By Phoebe Schwab ’29
Copy Editor
I share a first name with Phoebe Bridgers—I’m getting that fact out of the way as soon as possible. As an angsty 15-year-old, a friend suggested I listen to “Moon Song” off of Bridgers’ 2020 release Punisher. One could say it blew my mind, leading me to read an article dissecting the lyrics of the song. The author explained that the Greek word “phoebus” is often associated with the moon, and in some long and winding way, they explained that when she sings, “And if I could give you the moon, I would give you the moon,” she claims that if she could give herself to her lover, she would. It was through that article that I fell in love with Phoebe Bridgers, my gateway drug into lyricism.
From then on, things spiraled. I realized my glow-in-the-dark spaceship bedsheets from childhood were the same sheets owned by Bridgers herself (and, might I add, stolen by Gracie Abrams for her tour stage. I could delve deeper, but I urge you to watch a TikTok about it instead). So, like many a Scrippsie, I eagerly awaited the drop of her third studio album, Lost Weekend. Releasing on Aug. 14th, 2026, Lost Weekend birthed 16 songs, macraméing an intricate web of love, grief, aging, and self-reckoning. The album feels like the last night you have at home before leaving for college, sitting on the porch steps with a friend, fearing the precipice you stand on. There are so many similes I can conjure up for you, but rather than listing them, I will just stress that the emotional effect of this album is practically tangible. Bridgers does nothing better than setting a scene, perhaps one that makes you want to rip your guts out, one by one.
Standing out upon first listen, “Governor’s Waltz” paints an image so vivid and palpable that you can’t help but wrap yourself into each lyric. To be completely honest, I was sold from the first mention of Shelley Duvall, but the chorus is what keeps you returning to the song: “So, let’s see how long we can go without touching/Why don’t you sing me to sleep?/I know you’d never actually think about jumping/But do it for me.” It also holds the lyric regarding her alleged feud with Gracie Abrams, but once again, I urge you to go find a TikTok about it.
Lost Weekend, although full of equally devastating lyrics, actually stands out from Bridgers’ first two studio albums with its collection of surprisingly upbeat songs. “Bobby” and “Haunted” are absolutely genius songs that feature a tempo relatively stranger to her previous discography. “Bobby” is the first explicit love song on the album, about Bridgers’ current boyfriend and fellow musician, Bo Burnham. While we could all make arguments that the album is riddled with love songs, there is no denying the point-blank: “Bobby, this could be the end of wanting”. I mean, come on. “Haunted,” one of my personal favorites, details Bridgers’ life while on tour with her band, boygenius, and dealing with immense grief, feeling untethered from her past self. And, while the lyrics are quite heart-wrenching, they’re also painfully optimistic. She doesn’t plan on shedding the pain that’s been burdening her; she plans to step forward with it. Throughout the bridge, with vocal backing from her bandmates and friends Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, “I’m gonna put myself together/You can go, or you can stay/I’m gonna put myself together either way.”
But I think even more powerful than those direct and unmasked lyrics are the ones that follow it: “You won’t have to open a heart that’s broken/Water’s gonna flow in either way/My heart is rolling either way.” As Bridgers navigates the death of her father, a tumultuous relationship that has been the subject of many songs on previous albums, she begins to understand the permeable state that her heart now seems to be set in. It is open for everyone to see, both in these lyrics and in her life, and while it’s strange and confusing and, honestly, quite terrifying, it’s also given her the things she has come to cherish most. Love is a double-edged sword, but it depends on the direction in which you swing it. Ironically, the song that has captivated me most in Lost Weekend is the shortest track on the album, running for only a minute and 42 seconds. “Never Going Back!” is an indescribable genius, take it or leave it. I don’t expect everyone to feel similarly, but hey, this is my article.
You know the ambiguous image of the duck or the hare, depending on how you look at it? “Never Going Back!” is just that. The only lyrics in the song loop over an aggressive acoustic guitar: “Never going back again/The way it used to be is not the way that it is.” Upon first listen, I took this as a devastating song. Nothing in my life will ever sit static. There is nothing strong enough to take me back to the times in my life I would love to return to; even the memory of it doesn’t satiate my hunger; its colors are not vivid enough. Due to my pessimistic and existentialist nature, I never considered the fact that these lyrics could be inherently happy. But, truly, they are! I’m never going back again! The way it used to be is not the way that it is! Almost like “War is Over” by John Lennon. Bad times are past, and no force dark enough could return me to what once was! Yes, I cry at the fact that nothing in my life will ever sit static, but I also rejoice at the same idea! It returns to the double-edged sword of “Haunted;” age, much like love, can be whatever you want it to be.
I will add that “Never Going Back!” does end with a voicemail from Bridgers’ deceased father, starting with, “Hey Phoebe, it’s your dad”, as a banjo strums over it. Now, there are many reasons as to why this strikes me down time and time again, but I will leave it at the fact that I am a resident whore for the banjo and an owner of the name Phoebe.
Phoebe Bridgers, you have, once again, outdone yourself. I thank you for spilling your soul into a perfectly curated album. Cheers to sharing a name.
