“Nothing in the world belongs to me but my love, mine all mine all mine…”
On September 15, 2023, Mitski released her seventh studio album, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, featuring the track, “My Love Mine All Mine,” a sweet and tender ballad where she expresses her yearning for her love to outlast her mortal existence. The song uses a distorted reverb of guitar strings in tandem with a gentle rhythmic piano melody and a steady percussive drum beat to create an ethereal and melancholic atmosphere before Mitski joins in with her entrancing and elusive vocals, calling out to the moon to answer her burning questions.
She first invokes the moon with an almost ritualistic incantation, saying, “Moon, a hole of light / Through the big top tent up high / Here before and after me / Shinin' down on me,” referring to the eternal and constant state of the moon shining in the sky. She then asks in a pleading tone if she could send her heart up to the moon so that, “when I die, which I must do / Could it shine down here with you?” This simple question introduces the central idea behind this song: the transcendence of love into the world beyond, where it may continue past one’s life. As she heads into the dream-like chorus, her simple chant becomes heart-wrenching and heartwarming all at once: “‘Cause my love is mine, all mine / I love, my, my, mine / Nothing in the world belongs to me / But my love, mine, all mine, all mine…” The repetition of mine, all mine drives her message home: the one thing in the world that truly belongs to us, even after we die, is our love— a bittersweet but hopeful realization.
The song’s slow tempo and swaying rhythm make for a perfect lullaby, which is further elucidated by the following lines: “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?” At this point, the listener may imagine themselves being sung to sleep by Mitski as she looks down from the heavens and stars above, wishing for her love to outlast her and to remain in the hearts of her loved one. Mitski’s signature reverberating and somber vocals combined with her soulful and poetic lyricism produce an almost spiritual experience when listening to this song. She doubles down on her reclamation of love after the second chorus, saying, “Nothing in the world is mine for free / But my love, mine all mine all mine…” Not only is this a declaration of her love being all hers to give and all that will remain in the world, but it is a renunciation of the materialistic standards of the world. Love is something that is both provided to her for free and something that she may give freely, at no cost to her.
Although the song may at first seem dreary and desolate, the soothing vocals and well-crafted lyricism reveal all of the love and heart that this song is packed with. With this simple message, Mitski has transformed the act of love into both a profound experience and a lens to view the world with. The song truly feels like a love letter to love itself— even in an inhospitable wasteland full of darkness and tragedy, Mitski gives us the hope that the one thing that will truly live on is our love.
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