![]() ![]() She’s buried the past, and all the resentment engulfed in it, to achieve harmony within herself. The closing verse, “I buried a hatchet, it’s comin’ up lavender/The future’s unwritten, the past is a corridor/I’m at the exit, lookin’ back through the hall/You are anonymous, I am a concrete wall,” leaves us with the heartbreaking notion that eventually we’re going to have to leave the familiar behind and adopt the unknown, that the future is out of our control, and in order to ‘forget and forgive’ we must relinquish that control and follow new experiences. Bridgers evokes various humanly bittersweet feelings: wishing for a simpler life, waking up in your childhood bed, or thinking you knew someone who you didn’t. While one can interpret it as another love song about miscommunication, there’s a profound undertone of leaving a part of yourself behind to embrace another. “Smoke Signals” embodies a goodbye to childhood. The emotional mural Bridgers paints throughout her record is also home to a cerebral dose of cultural references, epitomizing the essence of death. Eventually, you’re going to have to let go. ![]() “Scott Street” ultimately analyzes the passage of time, the feeling of being a stranger to yourself, time moving faster than you can keep up with, and how you’re not going to be able to carry all people and memories with you. Suggesting that she’s departing one part of her life that no longer serves her in favor of entering a new one she further explains the isolating experience of leaving the life you once knew behind. The train honk and the bike bell sounds in the final parts of the song are reflections of Bridgers moving to a different place emotionally. “ Walking Scott Street, feeling like a stranger/With an open heart, open container.” Her song is a bridge between the past and present, that weird feeling of reconnection with someone you used to talk to all the time, and the realization that everyone has moved on, that everything has changed, and no longer feeling welcomed by the place or individual who used to make up your soul. It’s about the awkwardness of seeing an ex on the street, and the loneliness of revisiting parts of your life that you owned but are now shadows of your existence. ![]() “I hate you for what you did/And I miss you like a little kid.” In this lyric, Bridgers reflects upon the emotional damage Adams inflicted, while also using the incredibly human experience of attachment to the familiar– despite how he built her up just to leave her behind.Īlthough Bridgers scrutinizes her present life in “Motion Sickness,” “Scott Street” is an assortment of memories and diary entries. In 2019, Bridgers and other female artists revealed in a New York Times article that Ryan Adams had sexually and emotionally abused them. “Motion Sickness” illustrates her abusive relationship with an older man from the music industry, who guilted her into thinking he could propel her career. “Motion Sickness,” being the most upbeat song on the record, is juxtaposed with the heavy content of the song. Her lyrics are incredibly personal, sounding like they came from her own journal. ![]() Throughout the album, Bridgers never fails to add veracity to her stories. Bridgers’ woeful voice creates an understanding between her and the listener, resulting in heart-wrenching music that doesn’t appear too ghoulish. The essence of Bridgers’ music emanates through the smallest details: a casual conversation, a song on repeat, and the awkwardness of exes. From the ghostly album cover to the forlorn meanings behind each song, Phoebe Bridgers delivers a debut album filled with ferocity, intimacy, and truth. “Stranger in the Alps” is a collection of moments we relive in our heads, an album of memories and songs documenting how our relationships can alter our views on life. Gabby Sevita, Arts and Entertainment Staff Writer ![]()
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