In a new interview, musician Mitski discusses her top five culturally significant cats while promoting her upcoming eighth studio album. She reflects on her experiences with her own cats and draws inspiration from literature, mythology, and media. The album, titled Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, releases on February 27 and features a world filled with feline elements.
Mitski, known for her introspective songwriting, recently adopted two cats during the pandemic. Upon returning from her first tour post-pandemic, she encountered a memorable moment with one of them. “One of them, while making direct eye contact with me, walked over to one of my potted plants, and peed into it,” she recounted, laughing. “And I was like, ‘I hear you! I’m gonna keep doing this, but I’m sorry. I deserve that.’ ”
As she prepares for more touring, Mitski is set to release her eighth studio album, Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, on February 27. The album centers on an eccentric, reclusive woman who discovers freedom in a self-created home. Its narrative incorporates cats, referencing those from Grey Gardens and the white cats dreamed of by the protagonist in The Haunting of Hill House before ghostly encounters consume her.
In the interview with Rolling Stone, published on February 26, 2026, Mitski selected her top five culturally important cats. First is Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service, highlighting themes of burnout and lost childhood magic: “You can’t get your old childhood magic back. The only thing you can do is move forward and find new magic.”
She praised the cats pulling Norse deity Freya’s chariot for demonstrating divine power: “To be able to get two separate individual cats to listen to you enough to drive your chariot is like, ‘OK, that’s a goddess.’”
Next, the Prophet Muhammad’s cat, which according to some traditions inspired kindness toward felines: “Millions of people were then inspired to be kind to cats. Our world today would be completely different if that one cat wasn’t there at the right place at the right time.”
Mitski also cited the cat from Natsume Sōseki’s 1906 novel I Am a Cat, her first exposure to a feline perspective on human life, revealing period attitudes toward cats.
Finally, Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch stands out for portraying cats as vital family members: “I like to think that Salem inspired at least, let’s say, 1,000 millennials to think of cats more and maybe want to adopt a cat.”