You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe.

I made an episode with Mitzki in 2016.

And since then, she's gone on tour with Lord, and she sat in with the house band on late night with Stephen Colbert, and generally everyone's fallen in love with her.

And this month, she put out a new record that's getting praised everywhere, the New York Times,

pitchfork, The Guardian, everywhere.

It's called Be the Cowboy, and it's great.

So in honor of that new record, I wanted to go back to her episode from 2016

and re-listen to Mitzki talking about her process. Here it is.

Mitzky's been making records since 2012.

Her newest record, Puberty 2, came out in June 2016 and was critically acclaimed.

Pitchfork gave it best new music status.

Her music's also been featured in the TV show Adventure Time.

In this episode, Mitzky breaks down the song, Your Best American Girl,

along with her longtime collaborator, Patrick Highland. My name's Mitzki. My full name is Mitzki. My full name is Mitzki Miyawaki.

I never grew up with musical instruments or with equipment to record. The way I learned to write was just

writing things down on paper and hearing it in my head and kind of hoping for the best. And I don't,

I don't work in a band, so I'm alone in my own head. So the lyrics and the vocal melody are a king in my songs.

They always come first.

If I could, I'd be your little spoon and kiss your fingers forevermore.

But big spoon, you have so much to do,

and I have nothing ahead of me.

...