Mitski Searches for Love Through a Haze on the Water in ‘Star’ Video

Kory Grow
·2 min read
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Mitski. - Credit: YouTube/Mitski
Mitski. - Credit: YouTube/Mitski

In a dramatic video reminiscent of a scene from a Broadway musical, Mitski paddles a boat through a black-and-white mist in her new video for the lost-love song “Star.”

“That love is like a star/It’s gone, we just see it shining,” she sings, staring up into clouds (which likely are obscuring any stars). “I’ll keep a leftover light burning.” She looks forlorn as she propels herself forward. By the end of it, she drops the oar and a light beams through the clouds… and then she looks down, leading to dark ends.

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Director Maegan Houang, who made Mitski’s clips for “Stay Soft,” “The Only Heartbreaker,” and “Happy,” conceived the look for “Star.” Houang filmed Mitski on a small pond last summer performing among moving pieces of wood that are meant to evoke the look of mountains.

“Unlike the more narrative/concept driven videos Mitski and I have done together in the past, I wanted this video to encapsulate the impressionistic circularity we all experience,” Houang said in a statement. “Our lives oscillate between light and dark repeating itself in an endless cycle where nothing is permanent. The best moments are fleeting, but so are the bad.”

The track is from Mitski’s 2023 album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We. She previously called the LP her “most American album” but also said she was proud of how it addressed the theme of love. “The best thing I ever did in my life was to love people,” she said at the time. “I wish I could leave behind all the love I have, after I die, so that I can shine all this goodness, all this good love that I’ve created onto other people.”

Mitski will be touring sporadically throughout the year, including gigs at the Hollywood Bowl and Columbia, Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion.

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