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"Your Best American Girl" is a song by Japanese-American musician Mitski. It was released on March 1, 2018, through Dead Oceans as the lead single from her fourth studio album, Be the Cowboy (2018). The song was recorded at Acme Studios in Westchester, New York, and was written by Mitski and produced by Patrick Hyland.

Background and release
After releasing her 2014 breakthrough album Bury Me at Makeout Creek on Double Double Whammy, it was announced on December 22, 2015 that Mitski signed with Dead Oceans and has plans releasing the follow-up album in the following year. On March 1, 2016, "Your Best American Girl" was released alongside the album announcement of Puberty 2, serving as the lead single from the album.

Composition
"Your Best American Girl" is an indie rock and power pop song. It begins as a slow, dream pop-influenced acoustic track which progresses into a punk number with a bursting guitar feedback which received comparisons to Weezer.

Critical reception
"Your Best American Girl" received widespread acclaim from music critics. Upon release, the song was awarded with Pitchfork's "Best New Track" label, with critic Jillian Mapes writing, "Even as the song swells towards severity, Mitski's delicate voice stays intact at the front of the mix, like a shelter amid total chaos. Mitski may have dubbed her latest Puberty 2, but by the sounds of "Your Best American Girl," she's making mature choices, both musically and personally."

Year-end lists
The song appeared on many publications' year-end lists of the best songs of 2016.

Music video
The music video for "Your Best American Girl" was directed by Zia Anger and was uploaded to Mitski's YouTube channel on April 13, 2016. According to Mitski, the video "plays on the idea of, as a Japanese girl, never quite fitting in with the genre's surplus of white American guys." In the video, Mitski sits on a stool in a red pantsuit and waves at a white man whom she notices sitting across from her. Subsequently, the man is joined by a white woman wearing a flower crown, and the two begin making out. Mitski appears heartbroken, and in response begins to make out with her hand. Mitski then picks up her guitar and plays along to the song, giving the impression that she is "done groveling for anyone's approval."

Pitchfork listed the music video at number 23 on their list of "The Best Music Videos of 2016".