Retired from Sad, New Career in Business is the second studio album by American musician Mitski. Mitski recorded the project in 2013 while studying music at State University of New York at Purchase. The album was her senior project and featured a 60-piece student orchestra. Every song on the album was accompanied by a music video, each video playing a part in an ongoing story, making it a visual album. In summer 2020, the track "Strawberry Blond" gained popularity on the social media app TikTok, specifically in the cottagecore community.
Critical reception Retired from Sad, New Career in Business received praise for its blend of "out-of-the-norm orchestral sounds with electronics and 'found' sounds". In a career retrospective following Mitski's 2018 studio album Be the Cowboy, Jesse Herb of Atwood Magazine said that the album "completely highlights Mitski's writing growth in just one year, and also her impeccable composition" and that the album "could be in an off-broadway musical." Herb singled out "Shame", "Circle", and "Strawberry Blond" in particular, saying that the latter "feels like a lost Dar Williams record".
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from Bandcamp.
Mitski – songwriting, vocals, piano, drums Trevor Fedele – recording engineer Patrick Hyland – recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer Will Prinzi – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass Mike Rasimas – drums Scott Interrante – orchestrations Sean Mcverry – gang vocals Eli Wolf-Christensen – gang vocals, mandolin Kenneth "Kenny" Trotter – violin Sarah Wolffe – violin Michael Mandrin – violin Sophie Dolamore – viola Naseer François Ashraf – viola Elise Linder – cello Pete Olynciw – upright bass Kevin Schmid – upright bass Julie Yeaeun Lee – flute Andrew Cowie – clarinet, bass clarinet John Cummings – trumpet Jerome Burns – trumpet, cornet Rich Liverano – trombone Cristian Uraga – French horn Pixel (as Pixie Doll) – cover model
Notes
References
External links