Phoebe Bridgers Returns with Lost Weekend Solo Album
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Phoebe Bridgers releases her first solo album in six years, "Lost Weekend," following 2020's "Punisher," which reached the UK Top 10 and sold 500,000 copies in the US
- Boygenius — Bridgers' trio with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker — won three Grammys for debut album "The Record" during her hiatus; she also won a 2024 Grammy for her SZA collaboration "Ghost in the Machine"
- The title track confirms Bridgers called off her engagement to actor Paul Mescal ("I'm supposed to be married but I called it off"); the album is dedicated "For Dad" following her estranged father's death
- "The Governor's Waltz" includes a lyric that reads as a swipe at Mescal's current partner Gracie Abrams: "she can pretend to be me / Since she took my place in my bed, on that stage"
- The album's sound design — featuring Jack Antonoff, Conor Oberst, Alex G, Jon Brion and Bridgers' Boygenius bandmates — buries acoustic guitars and mandolins under droning electronics, feedback and eerie wordless vocals
- "Still Standing" depicts the disquieting sensation of being unable to feel expected grief at a parent's death, ending with "I am my old man's oldest son"
Why it matters: Bridgers returns to solo work with a heavier commercial profile than when she left: a three-Grammy Boygenius debut, an SZA collaboration win, and features for Taylor Swift, Lorde and Paul McCartney. The album's reception will set terms for how a major alt-pop voice processes grief and a high-profile breakup as raw creative material rather than tabloid residue.
Ask SkimNews
