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Phoebe Lucille Bridgers (born August 17, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter. Her indie folk music typically centers on acoustic guitar and Electronic music production, with melancholic lyrical themes. She has won four on eleven nominations.
Born in Pasadena, California, Bridgers has performed music since her youth and was a member of Sloppy Jane. She released her debut solo album Stranger in the Alps in 2017, followed by Punisher (2020), both of which received critical acclaim. She is also a member of the supergroup boygenius, with whom she released a self-titled EP in 2018, followed by their debut album and another EP in 2023. She was also a member of Better Oblivion Community Center with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, with whom she released one self-titled album as well as two singles.
A frequent collaborator, she has worked with various artists including Taylor Swift, the 1975's Matty Healy, The Killers, Muna, SZA, Kid Cudi, Christian Lee Hutson, Shame, and the National. Bridgers holds progressive political views, and has advocated and fundraised for various causes.
In January 2017, Bridgers released the single "Smoke Signals" and opened for Conor Oberst on his European tour. The two had met the previous summer at a secret showcase, organized by Oberst at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. He and his Bright Eyes bandmate, Mike Mogis, contributed vocals and production to Stranger in the Alps. Bridgers joined The Joy Formidable and Ryan Adams for select dates on their respective U.S. tours before playing at South by Southwest in March 2017. In June 2017, Bridgers signed to independent label Dead Oceans.
She released her debut studio album, Stranger in the Alps, in September 2017 to critical acclaim. The album was produced by Tony Berg, Ethan Gruska and Rob Moose, all of whom would become consistent collaborators with Bridgers. To promote the album, Bridgers performed on CBS This Morning and the NPR Tiny Desk. Numerous songs from the record were featured in television productions throughout 2018, including Switched at Birth, Castle, Burden of Truth, Lethal Weapon and Trinkets, among others.
Bridgers has been referred to as a "serial collaborator", and has either been featured on or co-released tracks with: Lord Huron, Fiona Apple, Matt Berninger and the National, Andrew Bird, Manchester Orchestra, the 1975, Maggie Rogers, Kid Cudi, Taylor Swift, and SZA, among others. In addition, she has participated in full-album projects with Conor Oberst, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus.
On December 5, 2018, Bridgers released a Spotify Singles session recorded at Spotify Studios NYC featuring a performance of "Scott Street" and a cover of the Cure's "Friday I'm in Love".
Bridgers and Conor Oberst announced the formation of their band, Better Oblivion Community Center, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in January 2019. They released their debut album later that month through Dead Oceans. The band appeared on CBS This Morning, and Bridgers appeared for the third time on NPR's Tiny Desk series. Bob Boilen, creator of the Tiny Desk Concerts, said of their album: "It's that rare musical partnership where each injects vibrancy into the other's creative side."
While awaiting the results of the 2020 United States presidential election on November 3, Bridgers tweeted that she would cover "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls if then-president Donald Trump lost. The cover, which was recorded as a duet with Maggie Rogers under the name Phoebe & Maggie, was released exclusively on Bridgers' Bandcamp page for one day only on November 13. The song received 28,000 downloads with proceeds going to Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight Action organization to promote fair elections both in the state of Georgia and nationwide. On November 10, Bridgers announced an EP of four reworked tracks from Punisher, entitled Copycat Killer, in collaboration with Rob Moose. Copycat Killer was released digitally on November 20, 2020. On November 23, she released a cover of Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December", with proceeds going to LA's Downtown Women's Center.
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. In December 2020, she released a music video for the song "Savior Complex", directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and starring Paul Mescal. That same month Bridgers also featured on Kid Cudi's track "Lovin Me", on his album (2020), and sang backing vocals on two songs by Charlie Hickey.
Bridgers was a musical guest on the eleventh episode of the 46th season of Saturday Night Live, playing "Kyoto" and "I Know the End" and closing the performance by smashing her guitar on a fake stage monitor. On March 9, 2021, Bridgers released a second Spotify Singles session featuring a cover of John Prine's "Summer's End" and a version of "Kyoto" featuring vocals from Jackson Browne. In August 2021 it was announced that Bridgers would appear on The Killers' album Pressure Machine on the track "Runaway Horses", released August 13. That same month, she released a cover of Metallica's 1991 song "Nothing Else Matters"; the song appeared on the cover album The Metallica Blacklist released the following month as one of 12 covers of the song. She also provided background vocals on five tracks from Lorde's third album, Solar Power, released on August 20.
On September 3, 2021, Bridgers embarked on the Reunion Tour, starting in St. Louis, Missouri. She featured on Muna's single "Silk Chiffon" released September 7 on Saddest Factory. She also featured on the song "Atlantis" from Noah Gundersen's album, A Pillar of Salt, released in October 2021. On October 13, Bridgers' version of Bo Burnham's "That Funny Feeling" opened at No. 2 on both the Rock & Alternative Digital Song Sales, and Alternative Digital Song Sales charts.
On November 12, 2021, Bridgers appeared on Taylor Swift's second re-recorded album Red (Taylor's Version) on the track "Nothing New". The song debuted and peaked at No. 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Bridgers' highest-peaking entry on the chart. On November 30, she released a cover of "Day After Tomorrow" by Tom Waits, continuing her tradition of releasing a cover for the holidays. Proceeds from the release were donated to an organization supporting refugees and human trafficking victims in California. On December 15, 2021, Bridgers appeared on true crime comedy podcast, My Favorite Murder, to discuss with the hosts her "hometown" crime story: the murder of 16-year-old Marissa Mathy-Zvaifler at the Sunshine Theater.
