Retired from Sad, New Career in Business

Retired from Sad, New Career in Business is the second studio album by American musician Mitski. Mitski self-released the project on August 1, 2013 while still a student at SUNY Purchase. The album was her senior project and featured a 60-piece student orchestra. Every song on the album was accompanied by a music video, each video playing a part in an ongoing story, and it is Mitski's only visual album. In summer 2020, the track "Strawberry Blond" gained a resurgence in popularity on the social media app TikTok, specifically in the cottagecore community.

Critical reception
Retired from Sad, New Career in Business received praise for its blend of "out-of-the-norm orchestral sounds with electronics and 'found' sounds". In a career retrospective following Mitski's 2018 studio album Be the Cowboy, Jesse Herb of Atwood Magazine said that the album "completely highlights Mitski's writing growth in just one year, and also her impeccable composition" and that the album "could be in an off-broadway musical." Herb singled out "Shame", "Circle", and "Strawberry Blond" in particular, saying that the latter "feels like a lost Dar Williams record".

Personnel
Credits adapted from Bandcamp.


 * Mitski – songwriting, vocals, piano, drums
 * Trevor Fedele – recording engineer
 * Patrick Hyland – recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer
 * Will Prinzi – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass
 * Mike Rasimas – drums
 * Scott Interrante – orchestrations
 * Sean Mcverry – gang vocals
 * Eli Wolf-Christensen – gang vocals, mandolin
 * Kenneth "Kenny" Trotter – violin
 * Sarah Wolffe – violin
 * Michael Mandrin – violin
 * Sophie Dolamore – viola
 * Naseer François Ashraf – viola
 * Elise Linder – cello
 * Pete Olynciw – upright bass
 * Kevin Schmid – upright bass
 * Julie Yeaeun Lee – flute
 * Andrew Cowie – clarinet, bass clarinet
 * John Cummings – trumpet
 * Jerome Burns – trumpet, cornet
 * Rich Liverano – trombone
 * Cristian Uraga – french horn
 * Pixel (as Pixie Doll) – cover model