Phoebe Bridgers
Because I write what I feel the most heavy about. So if there is one day of the week when I feel completely crushed by existential dread, I'll end up writing about it, not the great day I had at the park with my friends. I hope it resonates with people - and it does, with some.Collection: Hope
But me writing sad songs doesn't mean I am a sad person.Collection: Sad
For every single person who's struggled with depression, there's this weird part of your brain that tells you you're the only person who's ever felt like that, even if you know for a fact it's not true.
We're all guilty of slacktivism, or of feeling like a savior for taking two seconds of your day to think about someone else.
People are realising that vulnerability isn't a weakness, and the rise of mental health-related humour is making vulnerability feel like a strength.
I was actually with Conor Oberst on tour, and we were walking down the street getting a coffee. I walked into a random hipster-y coffee shop and I heard my own song, and I was so stoked.
You look at Taylor Swift, and every 'i' is dotted, every story is finished.
Sadness can feel so unproductive.
I love going on walks and talking to people.
Doing stuff on my own terms and making a record without being signed to a label - I credit that all to my commercial work.
I think the main thing which boygenius and I talk about ad nauseum, is that I feel like I just apologise for myself less.
I wanted to talk about how stupid music is. I wanted to talk about how awesome music is, and how depressing it is, and why we all make music if it doesn't last forever.
When I first picked up an instrument, nothing really happened. I played piano when I was a little kid. I hated it so much, I actually don't play piano now.
I've never really been afraid of how people were going to define me, as long as I didn't write some cheaper song because people like that I'm depressed.
I don't remember making a decision about music. I just always knew it was what I was going to do.
I love Sylvan Esso. I want to bring in more electronic elements, but also some analogue stuff. Stuff like '70s drum machines really fascinates me.
I don't get starstruck by musicians anymore, but podcasts? I'm a total podcast groupie.
I love women in suits.
Sometimes I just need somebody to tell me a bunch of ideas I don't like, so that I can figure out what it is I actually want.
My songwriting is very personal. The music that influenced me was so impactful that had I grown up somewhere else, I know I would still write the same way I do because of those influences.
Often people have to wake me up from a nap to tell me to go on stage.
I think it's easier for me to write from experience.
Once in a blue moon I'll have some sort of concept song or it will be about a bunch of different things, but yeah, it's all from experiences.
I played at Room 5 a lot, which is probably the smallest capacity venue in Los Angeles. I begged my friends to come see me.
Boygenius' was the first time I produced without a producer-producer in the room. It's been crazy.
I love a good chorus, you know? I consider a lot of what I love pop. I consider Mitski pop.
I do the least 'working on myself' in our band.
A lot of my close friends are musicians and are consumed by the idea of death; their heads are like a torture chamber. I'm not like that - I don't have death anxiety and I don't think about it all the time.
Sometimes I'm so exhausted and I don't really want to play.
I feel like in pop music and even indie music, there's this weird thing where women have been pitted against each other.
I think the longform email is exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.
None of my family are musicians, but there was a lot of classic rock and country going on. I always wanted to sing. As soon as I expressed an interest my mom was super supportive of me.
My form of rebellion was starting to play guitar. I was 13. The first song I played was 'Lovesick Blues' by Hank Williams.
The Replacements don't sound like The Replacements half the time!
I'm not afraid to have a really weird idea or, you know, take a really bad guitar solo.
I was planning to go into the studio in the summer of 2018, and then I started two bands!
Twitter is an extension of every dumb thought I have, firing it off - Instagram is a little more methodical.
Joshua Kirk, the YouTube kid with the glasses who looks directly into the camera - I really love his album reviews. He's been doing it for years.
I feel like 'Pitchfork' has a style, and you always know what they're gonna say and what they're gonna pick apart.
I actually have a kind of fantasy about doing a covers album in general. My music taste is so eclectic, that I think it would be cool to put it through the funnel of my arrangements.
'Friday I'm in Love' sounds like the best possible summer song.
There are only couple songs that you can just hear and it'll put you in a great mood.
People still kind of think of me as like a folk artist, but on the first record, I truly was deferring to other people to produce me.
Whenever I write songs, it's my outlet for a certain feeling. I just don't as often feel compelled to write when I'm not really sad about something, or wanting to sort through something dark.
If you're saying you're epically depressed in a song, you better be able to back it up. You better be able to talk about it in a smart way with someone who comes up to you after a show and is looking for help.
I did a CBS thing when I was a teenager that was a 'Music Minute' or something.
I can't really remember my first headline show.
I have this thing in the back of my brain that dares me to think of the most disturbing thing.
When I'm writing, I try to think about what would make a song better before worrying about personal opinions.
All the things people hate about touring, I'm excited for, because I've never done it before. I'm excited to see places I've never seen and be in the van and see if I get carsick while reading.