‘Anyway, don’t be a stranger’, Phoebe Bridgers’ Grand Return Hits Different As A Fan For Life
It was the day after Phoebe Bridgers announced a secret show via the ominous sightings of posters littered around the lamp posts and poster boards of Roswell, New Mexico, when I had heard this long-awaited news and instantaneously texted my friend Aoife, whom I’d seen Boygenius with in the summer of 2023 and sobbed and held in my arms during True Blue and Graceland Too.
I said, “Pick up if you can pls”, after a frazzled attempt of calling, to which she immediately phoned back panicking for my well-being, to which I, without the sound of “hello” or “how are you?”, uttered, “She’s back. Phoebe Bridgers is back”. My poor, sweet friend had stepped out of an art show, flustered and anxious, to hear this groundbreaking news on the receiving end of the call. Truthfully, she’s still a little mad about the cryptic text; however, I really can’t feel that bad because I honestly believe that reaction is justified completely. I mean, Phoebe Bridgers is back.
Sometimes, I feel like being a true fan of something is fated. For me, I wrote my first ever album review about Punisher at the age of 13, and then went on to meet my lifelong friends because of that album, through concert group chats and even the coincidence of my first year university flatmate being a mutual of mine from Phoebe Bridgers stan twitter years prior.
The best relationships and life lessons have been handed to me because of my dedication to being a fan of Phoebe Bridgers, and it’s no surprise to me that other people around my age have had very similar experiences. Love is dedication, and if there’s anything I can be dedicated to, it’s the wise words entailed within Stranger In The Alps and Punisher, not to mention her litany of additional projects.
Phoebe Bridgers in particular, being the reason I’ve connected with so many like-minded individuals, makes nothing but sense to me, because I believe that you have to be a certain type of person to connect with her level of comfortable melancholy that she projects in her work, oftentimes a water sign. Punisher, to me, sounds like the emptiness of being in lockdown, and the community built around that strong sense of longing for normality. This is why, I feel, a lot of people online have reacted to her comeback with videos stating not to try get tickets for her upcoming tour if you weren’t there during Covid, clinging to your oversized skeleton onesie whilst crying to Garden Song, it was a depressing yet comforting time that somehow you’d want to hold on to.
To see women online talking openly about their mental health struggles and relating it to the words of Phoebe’s music is undeniably powerful, reminiscent of the likes of fangirls in the 90’s, sharing their love for the indignant force of riot girl music within zines, the internet became a similar outlet for young girls to share why this music resonates so deeply.
I asked a few of my closest friends who love Phoebe’s music just as much as I do, why her music has stuck with them since the release of Punisher, and the response that stuck out the most to me was from Aoife, that very same girl who I harassed when I had discovered this mighty return. She said, “I think the level of emotion and vulnerability she conveys through her lyricism has stuck with me. Her music always seems to resonate in one way or another no matter what is going on in my life.” This answer perfectly segues into the response I received from another pal of mine, who said, in reference to Punisher in particular, “it reminds me of being a young teenager and the challenges that came with that, and while the lyrics are often heavy, they’re now weirdly comforting to me.”
There’s no arguing that live music is a vital part of being a fangirl, of course, there’s nothing that compares to the feeling of taking your place in the winding queue, eagerly anticipating what’s to come in the next couple of hours, and experiencing every single emotion with your favourite people by your side. When I went to see Phoebe play in Manchester in the summer of 2022, at the age of 15, I felt that there was a feeling of camaraderie in that crowd that I hadn’t really experienced before, a mutual understanding that we’re all here because there’s a real poetic nature in the music that’s being played that cuts deep as a 15-20 year old woman. The next time I felt such an energy was from the crowd at Lana Del Rey in Dublin. I’m not trying to romanticise the sorrow that is felt because of these tracks, but i’m simply appreciating that sadness is a part of human living, and to have artists that will make you feel heard and friends that understand this art as much as you do is a beautiful thing, and I haven’t seen the effects of this quite as much as I have within the fanbase for Phoebe Bridgers.
I do sincerely hope that whatever new music is going to come out, isn’t just as devastating as what we’ve heard in previous years. Some fans are predicting an intergalactic alien style vibe for the album because of the designs on the posters around the states she’s been playing intimate shows, which would make sense considering her lyrics in Punisher, including the mentions of “a government drone or an alien space ship” and honestly, I wouldn’t be mad at that. I believe, however, that whatever she releases will remind me of the spark of understanding and hope that her previous music has unleashed for me within my teenage years. To be completely transparent, me, my friends and anyone who’s ever hit play on I Know The End, cannot wait.
