1.“ICU”
“ICU” – featured on Phoebe Bridger’s “Punisher” album, the third single for the album, released in 2020. She sings about a breakup, and how going from being with someone every day while dating, to suddenly breaking up and never being with them again can be very difficult to deal with. This song hits so hard fresh out of a breakup.
Favorite line: “It’s amazing to me how much you can say when you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
2.“Moon Song”
Also featured on “Punisher,” “Moon Song,” a track about one-sided love with someone who isn’t willing to accept the love they’re receiving. It talks about how you can give everything you have to someone who doesn’t want it. It always makes me wonder what could’ve happened if given the chance.
Favorite line: “You’re holding me like water in your hands.”
3.“Graceland Too”
“Graceland Too” highlights taking care of a friend who hates themselves and how challenging it can be to deal with that. This song feels like leaving after fighting for so long.
Favorite line: “Said she knows she lived through it to get to this moment.”
This song shows a battle with believing in faith and how much you want to, but you just can’t. It can be interpreted in any way, some even finding the meaning of wishing you believed in true love.
Favorite line: “Why would somebody do this on purpose? When they could do something else.”
“You Missed My Heart,” featured on Bridgers’ debut album “Stranger in the Alps,” released in 2018, tells the story of a girl murdering her ex and his new lover. She sings about stabbing her ex and his reply, “You got me good, I knew you would, but you missed my heart”. This shows that though she was able to kill him and hurt him, she wasn’t ever able to connect with his deepest feelings, therefore missing his heart and not damaging him as badly as she wanted.
Favorite line: “You got me good, I knew you would, but you missed my heart.”
6.“Funeral”
Also featured on “Stranger in the Alps,” “Funeral,” a reflection of grief, depression and the struggle with morality. She sings about trying not to get lost in her personal depression and how much of a challenge that can be, especially when others have it worse. It also explores the idea of not feeling like your struggles compare to others and feeling that you shouldn’t be sad for your “small issues”.
Favorite line: “Wishing I was someone else, feeling sorry for myself, when I remember someone’s kid is dead.”
7.“Waiting Room”
Oh my, what a song “Waiting Room” is. This song, a single released in 2014, talks about the devastation of a relationship that didn’t work out. It captures feelings of intense, unrequited love that you still have for someone. No song compares.
Favorite line: “Wanna make you fall in love as hard as my poor parents teenage daughter, she’ll be the best you’ve ever had if you let her.”
8.“I Know the End”
Closing her “Punisher” album, “I Know the End” touches on, at first, a breakup, then moves to a wider scale of heartbreak in the world, getting to its main point: apocalyptic death.
Favorite line: “I’m always pushing you away from me, but you come back with gravity. And when I call you, you come home. A bird in your teeth.”
9.“Motion Sickness”
“Motion Sickness,” featured on “Stranger in the Alps”, talks about your emotions being so up and down that you wind up feeling sick. It’s relatable and raw.
Favorite line: “There are no words in the English language I could scream to drown you out.”
10.“Kyoto”
“Kyoto” touches on a relationship with a forgetful and disappointing dad. I’m blessed not to relate to it, but many people can and I feel that it captures that problem really well.
Favorite line: “I wanted to see the world through your eyes until it happened, then I changed my mind.”
HM: Nothing New (Taylor’s Version) [ft. Phoebe Bridgers]
Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers collab! This song didn’t make the list solely because Phoebe doesn’t mainly sing on the song. No notes; it’s perfect.
Favorite line: “How did I go from growing up, to breaking down? And I wake up in the middle of the night, it’s like I can feel time moving.”
