Tom Dunne: Phoebe Bridgers is possibly the Artist of the Decade 

The incredible Bridgers has managed to become a huge star while still feeling 'under the radar'. She's also the new queen of Christmas 

Phoebe Bridgers is a true 21st-century artist. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Coachella)

Is Phoebe Bridgers the Artist of the Decade? Am I getting too carried away or is she the new artist for the steaming age? She’s had no real Billboard hits, but she’s huge. She has guested on more albums — the Killers, Taylor Swift, Lorde, the 1975 — than seems possible. She is under the radar, yet everywhere simultaneously. She is the modern music age made flesh.

I first particularly noticed her on the Better Oblivion Community Centre album with Conor Oberst in 2019. I just found myself marvelling once again at how she so effortlessly elevated everything she sang on. That was February. In April she contributed to the three best tracks on the 1975 album. But it was only starting.

The phrase, “featuring Phoebe Bridgers,” started to become laughingly ubiquitous. Her own 2nd album, Punisher, followed in June. It garnered four Grammy nominations — the only thing, as one person said, that made the Grammys cool — but then, just as momentum picked up, Covid hit.

For Bridgers, this turned out to be no bad thing. Prior to the pandemic she had been following the normal artist trajectory of building an audience via touring. But her lockdown performances would change all that.

Bridgers with her boyfriend, Irish actor Paul Mescal. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for LACMA)

There was a Verizon live concert performance — the classic Covid empty theatre job — and then live from her bathroom performances on Kimmel and James Cordon. But everything was leading to Saturday Night Live in February 2021.

There she decided, as many have before her, to trash her guitar at the end of the performance. Social media exploded. There was a decided “Who does this girl think she is?” undertone to it all, spearheaded by David Crosby.

Bridgers dismissed him with a curt, “Little bitch”. It was game, set and match in two words. Commentors described it as a cultural moment. It made Crosby look every one of his 79 years and more. Out of his depth and in someone else’s world.

The collaborations continued. A stunning version of ‘Nothing Else Matters’ with Metallica, production and vocals on Muna’s ‘Silk Chiffon’, a video with Phoebe Waller-Bridgers, backing vocals on Lorde’s album, vocals on Taylor Swifts album and a BBC session with Arlo Parks where they produced the best ever version of Radiohead’s ‘Fake Plastic Trees’.

The result of all this was that Bridgers went into the lockdown at the level of playing small clubs and emerged in a position where she could headline festivals.

I saw her at Glastonbury. She was one of those acts that people were planning the day by. With so many bands playing you had to plan meticulously. No one was going to miss Phoebe. The tent was thronged. The fans knew every word.

Currently going out with Kildare actor Paul Mescal, she is originally from LA. Her mum Jamie says she had an incredible verbal capacity from a very early age and was speaking in sentences by age one. Playing guitar by six she was in teen bands with the sons of Ben Harper, actor Tim Roth and Beck producer John King.

An appearance in an Apple commercial for the Apple 5S paid enough to allow her to concentrate on writing songs for her first album without needing to sign, as her mum said, “a shitty deal”.

It was at this point that she met Ryan Adams. That relationship became a contentious one but artistically it was a turning point. He advised her to always put out your favourite as fast as you can. That favourite was called ‘Killer’. It is signature Bridgers. The blueprint for future success there for everyone to hear.

The collaborations and the one off covers continue unabated. More recent ones have included tracks in The Minions soundtrack, a track on Marcus Mumford’s solo album and her latest in a series of Christmas EPs that are making her the new Queen of Christmas.

There are still only two full albums and neither of them were massive sellers, yet she is everywhere. She is a social media native and for her success to appear somehow ‘under the radar’ is a good indication that we need new metrics to measure success these days.

This applies equally to how we perceive an artist’s canon. We tend to define artists by their albums , but Bridgers had spread her talent amongst many different outlets. To do a great Phoebe playlist you need to include her work with Swift, Muna, Conor Oberst, Matt Berninger, the 1975, The Killers and so many more.

She shines on each of each of those, a voice unique and true.