia Olson as the character Marceline the Vampire Queen in the episode "The Music Hole" from Cartoon Network's show Adventure Time. Its showrunner, Adam Muto, later explained that the song was included after a suggestion by storyboard artist Polly Guo when the staff team lacked a songwriter, additionally stating Mitski was a fan of the show "at the time, at least". Mitski announced an international tour in support of Puberty 2 on January 9, 2017; the Pixies announced U.S. tour dates with her on February 21, as a supporting act starting in October. She re-uploaded her cover of "Fireproof" by One Direction—which had previously been taken down—on April 7, as part of the Our First 100 Days compilation album by Secretly Group. One track per day was released by Secretly Group to raise money for organizations that supported causes threatened by Donald Trump's proposed policies. Later that year, Mitski covered Frank Sinatra's song "I'm a Fool to Want You" for the 7-Inches For Planned Parenthood compilation album, which released on October 20. On October 4, Lorde announced that Mitski would open for her during the North American leg of her Melodrama World Tour, which ran from March 1 to April 15, 2018. Mitski penned a review of Weezer's album Pacific Daydream for Talkhouse on October 31. A short film by Emily Yoshida starring Mitski, titled SITTING, was released on November 1.
Mitski collaborated with experimental rock band Xiu Xiu on the song "Between the Breaths", releasing it on April 20, 2018 for the soundtrack of the sci-fi rom-com film How to Talk to Girls at Parties, based on the short story of the same name. On May 14, 2018, Mitski announced her fifth studio album, Be the Cowboy, and released its lead single "Geyser" alongside an accompanying music video, with the album set to release on August 17. She announced the Be the Cowboy Tour on June 3, with shows in North America and Europe, in support of the album. The album's second single and its video, "Nobody", was released on June 26, 2018, and later became an unexpected viral hit on TikTok in 2021, alongside the album's track "Washing Machine Heart". The third and final single to precede the album, "Two Slow Dancers", was released on August 9 alongside a lyric video. Be the Cowboy was released on August 17 to widespread critical acclaim, and was named the album of the year by Consequence, Flood, The Line of Best Fit, Pitchfork, and Vulture. The album was further nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. On December 20, she performed "Nobody" and "Two Slow Dancers" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
