"Be the Cowboy," Mitski's 5th album released in 2018 and certified platinum in the United States, is released on SACD. Mitski Miyawaki has long been wary of being treated as a symbolic figure, and understands well the pattern in which women are easily lifted up simply for being women, only to be torn down the next moment. Even so, after her breakthrough with 2016's "Puberty 2," she came to be viewed almost as a savior, a new standard-bearer for indie rock breaking open a genre long dominated by white men. The songs she carefully crafted one by one had often been discussed in the context of raw emotion, framed as the feverish confessions of a chosen girl, but on her 5th album, "Be the Cowboy," the full picture of a person previously shown only in fragments comes into view. What emerges is the image of a woman who holds control over herself. Ever since "Puberty 2" was widely praised across the board and named one of the best albums of 2016 by outlets including Rolling Stone, TIME, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, NPR, and SPIN, Mitski has toured nonstop. In addition to headlining tours around the world, she has also served as an opening act for The Pixies and, most recently, Lorde. But behind climbing the stairway to stardom lies an enormous amount of effort far removed from glamour. Artists are expected to be strong, while at the same time being required to expose their vulnerability. Rather than avoiding this bind, she has gained her strength by projecting an aura that keeps others at a distance, and as a result, she confronts head-on the loneliness that comes with it. This album explores both the loneliness of being held up as a symbolic figure and the loneliness of being a single individual, while also depicting the sense of becoming no one in particular as a result. Comes with liner notes, lyrics, and Japanese translations.