Singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers is a modern-day indie-folk master of the melancholy, and these four songs are some of her most heartwrenching works. This list is not exhaustive, either. Bridgers has written dozens of songs that can really get under one’s skin. Let’s grab some tissues and get existential!
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1. “Moon Song”
Phoebe Bridgers once famously said that “Moon Song” was about the “wanting-to-be-stepped-on feeling” that is all too familiar among people-pleasers. In this beautiful track, Bridgers croons about wanting to do anything for the one she loves, including giving them the moon.
It’s a tragic back-and-forth that borders on abuse and shines a light on how loving someone so deeply that they can treat you as terribly as they want isn’t exactly healthy.
2. “Savior Complex”
“Savior Complex” is one of Bridgers’ most famous songs, and it certainly makes sense why. This cinematic, powerful, soft, and heart-wrenching song is simple in its instrumentation. Bridgers gets the musical point across with just her voice, a clarinet, some strings, and a guitar.
Throughout “Savior Complex”, Bridgers explores the complex nature of wanting to help others so that one can ignore their own major personal issues. It’s a warm piece of work but nonetheless drenched in melancholy. Bridgers said that she wrote this song in a dream.
3. “Motion Sickness”
Phoebe Bridgers’ songs have been tugging at heartstrings since her debut, and that much is obvious with her early-career track “Motion Sickness”. This song is a popular one with unique instrumentation and biting, painful lines. “I hate you for what you did / And I miss you like a little kid” is like a slap in the face.
4. “Garden Song”
“Garden Song”, like many of the tracks on Punisher, explores a few dreams and nightmares that Bridgers experienced while touring. This one is awfully relatable. In “Garden Song”, Bridgers sings about her childhood trauma, bouncing between a fire that claimed her childhood house and the tumultuous end of her parents’ marriage. This is a unique one musically; the folky inspirations can be heard with turned-down instrumentation and a stronger focus on Bridgers’ very underrated vocals.
“Everything’s growing in our garden / You don’t have to know that it’s haunted.” Pure poetry.
Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images
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