Liquid Smooth

Liquid Smooth
General Information
Title	Liquid Smooth
Recorded	Purchase College's Conservatory of Music
Released	January 31st, 2012
Album	Lush Audiotree Live
Genre	Chamber pop
Length	2:49
Key + BPM	G minor · 64
Format	Digital download · streaming
Credits
Artist	Mitski
Writer(s)	Mitski Miyawaki
Producer(s)	Scot Moriarty
Label	Self-released
Lush track listing
-
Current "Liquid Smoth"
Next "Wife"
Official audio

“Liquid Smooth” is a song by American singer-songwriter Mitski, taken from her debut studio album Lush. Written by Mitski, it serves as the first track on the album. Mitski performed the song at the 1st Annual UNICEF Benefit Concert at Purchase College with other songs from the album, also included in the setlist of the American leg of her Be the Cowboy Tour.

Meaning

The song is about realizing that youth and beauty are a privilege and wanting other people to notice it in you before it vanishes. ("capture me.. or at least take my picture"—enjoy how young and beautiful I am at this moment; "I'm liquid smooth, come touch me too... my skin is plump and full of life, my blood is red and unafraid of living, I'm in my prime"—all references to how beautiful and fearless we are, almost by default, in our youth) The song's first line makes reference to how women are treated as objects rather than living things and asks what we should do with all of this beauty.

“Liquid Smooth” speaks of a feeling that every woman of a certain age can relate to, a moment when you feel beautiful but know that beauty will not last forever. You are an organic being who will eventually age, but in the meantime, you can enjoy this fleeting femininity in decline, which you are supposed to do in order to feel that you are making the most of it before it ends.

Live Performances

Mitski performed “Liquid Smooth” live for the first time at the 1st Annual UNICEF Benefit Concert at Purchase College, where she also performed other songs from the album such as “Eric.” In 2015, as part of the promotion for Bury Me at Makeout Creek, the song was performed on Audiotree Live and KDHX. The song was also part of the setlist for her Be the Cowboy Tour.

Lyrics

[Verse 1] I'm beautiful, I know 'cause it's the season But what am I to do with all this beauty? Biology, I am an organism, I'm chemical That's all, that is all [Chorus] I'm liquid smooth, come touch me, too And feel my skin is plump and full of life I'm in my prime I'm liquid smooth, come touch me, too I'm at my highest peak, I'm ripe About to fall, capture me [Verse 2] Or at least take my picture 崩れてゆく前に I'm pulsing, my blood is red and unafraid of living Beginning to end [Chorus] I'm liquid smooth, come touch me, too And feel my skin is plump and full of life I'm in my prime I'm liquid smooth, come touch me, too I'm at my highest peak, I'm ripe About to fall [Bridge] How I feel this river rushing through my veins With nowhere else to go, it circles 'round [Chorus] I'm liquid smooth, come touch me, too And feel my skin is plump and full of life I'm in my prime I'm liquid smooth, come touch me, too I'm at my highest peak, I'm ripe About to fall, capture me

Trivia

• Liquid Smooth is one of two Mitski songs to feature a Japanese lyric (the other being First Love/Late Spring from the album Bury Me at Makeout Creek). The lyric is "崩れてゆく前に", or, "Kuzurete yuku mae ni", translating to “before I collapse/crumble/fall apart.”
  • This lyric employs a Japanese grammar construction, “てゆく” (-te yuku) that is used to convey that the subject or original state of being will go or “leave” and won’t return, which is notable as the whole song is about the transient nature of youth and beauty.
• This is the most popular song on Lush.