Interviewer: ‘A Pearl’ really gets me, especially the line “you’re getting tired of me, and all the things that I don’t talk about.” The economy of words is great… But I guess the overall message of this song is that it takes time to adjust to peace in a relationship; does that surprise you?
Mitski: I think what’s more surprising to me is when you’re OK - but you’re not used to being OK, and when you’ve been unhappy for so long that being unhappy is your norm and what you’re uncomfortable with - so when you’re not unhappy, when you’re finally fine, you don’t know what to do with yourself. You repeat self-destructive behaviours because it’s what you know, it’s what you feel you deserve and what you’re comfortable with. If it’s just your life then you can be as self-destructive as you want, but what makes it complicated is if you have someone else in your life who cares about you, if you’re in a relationship, and you’re supposed to be fine and you have someone asking about you and caring about you, but you just can’t stop being unhappy, because being unhappy is what you want. That feeling of someone else being involved in your wellbeing, and not being able to be well for them.
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