The wildly prolific singer-songwriter on her devastating new albumPunisherand being the sad girl.
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Is this a ghost piano?Phoebe Bridgersasks, eyes and mouth gaping at a mahogany pianoforte.
The increasingly prolific singer-songwriter loves a good scare.
(Was there ever a normal?)
Bridgers was set to open for The 1975 on tour and embark on a run of solo shows.
Everything has changed since then.
Instead of arenas and clubs, a June tour took place in her bathroom and bed.
Bridgers has had to adapt like the rest of us.
Punisheris me still revisiting some of the shit I was traumatized by, she says.
The allure of Bridgers has come from the insecurities and intimate, coming-of-age snapshots she re-creates in her songwriting.
Bridgerss familiar, exhilarating harmonies about intense heartbreak resurface, butPunisherallows fans a deeper gaze into her psyche.
While roaming the citys haunted house, our conversation was raw, unfiltered, and tearful.
We never saw the Tredwells ghosts just revisited Bridgerss own.
I released Smoke Signals first on the first album, theres nothing single-y about it.
I feel like it represents the record a little bit more.
The more uptempo songs, those are outliers.
And Im just waiting for my thing that makes every day different.
And magic and aliens.
Ive been feeling in a similar funk, and Im waiting forSomething?
And then I went into therapy, and I didnt like my therapist.
I was like, This is going to be lame.
And I closed the door and burst into fucking tears.
Then a year later, I went to a better therapist.
I just sobbed for five days in a row, constantly.
Ive never had to put an animal down as an adult until now.
Its a weird thing.Its all you think about.
Its the first time Ive ever moved through life without him.
I dont know how to be an adult without him.
Maybe its a theme of starting therapy.
You have to deal with it anyway.
You often get lumped into this sad girl rock category with artists like Soccer Mommy and Julien Baker.
How would you identify your sound?Well, its definitely sad music.
But I think theres just a fine line between [that and] a sad girl, tongue face.
Sometimes people will come up to me and be like, Oh, my God.
Im so fucking depressed.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
And Im like, Are you okay?
The conversations I want to have are like, Can we all heal?
Its as if its a fashion statement and not literally a mental illness.
Its just we talk about it more explicitly.
I just want to make stuff thats true.
Its weird because I forget that people take it seriously now.
I used to play it live and be like, This song is about Ryan Adams.
And people thought it was funny.
I thought it was a funny thing to say.
[Its become a] thing in Japan where everybody wants the record signed.
Someone brought [me] the 7-inch that Ryan produced.
Its like,alright, funny.
And then I started signing it.
Hes kind of older, and hes pointing at it and he was like, We stand with you.
I literally was like, Oh my fucking God.
That relief offinallybeing taken seriously.I just had been dealing with it and talking about it with my friends.
I didnt have some crazy secret.
The weirdest thing was discovering the world that he created for other women.
It took me by surprise.
R. Kelly could very well work again and Dr. Lukes still producing music under a pseudonym.
How do you feel about it now on a macro level?
Not even just being someone whos spoken out, just keeping track of shit.
Like who can I talk to?
Everybody has to fucking look out for each other.
Its like, lets save the next person who hasnt been warned.
Do you dread Ryansinevitable comeback?I dont, I dont at all.
Its just like being with a group of people who participated in that … whatever dude.
There is a part of me that feels bad for him.
A part of me that is separate from myself, thats empathetic at all.
I dont fear it at all.
If it happens Ill be surrounded by people I love and people who are like, This sucks.
As your fan base has grown, so has your inner circle.
How has your relationship with yourself and others evolved?
Fameisbizarre.This is not all my friends.
I love my fucking friends, and theyre so supportive for the most part.
But every once in a while someone gets in romantically or friendship-wise where Im like,What?!
How have you been personally affected?Well, no tour, which is fucking depressing.
Other than that kind of nothing.
Im doing the same interviews and stuff just from my house.
But it is depressing.
I miss my life so much.
Then we became like internet homies, and now hes my internet crush.
[Normal People] definitely destroyed me, but it has been nice.
Its hard to even function like a normal human being, basically.
Im trying to take it every day at a time.
Your music is so cathartic for so many people.
Have you thought about the timeliness of the record?
I think everybody is living through the worst time in their lives, individually and collectively.
But I am glad I have something to focus on.
Even Bright Eyes new stuff has been more prescient and more relevant.
Everything is becoming more relevant right now, and my music definitely isnt exempt from that.
Its happening to all of us.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
