Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend explores the complexity of grief

By Staff Writer Amber Halvorsen

Phoebe Bridgers’ new album Lost Weekend, released on August 14, may have taken the crown for the most melancholy album in her discography. After her father passed away in January 2023, Bridgers took a three-year break from making music. Though her first two solo albums, Stranger in the Alps and Punisher, were known for being heartbreakingly tragic, Lost Weekend evokes emotions more complex than any of her music, taking inspiration from Bridgers’ grief. Reflected through her lyrics accompanied by complementary production qualities, her music further explores the intricacy of the grief she experiences, where she’s split between simultaneous gratitude and resentment towards her father. 

Right away, Bridgers introduces her father’s death as the main inspiration for Lost Weekend. She has noted in her past music that she and her father, who struggled with addiction and anger issues, did not have a close relationship. This is clear in tracks such as “Kyoto” from Punisher where she sings about her father forgetting her little brother’s birthday. Her new record opens with a distorted, robotic voice in “The Outside.” “One more time for old time’s sake / I’ll watch him get carried away,” Bridgers sings, comparing her frustration with her father’s detachment with seeing his casket carried away during his funeral. Bridgers reflects on her father’s passing while still fostering bitterness about his shortcomings in their relationship. Despite the distance between them, losing him forced Bridgers to confront the fact that she still misses and loves him. “I can’t imagine you dead / But you are every day / Thank you for everything,” she sings in “Still Standing,” focusing more on the sorrow she felt following her father’s death and her appreciation for him. 

The contradictory yet candid emotions conveyed by Bridgers’ lyrics offer listeners a raw representation of grief. She chooses not to filter out any emotions that would be considered atypical when dealing with the death of a family member, avoiding a one-dimensional portrayal of loss that would make her music less authentic to listeners. 

Throughout Lost Weekend, Bridgers’ pairing of striking production qualities with lamenting lyrics adds depth to her music and gives listeners a more profound understanding of her songwriting. More specifically, Bridgers’ use of instrumental breaks and unpredictable sounds and textures capture the chaos in her life since her father’s passing. “Kill Me,” the third track on the album, concludes with a moment of silence followed by the loud banging of drums and harsh guitar chords. Title track “Lost Weekend” transitions from a final line of lyric into a low glitching audio followed by a pause. The song then bursts into an outro with scattered gasps, quick tempo changes, and sporadic static sounds in the background. Bridgers uses these chaotic sequences to immerse her listeners in the conflicted emotions she felt when writing. 

Lost Weekend is a collection of poignant, bittersweet songs that engage the audience with Bridgers’ multifaceted emotions while mourning the loss of a loved one. While maintaining its storytelling aspect from before, Bridgers’ music has evolved significantly; it has become a more vulnerable storybook of her thoughts, capturing all of her complex feelings through each and every layer of her songwriting. After six years of silence, Bridgers has come back to the music world with her most emotionally involved record yet. 

Grade: A