Songfacts®:

• In this song, Mitski explores the concept of a star as a beacon for a love affair that has ended but left behind a trace of light. She hasn't revealed a personal inspiration for the lyric, leaving it open to interpretation. Like many of her songs, it reads like a poem, with vivid imagery and a powerful emotional tug.
• The song begins with a toast to those early days of love when both were deeply entwined.
  
  Remember when we met
  We acted like two fools
  We were so glad
  So glad to have found it
  
  As the chorus chimes in, the song's somber undertone surfaces. The passion has departed, a mere memory steering the course of their connection: two souls striving to salvage what remains.
  
  That love is like a star
  It's gone, we just see it shinin'
  It's traveled very far, I'll
  Keep a leftover light
  Burnin' so you can keep lookin' up
  Isn't that worth holdin' on?
  
  Mitski ponders the value of their bond. While ardor has waned, she's accustomed to their union, a relationship shaped by habit and familiarity that offers a sense of security amid the unknown.
  
  In the next verse, Mitski appears to respond to this quandary.
  
  You know I'd always been alone
  'Til you taught me
  To live for somebody
  
  Her partner transformed her perspective. Life gained meaning, not just for herself but for someone else's joy. Mitski clings to the bond, finding solace in a simple, familiar existence that's possibly enough to sustain her.
• Mitski co-wrote this grand, twinkling orchestral pop tune with her producer, Patrick Hyland. On August 23, 2023, indie label Dead Oceans released "Star" and "Heaven" as two singles from The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.
  
  "I think they show two very different flavors of the album," said Mitski. "I kind of wanted to show various sides to the album through the singles because both like an angel is also very different from 'Heaven' and 'Star' and I just wanted it to be like, Look, this album has it all."
• As the song builds, we hear a twinkling that evokes the starlight. Mitski says this is her favorite part of the song; it was made with layers of organ "painstakingly punched into MIDI."
  
  Mitski cites the minimalist composer Terry Riley as inspiration for this section. Riley was a big influence on Pete Townshend, particularly on The Who song "Baba O'Riley" - the "Riley" in that title is Terry Riley.
• Mitski started working on "Star" long before she recorded it for her The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We album. As she explained in a video, she got the initial musical idea when she was playing the South By Southwest festival. She and her band were staying with a friend who had a backyard and back porch where Mitski came up with the seed while messing around on her acoustic guitar. From there, it changed form a few times, at one point sounding like The Carpenters but eventually taking inspiration from the singer Scott Walker. The drone at the beginning and the orchestration were later developments.
• In the black-and-white music video for "Star," Mitski is alone in a boat on a foggy night, looking to the heavens as she sings. It was directed by Maegan Houang, who also directed Mitski's videos for "Stay Soft," "The Only Heartbreaker" and "Happy." She's also made videos for Skylar Spence and Hana Vu. Houang explained the concept in a statement:
  
  "Unlike the more narrative/concept driven videos Mitski and I have done together in the past, I wanted this video to encapsulate the impressionistic circularity we all experience. Our lives oscillate between light and dark repeating itself in an endless cycle where nothing is permanent. The best moments are fleeting, but so are the bad."