‘The First Time’ With Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Bridgers discusses Jeff Buckley, meeting Eeyore at DisneyIand, and singing My Chemical Romance at karaoke in the latest instalment of Rolling Stone’s The First Time.

Bridgers kicks off by citing the first time she stood up for herself: decking an older kid with a dodgeball in middle school. The person would pick on Bridgers and hit her in the head too hard. “Aggression that only prepubescent boys have,” she noted. She finally got a chance to retaliate when his back was turned. “Right in the basketball shorts,” she said, smiling.

Jeff Buckey’s Live at Sin-é EP was the first record Bridgers ever fell in love with. “I had it on my iPod Shuffle, and I listened to it when I was supposed to be asleep every night for years,” she said. “I just love how you can hear in real time the audience reaction and what’s so compelling about Buckley.”

Bridgers recalls the first time she met an idol: Eeyore, at Disneyland. “That’s still probably the best moment of my life,” she admitted. “I was obsessed with Eeyore and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. I think I’ve always loved complicated male characters.”

Elsewhere in the video, Bridgers remembers singing My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade” at a mellow karaoke night and being frightened to release her 2017 song “Motion Sickness.” “I was nervous because it’s a mean song,” she said, “But I’m glad I did it.”

She also describes meeting her Better Oblivion Community Center bandmate, Conor Oberst, when she opened for his secret show in Los Angeles in 2016. Bridgers closed her set with “Motion Sickness” and Elliot Smith’s “Whatever (Folk Song in C).” Oberst complimented Bridgers on both of the songs, not realising that one of them was a cover. “He’s still embarrassed about it,” she said.