You probably know Phoebe Bridgers as an icon for sad girls everywhere. With hit albums Stranger in the Alps and Punisher, Bridgers has solidified herself as a great indie rocker who captures Gen Z existentialism with her lyrics.
Phoebe Bridgers writes simple, yet poetic lyrics that candidly describe what she’s feeling. Bridgers starts her writing process with short fragments and sentences. As described to The Creative Independent, her lyrics usually start out like a sad tweet or some detail in her life that she writes down. Bridgers is a self-described slow, deliberate writer. Songs can take her six months to write, because Bridgers makes multiple drafts and constantly makes small improvements to her work. Bridgers denies that she is a talented poet, however, saying “I actually write literally exactly what’s happening in a way that sounds poetic.”
Phoebe Bridgers also relies heavily on collaboration with other musical artists. Bridgers says she loves co-writing and definitely has editors. Collaboration is part of her writing process and helps her create a more refined product. Bridgers also created her own music production company, Saddest Factory Records, to help support other up-and-coming indie artists. Bridgers’ goal is to amplify what other musicians are already creating. Saddest Factory Records is a way for Bridgers to mentor other creators in the field and help small indie artists grow their audiences. As Uzzi & Spiro argued, collaboration is optimal for originality and success. Phoebe Bridgers has written two successful, original albums, one of which was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammy Awards. Phoebe Bridgers is also propelling the artists signed to her record label to success.
Check out this interview from The Creative Independent for more on Phoebe Bridgers’ creative process: thecreativeindependent.com/people/matt-berninger -and-phoebe-bridgers-on-how-they-write-what-they-write/ And make sure to stream Phoebe Bridgers’ music!
Phoebe Bridgers' music got me through some of the saddest and happiest times of life – I find her music a deep connected to my world and how I live through it as a young adult. It was interesting to hear about her creative process, especially her collaboration. I love the idea of helping starting artist grow what they have already began to produce.
ReplyDeleteI also love Phoebe Bridgers' music! I love your reference to her collaborations; I've listened to her work with Conor Oberst in The Better Oblivion Community Center and it's been interesting to hear how her current style relates to her sound in that group. I didn't know that she considered herself to be an inexpert poet, but that could be an example of imposter syndrome.
ReplyDeleteHi Lindsey! I love that you chose to talk about Phoebe Bridgers who is one of my favorite artists. Collaboration is such an important aspect of songwriting, and I can totally see that influence in her collaborations of Boy Genius with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. I can only imagine that she will continue to have even more collaborations going forward as she gains more recognition that she deserves. Her recent feature on Taylor Swift's release of Red (Taylor's Version) was incredible, and I'd love to find out more about the creative process involved on that song.
ReplyDeleteI've started listening to Phoebe Bridgers a lot more recently and I love her music! It's interesting to see the creative process behind the art and I was especially surprised that it takes her six months to write and perfect her songs, it seems like a slow process but it definitely pays off. I also think it's great that she's using collaboration to help other indie artists, I can't wait to see what creative work they put out.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing! I love a lot of Phoebe Bridgers’ music, but I didn’t know anything about her creative process. It’s really interesting that she builds her lyrics around snippets the way you describe here, but it makes sense since each lyric seems so deliberate and poignant. I’ll definitely check out some of the other artists she supports with her production company!
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