Phoebe Bridgers is an American singer and songwriter. Her sophomore album “Punisher” recieved critical acclaim.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about her life and career thus far.
- Her full name is Phoebe Lucille Bridgers
- She was born August 17, 1994
- She is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
- Bridgers is from Los Angeles, California
- Best known for her work as a solo artist
- She is also known for being part of the musical groups boygenius (with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus) and Better Oblivion Community Center (with Conor Oberst)
- Bridgers made her solo debut with the studio album Stranger in the Alps (2017)
- This album was followed by Punisher (2020)
- Punisher earned Bridgers widespread critical acclaim and four Grammy Award nominations, including Best New Artist
- Phoebe Lucille Bridgers was born on August 17, 1994 in Pasadena, California, where she was raised
- As a child, Bridgers made extra money by busking at the Pasadena Farmers Market
- Bridgers is a graduate of the Sequoyah School in Pasadena and Los Angeles County High School for the Arts
- She spent some of her childhood in Ukiah, California
- Early in her career, Bridgers played guitar and sang lead vocals in Einstein’s Dirty Secret and played bass in Sloppy Jane
- Bridgers’ career came to light when she met American singer-songwriter Ryan Adams through mutual collaborator Harrison Whitford
- Adams produced her major label debut 7″, Killer, and released it on his record label, PAX AM in 2014
- During this time the two began a romantic relationship
- In early 2016, Bridgers supported Julien Baker on her 2016 East Coast tour
- In June 2017, Bridgers signed to Dead Oceans
- On September 22, 2017, she released her debut album, Stranger in the Alps, to generally positive reviews
- The album was produced by Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska
- On March 12, 2018, the social networking site Pebbal named Stranger in the Alps the best album of 2017
- On March 3, 2018, Bridgers appeared on CBS This Morning: Saturday and sang “Motion Sickness” and “Scott Street”
- Bridgers’s song “Safe at Home” was featured on season 3, episode 5 of the ABC Family show Switched at Birth
- Season 3, episode 17, of the same show featured her song “Ask Me To/Steamroller”
- Her song “Georgia” was featured on season 8, episode 2 of the ABC show Castle
- The track “Smoke Signals” appeared on season 1, episode 7 of Burden of Truth
- Her song “Funeral” was featured near the end of season 3, episode 2 of the FOX show Lethal Weapon
- Her song “Motion Sickness” was featured on the Netflix television series Trinkets and on season one, episode 3 of 9-1-1: Lone Star
- In May 2018 Bridgers was featured on a remake of the Lord Huron song “The Night We Met” for the soundtrack to season 2 of the Netflix television series 13 Reasons Why
- In 2019, Bridgers teamed up with The National’s Matt Berninger to record a track for Between Two Ferns: The Movie called “Walking on a String”
- She also appeared in the film
- The song was released on October 17, 2019
- In 2018 Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus formed the group Boygenius
- They released three songs in August 2018 and subsequently announced an EP and a tour
- The EP, boygenius, was released on October 26, 2018
- Bridgers and Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes revealed their new band Better Oblivion Community Center on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
- They released their eponymous debut album in January 2019 (released through Dead Oceans)
- On January 26, 2019, they were interviewed on CBS This Morning Saturday and performed “Dylan Thomas” and “Didn’t Know What I Was in For”
- The show ended while they performed “My City”
- On February 26, Bridgers released the song “Garden Song” alongside its music video
- On April 3, The 1975 released their single “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America” from their album, Notes on a Conditional Form on which Bridgers featured
- She also features on three more songs from the same album
- On April 9, Bridgers released the song “Kyoto”
- She announced via an Instagram post that her second album, titled Punisher, would be released on June 19, 2020
- The album was released a day early on June 18, 2020
- The album received widely positive reviews
- It made its debut at number 6 on the UK album charts week ending July 2, 2020
- Bridgers garnered four nominations at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards for Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Alternative Music Album
- Bridger’s music has been categorized as indie rock, indie folk and emo folk
- It often centers around acoustic guitar and incorporates atmospheric strings, production and electronic instrumentation
- Her music has been described as “anxious”, “melancholy” and “haunting”
- Lyrical themes include death, trauma, therapy, depression and strained relationships, “undercut by her dry wit” and “straightforward delivery”
- Several of Bridgers’ songs are about personal issues, such as “Kyoto”, which was inspired by her strained relationship with her father, and “Motion Sickness” and “ICU” which are about previous breakups
- Her complex storytelling and use of evocative imagery has also been commended, such as in “Garden Song”
- Bridgers has cited Elliott Smith as one of her favorite artists and her biggest influence on her songwriting and production style
- Her song “Punisher” explores her meeting Smith if he were still alive
- Other musical influences include bluegrass music, Bright Eyes, Blake Mills, Tom Waits and Nine Inch Nails
- Her music often features a wide variety of popular culture references, the writing of author Joan Didion, ASMR videos, television series Fleabag and true crime podcast My Favorite Murder were influences on Punisher
- Bridgers is bisexual
- Bridgers dated Ryan Adams beginning in 2014, before eventually breaking up
- Her song “Motion Sickness” is about the end of their relationship
- Along with several other women, Bridgers accused Adams of sexual misconduct in a 2019 report by The New York Times
- Bridgers was in a relationship with touring drummer and musical collaborator Marshall Vore until around 2017
- Her song “ICU” is about the end of their relationship
- They remain friends and collaborators
- She has spoken about her struggles with major depressive disorder and anxiety, for which she has sought therapy
- Bridgers is very active on Twitter and has been noted for her humor on the site
- Bridgers is politically active
- Bridgers, Fiona Apple and Matt Berninger released a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s 1966 song “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night”
- The cover was updated to reflect events in 2019, including the shooting of Botham Jean, the opioid epidemic in the United States and the testimony of Mick Mulvaney in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial
- Bridgers released this song with a statement, “Happy Holidays to everyone whose family has been literally or figuratively torn apart by Donald Trump. And to my racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, hypocritical family members, fuck you”
- In 2020, she expressed support for and encouraged donations to racial justice charities via her website and called for the abolition of police during Punisher’s release amid the George Floyd protests
- Bridgers released her and Maggie Rogers’ cover of “Iris” as a single specifically to raise money for Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight Action
- Having vowed to release the cover if Trump lost the 2020 presidential election
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