Phoebe Bridgers is a singer-songwriter from California. Funny enough, I found out at her concert that her grandparents and my grandparents live in the same town. She makes the type of music that’s so depressing that you deeply consider sitting in a dark room, and might even do so. Her way of writing absolutely heartbreaking lyrics and combining them with sad piano and
guitar makes for such a powerful form of storytelling. One of my favorite songs, You Missed My Heart outlines the story of a killer who comes to murder their ex-lover and their new lover. The singer talks about all of the things that they miss about the person, but they’re all generally superficial things to which she responds “You missed my heart”. Later when the singer is arrested and sent to prison, they relay the same message. It’s a haunting tale of love and betrayal, but something you really have to pay attention to in the lyrics in order to understand fully.
Most of Bridger’s lyrics are deeply personal in that kind of way. Even when they tell other people’s stories the emotion in them is so convincing that you can’t help but feel for them. I saw her in concert at a music festival, and she actually performed after The Marias, which I talked about in a previous post. Since I camped out at that stage for so long, I had prime viewing of an absolute music legend. I think that that particular performance might have been the most emotional performance I’ve ever witnessed. Phoebe is constantly cracking jokes and making light of serious situations, like rocky parental relationships and things of that caliber. That usually puts the crowd somewhat at ease before she goes in for an absolute kill shot, like singing the saddest song literally ever invented.
I have listened to Funeral maybe a couple hundred times. The first forty or so times I was a train wreck and bawled my eyes out. Now I can finally listen to it without crying, but just barely. The song outlines a childhood friend who died, and how she has to sing at their funeral. It tackles grief and loss as well as coping with those who are still alive. I think this is a fantastic song, and I highly recommend it to anyone who feels stable enough to listen to it. My sad playlist is almost entirely Phoebe and it is my strong recommendation that yours should be too.