COWBOY imagery is everywhere in 2018. There have been memes, runway looks, and articles decreeing their dominance over style.

In music, the ultra-American emblem is everywhere. Country albums have crossed over to the mainstream (Kacey Musgraves) while pop artists have dived head-first into the genre (Kylie Minogue, Miley Cyrus). A 11-year old who found viral fame after yodelling in Walmart has signed a deal with Atlantic Records.

With the rise of this trend has come the motifs. The lapels, the lassos, the fringed shirts, the Dolly Parton-blow out

In the past, the cowboy has been imagined as the peak of masculinity, but the image has always straddled contradictions: It’s earnest but artificial, rugged while camp. And as it re-emerges, the symbol also celebrates that being an outlier can be both freeing and isolating.

So it’s fitting that 27-year old musician Mitski Miyawaki would lean into this archetype for her fifth album Be The Cowboy. The name of the record was inspired by a former fellow music student at university, whose stage presence and bravado always impressed her.

Speaking to me over the phone from outside of Philadelphia, Mitski says the directive is a reminder for her to embody that same energy: “I should be the cowboy I want to see in the world,” she says.

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