Phoebe Bridgers opens her album “Lost Weekend” into sheer delight on “Bobby,” a song built around new love after harsher subject matter.
The track arrives as a clear turning point within the project. Bridgers first drops his name on “Kill Me” almost as a throwaway lyric, then returns to him here straight before coming back again on “Liberty Tree.” She sings, “Bobby, this could be the end of wanting,” and makes him something closer to an end than another turn in the cycle of pain.
She begins the song with a shriek, which is shocking from an artist who prefers restraint to abrupt bursts of emotion. That first jolt is a clue that things have really changed. Instead of easing into the theme, she drives the listener headlong into an emotional register she rarely allows herself to fully occupy on record.
Critics have noted that the album often plays like a story of two individuals, one alive and one dead, with Bobby as the counterpoint to the anguish running through tunes like “The Outside” and “Still Standing.” So this release marks a meaningful shift in her current run, one that trades darkness for something nearer to hope.
Have you played “Bobby” yet? Drop your thoughts in the comment section below.
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