Singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers’ father is dead. Bridgers shared their loss on Instagram. She posted an old picture of her sharing headphones with her dad. Underneath she wrote “rest in peace dad”.
The relationship between the 28-year-old and her father was strained for a long time. In a 2019 interview, she said he abused her and was involved with drugs. She also processed the relationship in songs. The lines “I’m gonna kill you if you don’t beat me to it” from the song “Kyoto” allude to this, according to the musician in an interview with Amelia Dimoldenberg. After a moment, when asked if the text still stood, Bridgers said firmly “no.” During the corona pandemic, father and daughter got closer again.
Her father brought her to music and listened to the artists who shaped her style and sound at the beginning of her career. “He was very thrifty and didn’t like it when I took guitar lessons,” the musician shared in a 2020 interview. “But as far as music goes, he’s the one who listened to Tom Waits and Jackson Browne.”
Bridgers released their debut album STRANGER IN THE ALPS in 2016, followed by their second album in 2020. The following year she was nominated for a total of four Grammys.