The Many Collaborations of Phoebe Bridgers

By Sofia Gualy
Music Journalist

Indie folk superstar, Phoebe Bridgers has been featured in a plethora of songs ranging from pop to R&B and everything in between. She is one of the most heavily sought after artists of our generation and has collaborated with artists such as Taylor Swift and Bright Eyes. Bridgers has worked with seemingly everyone in the music industry and I am sure we can expect much more in the near future. Features, collaborations and covers by Bridgers with other talented musical artists are everywhere. Whether it is a full verse or simply a harmony, Bridgers places her own twist on every song she is featured in.

Her first features with another artist was with Zander Hawley in his songs “Daylight” in 2015 and again with “Until We Both Get Bored” in 2017. These songs feature her soft and easily distinguishable singing voice in the chorus, perfectly harmonizing with Hawley in this folk tune. You can easily hear her older, more folk focused musicality in both of these songs. Furthermore in her folk era, she collaborated with Lord Huron for a version of “The Night We Met” that was featured in the hit television show, “Thirteen Reasons Why”.

Diving into a more rock influenced number of features, Bridgers collaborated and was featured on a track for The Killers 2021 album, Pressure Machine. The song, “Runaway Horses” perfectly showcases Bridgers’ iconic soft tone and her ability to harmonize with nearly everyone. Bridgers and front man of The Killers, Brandon Flowers meld their voices so well.

Bridgers was also featured in a number of pop songs that ended up charting in the United States. Although pop is not Bridgers’ typical genre of music, she winds up fitting into these songs quite perfectly in my opinion. One of her first pop singles that was released was “Silk Chiffon” by MUNA, who is part of Phoebe Bridgers’ record label, Saddest Factory Records. In this song, Bridgers has her own verse and joins in during the chorus as well. Because MUNA and Bridgers work so well together, they often perform this song live together at many different festivals and shows.

Recently, Bridgers was a part of SZA’s brand new album, SOS. In this album, she is featured on the song “Ghost in the Machine”, a song about the difficulty and cut throat environment of the music industry, something both artists understand and have their own critiques about. An R&B song is not something I thought Bridgers could be featured on, but she once again proves herself and her talent time and time again. She and SZA also became friends while creating this track, so hopefully we see another collaboration in the future.

My personal favorite feature Bridgers has ever done was “Nothing New” by Taylor Swift. Both Swift and Bridgers paint the scene of aging out of the young and hip music industry and being replaced by a younger and newer version of their old selves. Although this song is about the music industry, it relates back to what a lot of young adults are feeling after leaving their adolescence and starting something new. The lyrics speak to a wide range of people and tell the story of what many are going through. Bridgers and Swift created a masterpiece that we now have to soundtrack our lives.

As one of the most talented singer songwriters of our generation, Phoebe Bridgers is validly one of the most sought after artists in the industry right now. The list just keeps getting bigger of features, collaborations, and covers that Bridgers has gotten her hands on. The future is bright and full of new music from Phoebe Bridgers.