Songfacts®:

• Anna Karenina is a classic novel by Leo Tolstoy centered on the tragic love affair between Anna, a sophisticated woman trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Count Vronsky, a young officer. Their passionate relationship scandalizes Russian society and leads Anna into social isolation, emotional distress, and eventually, suicide under a train.
  
  Cigarettes After Sex's song "Anna Karenina" is a lush, atmospheric tale of a deeply intense and emotionally destructive romantic relationship, using the tragic figure from Leo Tolstoy's 1878 novel as a central metaphor.
• Band leader Greg Gonzalez speaks the verses, half-whispered like a late-night secret you're not supposed to tell. Then, when he hits the chorus, he finally lets the emotion spill over.
  
  I cried at the end of Anna Karenina, when she threw herself under the train
  
  By singing the chorus, Gonzalez amplifies the pain and significance of the climactic line about Anna Karenina's fate, giving it a sense of release and emotional weight that contrasts with the understated delivery of the verses.
• Written and produced by Gonzalez, the track exemplifies the band's signature hazy, noirish dream pop they've pursued since their 2017 eponymous debut album.
• Anna Karenina is the first novel explicitly named in a Cigarettes After Sex song. While Greg Gonzalez has previously discussed literary influences ("Baby Blue Movie" was inspired by E.E. Cummings' surreal and cryptic poetry) the band's earlier songs do not directly reference a specific novel in the lyrics.
• "Anna Karenina" was released on October 21, 2025, as a double single alongside a cover of The Doors' "The Crystal Ship" (a band equally obsessed with doomed romance and beautiful decay). Nine days later, Cigarettes After Sex joined Robby Krieger of The Doors and a large roster of other artists for a star-studded "60th Anniversary of The Doors" celebration at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.