Here, the iconic indie rocker poses in her famous skeleton suit, bathed in a red glow at nighttime, promoting her second studio album, "Punisher", released on June 18, 2020 by Dead Oceans. The American singer-songwriter first established herself with her 2017 debut, Stranger in the Alps, a widely acclaimed indie rock effort. Bridgers has since claimed three different Grammy nominations, all of which were thanks to her haunting sophomore LP.
Who is she?
Phoebe Bridgers is a Grammy shoo-in for the 2021 awards, and there are plenty of reasons for that. The singer is a critical darling who earned mainstream name recognition following her hit album Punisher and super-memorable (and meme-able) performances on Saturday Night Live in 2021. She was candid with The New York Times about her feelings about her recent success. "People who want to make that some tagline for life—'Success doesn’t affect your happiness' and 'Money isn’t everything'—I think those people were probably raised with money," she said. "My first three tours, I was in a Prius that I bought when I was 18, going to Taco Bell every day and feeling kind of [expletive]. Now I get to have a latte whenever I want and make art that people will actually listen to. You know, it’s worked out."
OK, but why is Phoebe Bridgers so popular and beloved by all? Let us count the ways! (Spoiler alert: It's because she's awesome.) Don't be surprised if the answers convince you she'll win Best New Artist at the Grammys.
To start, she's remarkably talented
Bridgers is a singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. Before achieving success as a solo artist, she was in a series of bands while still in school; her band Sloppy Jane got their cover of The Pixies' "Gigantic" into an Apple ad that enabled her financially to keep pursuing her dream.
“My rent was paid, and I would go to the studio every day like it was my job until it was my job,” she told Rolling Stone. “There’s no advice you could give anybody to have that same experience. I was so lucky.”
The 26-year-old got her big break when she performed at the South by Southwest Festival in March 2017. By that June, she had a record deal, and in September released her debut full-length album, Stranger in the Alps. The album was critically-acclaimed, earning a perfect 100 score from The AV Club, which gushed, "Stranger In The Alps alchemizes sorrow into redemptive beauty. It’s never about wallowing, but about slowly moving through it. That difference, played out over some incredible, wise-beyond-her-years songwriting, makes it one of the best albums of the year." The album received almost universally high praise from other major music publications.
Bridgers' followup, Punisher, however, is what made her a household name. The album, released in June 2020, was even more acclaimed than her debut.
She plays well with others
In 2018, Bridgers teamed up with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker to form boygenius, releasing an eponymous EP on Matador Records. Like Bridgers' solo debut, Boygenius was celebrated by music critics, with Pitchfork (full of notoriously tough critics!) calling it "magic." Boygenius isn't her only successful collaboration: In January 2019, she an Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst announced they'd formed Better Oblivion Community Center and released their self-titled debut album that month.
She's also collaborated with The 1975, Hayley Williams, Maggie Rogers, Matt Beringer of The National and Fiona Apple, to name a few.
She wields her vulnerability as her not-so-secret weapon
While promoting Punisher, Bridgers explained to NME that vulnerability doesn't mean weakness. In fact, quite the opposite: “I think I did an OK job of being enough of a fully-formed human being in my art to show my personality and just to be myself–instead of having to fit a weird mold. I think I can do whatever I want for my next record. It’s vulnerable, but it’s nice that I don’t have to fake it," she said. “People are realizing that vulnerability isn’t a weakness, and the rise of mental health-related humor is making vulnerability feel like a strength.”
Bridgers is open about her mental health struggles, describing herself as "the anxious-avoidant attachment type." "I’ll talk to my therapist or my mom about how upset I am about something somebody did, and the logical conclusion is, 'Well, you should tell that person,'" she told The New York Times. "Then I’d have to resolve it, when what I want is to exile them from my life. But it’s common to not have black-and-white feelings about your family, and it’s nice to talk to people who’ve had similar experiences. It makes me feel less alone, and I get more of those experiences from sharing my own. But I don’t like when my family hears it."
Oh, and Bridgers smashed a guitar on SNL
We need no introduction for this moment from February 2021, which sent Twitter into a tizzy.
Thanks for reading! Til next week~