Music Favourites: Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Lucille Bridgers, an American indie rock artist, released her debut album in 2017. Fairly new to the industry, the aspiring 26-year-old is a solo singer-songwriter, involved in the band Boygenius and makes up one half of the rock duo Better Oblivion Community Centre. Her own discography comprises numeral slow-paced songs, ranging from “Garden Song”, which Bridgers has said is based on a string of recurring nightmares she has had, to “Funeral”, where she sings about performing at a friend’s funeral. Having grown up with an abusive father, and then getting involved in a relationship which eventually turned sour, Bridgers is no stranger to drawing from personal experiences and heartbreak when it comes to composing her songs. Coupled with a mellow, almost breeze-like, voice and exquisitely beautiful lyrics, her songs are mostly imbued with a sense of serenity and calm as listeners are brought into an explicitly intimate world. Much like going on a road trip in the middle of the night or waking up at four in the morning, Bridger’s music, for me, seems to exist in the grey area between the peaceful quietness and downright gloom; yet, she does it all without leaving listeners out alone in the cold. A strong reason why I favour Bridger’s music over other singers’ is due to the lyrics of her songs, all sung in a melodic, smooth voice, and the many themes she manages to encompass. From death to heartbreak to the confusion of growing up, Bridgers is able to spin them into analytically and poetically crafted lyrics. She is, simply put, unafraid of devoting herself to her creations and exposing her opinions and emotions regarding a wide range of topics to the world. Because of this, each song is another new creation to take apart and ponder over, and listening to her songs is always a joy. One of my favourites, definitely, is one where Bridgers speaks about her lack of faith in an afterlife as she mourns the death of a loved one, “Chinese Satellite”. Wishing for supernatural beings out there, and instead only being greeted with the great mundane, Bridger’s ability to have crafted a song of hopelessness yet encapsulating the tenderness of human relationships and death is something that I marvel at; the built-up of the instrumentals throughout the song also serves to add on to the sentiment. Even if I have only discovered Phoebe Bridgers recently, I have quickly grown to love her songs and would definitely recommend her to anyone searching for new music. Chloe Tan 3 Truth