“I take music very seriously,” Phoebe Bridgers warns me as we lock eyes for the first time over Zoom. You’d learn as much from listening to Punisher, her new, achingly specific, lullaby-sweet album. But her intense approach also manifests in lower-key settings, like this—a playlist she assembled for GQ, a living time capsule of her past six months at home, pulling together some of the many influences for her sophomore album.
The 25-year-old has spent quarantine in Los Angeles, performing “on tour” via livestream from different rooms in her apartment. Bridgers is also using the moment to turn inward, listen, tweet, and crush on music all over again. She’d cry, but she doesn’t really do that much. (“I actually have a hard time crying. I work through it in therapy”). Making a playlist doubled as a way to process the various crises occurring out in the world. “Nobody knows how the world is going to work out. America is being really embarrassing. I’m going to hide forever.” she says. The songs vary; the only constant is the words. “I just give a shit about lyrics,” she says.
She’s firm on one point: the best place to listen to this collection of songs—to any collection of songs, really—is in the car. “My favorite thing to do is to drive on the freeway with the heater on and the windows down,” she says. “I just drive far. No destination, really. I love a road trip, even by myself. You're safe in your car.”
“Short And Sweet” by Brittany Howard
Phoebe Bridgers: I saw Alabama Shakes live in high school. The live show was really something. Sometimes seeing music that good makes me competitive, especially because a show like that is so beyond something I’ll ever be able to do. This solo record is beyond what I thought was even possible. “Short and Sweet” is the saddest song on that record. I’m a sucker for it. It's like watching a full movie.
[Brittany Howard and I] have a bunch of mutual friends, but I have a weird fear with people I love this much. I don't make an effort to meet people when I am obsessed with them. I ran away from Patti Smith recently. It's social anxiety.
“My Body” by Claud and Del Water Gap
I love that this song is somehow funny and sad. It reminds of “Helpless” by Neil Young, because it is just three chords the whole time.
The lyrics: "You only want me for my body.” Imagine saying that to somebody! I would literally never say that to anybody. That’s what is so beautiful about it.
“How Simple” by Hop Along
This song was on our playlist on tour, so I could sing every word of it. This whole record is amazing. Francis' voice is insane; I love how it is so punk rock and sweet. And then there of course are the words, like, “Don't worry we'll both find out, just not together." Basically, that means, we'll be alright but we're not going to date. I mean, fuck.
“Black Boys on Mopeds” by Sinéad O’Connor
This song is a motherfucker of a song. I could stare at the ceiling and listen to this song all day. My favorite way to listen to a playlist is with headphones on in your bed looking at the ceiling. No social media. I feel way too addicted to social media because I'll start to feel something for a second then I'm like, “Wow, I have to distract myself.” I've been forcing myself in quarantine to just ... like a teenager, stare at the ceiling and listen to a playlist. Like this one.
I was in the car with Conor [Oberst] the first time I heard this song. At the time, we were just getting to know each other so I pretended to have heard the song already. I was trying to be cool, you know, but this song just destroyed me. I made my mom listen to it with me this year, and she cried, too.
“On The Floor” by Perfume Genius
When this song came out, I listened to it all day. It reminds me of making my record in the studio. I’m in the chorus. There is definitely a meme of this, that’s like, “Oh, you felt something when you listened to that song? How about you listen to it 400,000 more times so you never feel anything again?" It can feel like that when you record. You can get to a point where you’re not even listening anymore. I still love this song, though.
“Places/Plans” by Skullcrusher
My drummer sent this to me. He’s sorta all over the place with what he sends me. Some of it is amazing and some is really random. This song though, I've put on playlists for every platonic crush I’ve ever had. I think that’s because it’s such a hot song. It sets a mood. It has the tone of a lot of instrumental music that I love, but with words.
“Oxbow” by Waxahatchee
This song is straight up poetry. I love this whole record, and I think she has the coolest voice on earth. I saw Waxahatchee at Coachella. I love Coachella so much. I love that I can see, like, 300 of my favorite bands at once. When they performed, I made sure to get all the way to the front. She had cool green hair at the time. This record was released right at the beginning of quarantine.
I'm a sucker for an outro. The lyrics—Depressing by design / A speck in the oxbow / depressing by design / if I go along with it, am I lying to you?’ It's like, what? I can’t even find words.
“Haile Selassie” by Bright Eyes
I think that this record is a lyrical masterpiece. I put Bright Eyes on almost every playlist. When Conor [Oberst] and I first met, I was so excited to show him the music and make him playlists. Then I kept getting to the end and feeling this absence. Then I realized, Bright Eyes was missing. I can’t put Bright Eyes on a playlist for Conor.
There are no repeated phrases. It is end-of-the-world poetry under a bed of insane instrumentation. I love self-referential lyrics, or lyrics that reference themselves in their performance. This whole album has become one of my favorite Bright Eyes records for sure.
“Everything Flows” by Teenage Fanclub
It’s so crazy this song has not been on streaming until literally a couple months ago. I don't even know why. I’ve been listening to this song on YouTube my whole life. They’re the most accessible pop music to me. It's like The Beatles.
I'm such a streaming bitch. I'm liking Noname, Elliot Smith, beabadoobee, Dear Nora, Daniel Johnston, Mary Lattimore. The new Blake Mills record is incredible. The internet is how I find out about a lot of music. Sometimes it'll literally be like, someone has a funny Twitter and then I look up their music.
“Moon River” by Louis Armstrong
This song has been my favorite since I was a kid. They did this day last year at Huntington Gardens last year, and I went on my birthday. It made me nostalgic. I love Louis Armstrong. “Moon River” has the prettiest melody. It’s magic to me.
I'm constantly inspired by my surroundings. My favorite feeling in the world is when that stuff comes together. I sit down and I don't even really realize I'm writing. I'm just reading notes on my phone, looking at my journal, and accidentally writing a song. I write slowly in very small pieces. My songs have a lot of different drafts. Only in the last literal minutes of writing something, or the first time I show it to someone, do I really feel exhilarated by it all. It's this weird meditative state where I don't even know I'm really doing it. I black out. Music is such a cool tool. It helps me process things.
