How Phoebe Bridgers became the queen of the featured credit
Before 2020, Phoebe Bridgers had only been a featured guest on a grand total of five songs: two were from folk singer-songwriter Zander Hawley with ‘Daylight’ and ‘Until We Both Get Bored’; one was with Storefront Church and ‘Shame’; another was for Lord Huron song ‘The Night We Met’; the final was with The National frontman Matt Berninger for the non-album single ‘Walking on a String’.
It shouldn’t be any surprise why Bridgers wasn’t more active as a guest singer: she was busy establishing her own career. Her debut LP, Stranger in the Alps, came out in 2017, followed by her sophomore album, Punisher, in 2020. In the time between, Bridgers formed the supergroup Boygenius with fellow indie rockers Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, releasing their debut EP in 2018. She also found time to form Better Oblivion Community Center with Bright Eyes leader Conor Oberst. But since 2020, Bridgers found a new favourite activity: being featured on the singles of other artists.
In just over three years, Bridgers has been a featured guest on no less than 15 songs by other artists. From famous friends like Taylor Swift and SZA to indie rock peers like Muna and Andrew Bird, Bridgers has spread herself around to anybody and everybody who is interested in getting a guest vocal on their track. Apart from her work with Boygenius, Bridgers has mostly put her solo career on hold at the same time, preferring to release the occasional cover song while appearing on a wide spread of other singles.
2020 saw Bridgers guest on a song by Ethan Gruska, ‘Enough for Now’, plus a pair-up with Bright Eyes on ‘Miracle of Life’. Bridgers would later sing on four of the six songs that appeared on the re-recorded version of Fevers and Mirrors in 2022. She also found time that year to appear on ‘Lovin’ Me’ from Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon III: The Chosen.
Instead of slowing down her featured credits while touring behind Punisher, Bridgers actually increased her work. 2021 saw the singer-songwriter guest on five different songs from five different artists: she played on Taylor Swift’s ‘Nothing New’ from Red (Taylor’s Version), Luminous Kid’s ‘Mountain Crystals’, The Killers’ ‘Runaway Horses’, Muna’s ‘Silk Chiffon’, and Noah Gunderson’s ‘Atlantis’. Although she wasn’t an official featured artist, Bridgers also contributed to songs by Lorde, Boygenius bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien, and even Paul McCartney.
2022, meanwhile, was relatively quieter, with Bridgers appearing on SZA’s ‘Ghost in the Machine’ and Andrew Bird’s ‘I Felt a Funeral, In My Brain’. But Bridgers ramped things back up in 2023, with the singer so far appearing on two tracks from The National’s most recent album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, Arlo Park’s ‘Pegasus’, and Rob Moose’s ‘Wasted’. She also dropped The Record, her first full-length album with Boygenius.
For some fans, Bridgers’ increased guest appearances have become frustrating, especially when they’re viewed at the expense of her own solo material. Since the release of Punisher, Bridgers has only released a single original solo song, ‘Sidelines’, which was written for the Hulu series Conversations with Friends. Her work with Boygenius certainly constitutes original material, especially on songs like ‘Me & My Dog’ and ‘Emily I’m Sorry’ where she takes the lead. But Bridgers had been far more interested in being a featured singer these days, earning her an unmatched position as the queen of the featured credit.
Check out a playlist of Phoebe Bridgers’ featured songs down below.
