The Real Meaning Behind Mitski's My Love Mine All Mine
Mitski's "My Love Mine All Mine" entered the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart shortly after its September 2023 release on the album "The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We." The song peaked at No.1 after hundreds of thousands of posts on TikTok used a snippet of the chorus. Mitski is known for creating beautiful, heart-wrenching music, and this song is no exception.
In the singer's "Behind The Song" video for "My Love Mine All Mine," Mitski explained the inspiration behind the song. She realized that she doesn't truly own anything because things can't last forever, and neither can people. Mitski brainstormed trying to figure out if there is something she has that she always will have.
The answer was not something physical but rather something abstract: love. The songwriter said, "And [love is] mine for as long as I want it. For as long as I don't give it up or let the world take it from me." Mitski continued to say that loving outshines any other accomplishments, adding, "To love is truly the best and most beautiful thing I ever did. ... So I wanted to write a song about how I wish that when I die, I could at least leave all this love behind in the world."
Why does Mitski use moon imagery in the song?
The opening verse of "My Love Mine All Mine" reiterates Mitski's desire for her love to live on when she cannot. She sings, "Moon, tell me if I could / Send up my heart to you? / So, when I die, which I must do / Could it shine down here with you?" In her "Genius Verified" interview about the track, Mitski expressed that the moon will outlast everyone, and that's why she wants the love she carries with her to become a part of it.
The song also has a connection to Mitski's younger years. Mitski's father worked for the U.S. State Department, so she moved around a lot. In that same interview with Genius, she said the constant moving made everything feel fleeting — except, of course, love.
"Nothing in the world belongs to me," Mitski sings in the song's chorus, echoing that feeling. "But my love, mine, all mine, all mine." Unlike love songs like Zayn Malik's "Love Like This," Mitski's "My Love Mine All Mine" seems to be about all kinds of love, not just love of a romantic nature.
What does the final line of the song mean?
In the second verse of "My Love Mine All Mine," Mitski sings, "My baby here on earth / Showed me what my heart was worth / So when it comes to be my turn / Could you shine it down here for her?" Mitski said on "Genius Verified" she is able to see the value in her heart and her love when she expresses that love for others, and she wants her loved ones to continue feeling that when she's gone.
Mitski sings one last chorus, this time with an extra line to close out the song: "Nothing in the world is mine for free / But my love, mine, all mine, all mine." She told Genius that everything costs something, whether it's a monetary price or something else you have to give up. The only thing that doesn't have a price attached is love, and love is the only thing that persists and that people can truly own.
"I can give so much love and it won't take away from me," Mitski added. "Like, it's just this unlimited resource." If listening to "My Love Mine All Mine" makes you think of a certain special person in your life and how you want your love for them to always shine through, that's maybe a sign you should say "I love you."