On April 15, 2022, Bridgers released "Sidelines", a song featured on Conversations with Friends, a Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney's novel of the same name. On July 8 of the same year she released a cover of the 1972 single "Goodbye to Love" by The Carpenters for the soundtrack, and on July 12 was announced to be featured on a song titled 'Stonecatcher' on Marcus Mumford's new solo album, Self-Titled. In August 2022, it was announced that Bridgers would be starring in I Saw the TV Glow, an A24 horror film directed by Jane Schoenbrun and produced by Emma Stone and Dave McCary. Bridgers performed as an opening act on multiple shows of the US leg of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour. On November 18, 2022, she covered the Handsome Family's song "So Much Wine" on her tradition of releasing a cover for the holidays, with proceeds from the single to benefit the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The song was provided with vocals from Andrew Bird, organist Ethan Gruska, guitarist Harrison Whitford and Bridgers' then-partner, actor Paul Mescal. On December 9, 2022, Bridgers appeared on the track "Ghost in the Machine" with SZA, on her second album SOS. The track would give her her first Grammy award, for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. In the same month, she performed at two of Danny Elfman's concerts of The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, taking the part of Sally.
Bridgers has cited Elliott Smith as one of her favorite artists and the 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, the Replacements, Blake Mills, Tom Waits, Avril Lavigne, the Beatles, Jackson Browne, Taylor Swift 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 all influential in the making of Punisher.
Both of Bridgers's albums contain Halloween-themed visual motifs, with the album covers of Stranger in the Alps and Punisher containing ghost and skeleton imagery respectively. She is known for wearing variations of a skeleton onesie, inspired by her reported love for "creepy and corny stuff". Her fans are often referred to as "Pharbs", a play on Nicki Minaj fans calling themselves "Barbs".
In 2020, Bridgers expressed support for and encouraged people to give donations to racial justice charities via her website and called for the abolition of police during Punisher release amid the George Floyd protests and 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 United States presidential election.
In October 2020, Bridgers performed as part of the virtual fundraiser festival "Village of Love" benefiting Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles and New York. At SXSW in 2022, Bridgers and Caleb Hearon criticized Greg Abbott's position on gender-affirming care for children and invited progressive politician Greg Casar to the stage. At a May 2022 concert in Florida, following the passage of Florida House Bill 1557, Bridgers repeatedly expressed disdain for Ron DeSantis.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, Bridgers shared a post from another account on Instagram which mourned the victims of colonialism during the monarch's reign.
While performing with Boygenius at Coachella in April 2023, the band spoke in support of trans rights following bills proposed in states like Florida and Missouri. Bridgers also added "And abortion rocks, and fuck Ron DeSantis."
Bridgers advocates for abortion legality. In an interview with Teen Vogue in 2022, she expressed disdain for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
After winning multiple awards at the 66th Grammy Awards, Bridgers called out Neil Portnow, ex-president of the Recording Academy, criticizing his remarks towards women musical artists and highlighting accusations he engaged in sexual violence. In closing her statement she said "to him, I'd like to say I know you're not dead yet, but when you are, rot in piss." Also at the 66th Grammy Awards, Bridgers' red carpet outfit, coordinated with the other members of Boygenius, featured Artists4Ceasefire pins calling for a ceasefire in the midst of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Bridgers is bisexual, which initially caused a rift between her and her mother, though they later reconciled and her mother became an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Bridgers was a Pescetarianism for many years, something her school peers would mock her about, but is now vegan.
Bridgers has spoken about her struggles with depression and anxiety, for which she has sought therapy. In May 2022, following the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, she revealed that she had an abortion in October 2021 and said that everyone should have the right to do so.
Better Oblivion Community Center
Boygenius
| + !Year !Association !Category !Nominated Work !Result !Ref | |||||
| 2018 | AIM Awards | Independent Album of the Year | Stranger in the Alps | ||
| Independent Track of the Year | "Motion Sickness" | ||||
| Independent Breakthrough of the Year | Herself | ||||
| Libera Awards | Best American Roots & Folk Album | Stranger in the Alps | |||
| 2019 | AIM Awards | Best Independent Album | Better Oblivion Community Center | ||
| 2020 | Libera Awards | Marketing Genius | |||
| 2021 | Grammy Awards | Best New Artist | Herself | ||
| Best Alternative Music Album | Punisher | ||||
| Best Rock Performance | "Kyoto" | ||||
| Best Rock Song | |||||
| UK Music Video Awards | Best Alternative Video – International | "I Know the End" | |||
| GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Breakthrough Artist | Punisher | |||
| Libera Awards | Record of the Year | ||||
| Best Alternative Rock Record | |||||
| Marketing Genius | |||||
| Video of the Year | "Savior Complex" | ||||
| Best Live/Livestream Act | Herself | ||||
| AIM Awards | Best Independent Album | Punisher | |||
| 2022 | Libera Awards | Best Sync Usage | "I Know the End" in Mare of Easttown episode 6 | ||
| 2023 | Libera Awards | Best Live/Livestream Act | Glastonbury 2022 | ||
| 2024 | Grammy Awards | Album of the Year | the record | ||
| Best Alternative Music Album | |||||
| Record of the Year | "Not Strong Enough" | ||||
| Best Rock Song | |||||
| Best Rock Performance | |||||
| Best Alternative Music Performance | "Cool About It" | ||||
| Best Pop Duo/Group Performance | "Ghost in the Machine" (with SZA) | ||||
| Brit Awards | International Group | boygenius |
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