The song Phoebe Bridgers called “unreal, absurdly great”
When looking at the music of Phoebe Bridgers, there’s no natural way to classify her into any specific genre. While the idea of indie music or even folk music suits a handful of her songs, she has never been afraid to add other elements into the mix that are way out of left field than the traditional genre labels. For all of the labels that people may want to put on her music, Bridgers has always gravitated towards the kind of music that hits a raw nerve.
From her work in her solo career to her songs contributed to Boygenius, every one of Bridgers’s creations has a certain emotional quality to them. Unlike artists who use their songs as diaries for their pain, Bridgers uses her material to interpret that pain, trying to find a solution to her sorrow or expressing her joy for her life’s loves.
While there is a clear emphasis on the melody in many of Bridgers’ songs, she is just as concerned with the poetry behind her singing. Across every song on Punisher, the lyrics are enough to rip the heart out of one’s chest, especially towards the end of the song ‘I Know the End’, which leaves the album on a morbidly profound note.
Although Bridgers has had various lessons from the songwriters that came before her, like Bright Eyes and Bruce Springsteen, she also developed a deep love of performance. When talking about the greatest songs she had ever heard, Bridgers would ultimately single out Nina Simone’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’ as one of the finest covers ever.
When speaking to Line of Best Fit, Bridgers talked about how perfect the song was from a pure performance standpoint, saying, “I love this so much because it has two of my favourite things of all time on it, Leonard Cohen’s lyrics and Nina Simone’s voice and interpretation. It’s the most unreal, absurdly great song”.
While the original Cohen version of the song is sung in subdued fashion with Cohen’s signature baritone voice booming throughout the track, Simone’s version elevates the song to a level no one thought was possible. Taking a more passionate approach to the vocal performance, it’s easy to hear the rest of Simone’s band reacting to every syllable that falls out of her mouth, making the song feel like a living entity as the group continues to follow her various improvisations before crashing in at just the right time.
Despite hearing the Cohen version first, Bridgers would say that she thinks that Simone improved the final version of the track, explaining, “I heard Leonard Cohen’s version first and then not too long ago, maybe two years ago, someone showed me the Nina Simone version and I was totally blown away…every time I hear an interpretation of the song I want to sing the crazy Nina Simone stuff”.
Outside of her musical taste, Bridgers has even managed to inject some of Simone’s mannerisms into her songs, usually using her voice to exorcise the demons inside her rather than focusing on whether the notes are perfect for the time. Even though Bridgers may not be looking to be the next powerhouse vocalist, it’s songs like Simone’s take on ‘Suzanne’ that make listeners appreciate the beauty in a musician’s humanity.
