Clouds

Clouds is Joni Mitchell's second studio album, released on May 1, 1969, on Reprise Records.

Where her debut, Song to a Seagull, was shaped by producer David Crosby, Clouds was self-produced, marking a significant step toward the artistic autonomy that would define Mitchell's later career. The album peaked at No. 31 on the US Billboard 200 and won Mitchell her first Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance in 1970.

Thematically, the album is a meditation on perception, romantic disillusionment, and the widening gap between youthful idealism and lived experience. The title itself signals the album's central preoccupation: clouds as a metaphor for phenomena that look one way from a distance and entirely another up close. Alongside its most celebrated track, "Both Sides Now," the album features "Chelsea Morning" and "The Gallery," all circling questions of beauty, loss, and the complexity of human relationships.

Critical reception at the time was mixed, with Robert Christgau noting Mitchell's voice lacked the production warmth of her debut. Retrospective assessments have been considerably warmer. AllMusic called it an "essential release" and "a stark stunner, a great leap forward," while Pitchfork described it as the introduction to "Mitchell's real deal, shaking folk tradition."

The record was made at A&M Studios in Hollywood, with Mitchell on acoustic guitar and keyboards and Stephen Stills guest on guitar. She produced every track except Tin Angel which was handled by Paul A. Rothchild^[1]. Two of its songs, "Both Sides, Now" and "Chelsea Morning," had already been recorded by other singers before she began work on it^[1].

Mitchell also painted the cover, a self-portrait set beside a red prairie lily, the provincial flower of Saskatchewan^[1]. The songs range across new love, the Vietnam War, the occult and mental illness, and the album was certified gold by the RIAA in 2001^[1].