Born in Pasadena, California, on August 17, 1994, Phoebe Bridgers took an interest in music at a young age. Although her mother encouraged her to play piano, she took to guitar instead.

“I f—ing hated being forced to do something,” Bridgers told The New Yorker in 2020. “Reading music felt like math homework. Guitar was my rebellion.”

At 15, Bridgers joined Sloppy Jane, a punk band comprised of all women. A few years later, she was accepted to the Berklee College of Music, but she opted to live and perform in Los Angeles instead.

She released her first album, “Stranger in the Alps,” in 2017 but it was her second album, “Punisher” in 2020, that really made waves.

Phoebe Bridgers performs during the 2022 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival at Golden Gate Park on August 05, 2022 in San Francisco, California.Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
“Punisher” earned her Grammy nominations for best new artist and best alternative music album in 2021. For her song “Kyoto,” a track on “Punisher,” Bridgers was nominated for best rock performance and best rock song.

In 2020, Pitchfork called the album “marvelous,” while Rolling Stone said it was “visionary.”

Insider’s Callie Ahlgrim named “Punisher” as one of the best albums of 2020, calling it “an exquisite tapestry of emotions.”

“The album feels like a best friend holding your hand, and the most cleansing heart-to-heart you’ve ever had on their bedroom floor,” Ahlgrim wrote.

Before releasing “Punisher,” which propelled her into mainstream fame, Bridgers also made music as a member of boygenius.

Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus of boygenius perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City on March 1, 2023.Noam Galai/Getty Images
Bridgers formed boygenius in 2018 with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, who are solo artists, as well.

The band released its first EP, “boygenius,” in 2018 after Bridgers, Baker, and Dacus recorded it over four days, according to The New York Times. In 2020, the band released demos on Bandcamp in an effort to raise money for three nonprofit organizations.

In January 2023, boygenius announced its upcoming studio album, releasing three songs along with the announcement. The upcoming album, “The Record,” is set to be released on March 31, 2023.

The three women frequently discuss their close friendships with one another in interviews.

“We’re obsessed with each other. I like myself better around them,” Bridgers told Rolling Stone in January 2023.

Bridgers’ biggest inspiration is the late artist Elliott Smith.

Phoebe Bridgers; Elliott SmithKayla Oaddams/Getty Images; Wendy Redfern/Getty Images
It’s no secret that Bridgers idolizes Elliott Smith, the singer-songwriter who died in 2003.

In 2020, Bridgers told NPR, “If someone doesn’t like [Smith’s] music, I actually feel like I’m not going to agree with them about anything. It informs everything I like.”

Bridgers’ music is frequently compared to that of Smith. In the same NPR profile, journalist Lindsay Zoladz commented on Smith’s and Bridgers’ similarly “evocative lyrics, melodious murmurs and stark, surprising bursts of bleak humor.”

She’s known for her signature skeleton costume.

Phoebe Bridgers attends 2021 Grammys.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
In the music video for one of her most popular and critically acclaimed songs, “Kyoto,” Bridgers wears a skeleton suit. She often wears variations to red-carpet events and performances.

At the Grammys in 2021, when she was nominated for four awards, she wore a Thom Brown outfit featuring a crystal-and-pearl skeleton.

She told E! News, “I wear a skeleton costume all the time, but one of the reasons I do is because I saw this Thom Browne dress forever ago and thought it was so cool. And I asked for it. I basically stole it.”

Bridgers wore an abstract version of the skeleton suit when she performed on “Saturday Night Live” in 2021, in a memorable performance which culminated in her smashing her guitar.

Bridgers dated Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal from 2021 to late 2022.

Phoebe Bridgers and Paul Mescal at the 2022 Met Gala.Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Bridgers and Mescal were first acquainted via Twitter. In 2020, Bridgers posted a tweet in admiration of Mescal’s performance in Hulu’s “Normal People,” and Mescal responded. The two made their first public appearance as a couple at the LACMA Art+Film Gala in November 2021. They made other red-carpet appearances together, including at the 2022 Met Gala.

They collaborated in their creative work — Mescal was featured in the music video for Bridger’s song “Savior Complex” and made a cameo in her music video for “Sidelines.”

In late 2022, reports of a potential split began to circulate, although Mescal — who was nominated for best actor at the 2023 Oscars for his role in “Aftersun” — declined to comment about it during a February 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Bridgers has also not commented on the breakup reports, but she has been spotted with comedian, actor, and director Bo Burnham on multiple occasions, sparking rumors that the two are romantically linked.

She collaborated with Taylor Swift on a song on Swift’s remastered version of her 2012 album, “Red.”

Taylor Swift; Phoebe Bridgers.D Dipasupil/Getty Images; Rune Hellestad – Corbis/Getty Images
Swift’s 2021 rerelease of “Red,” renamed “Red (Taylor’s Version),” contained a handful of never-before-released songs in addition to remastered tracks from the 2012 album. Swift reached out to Bridgers to feature her on “Nothing New,” Insider’s Callie Ahlgrim previously reported.

Swift told Seth Meyers that she recalled sending Bridgers a “very long text” when she asked her to sing a verse on the track.

“With Phoebe, I reached out and I sent her this song called ‘Nothing New,’ which I wrote when I was 22,” Swift said. “I sent it to Phoebe and said, ‘It would mean the world to me if you would do this as a duet.'”

Bridgers replied, “I’ve been waiting for this text my entire life.”

In 2021, Bridgers spoke to Billboard about the experience recording “Nothing New” and her admiration of Swift.

“I just am so excited to have people take it at face value the day that it comes out because I got teary recording it,” she said. “I just couldn’t be more excited.”

Bridgers has recently collaborated with other artists as well, including MUNA and SZA.

Bridgers is set to open for seven shows on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which kicks off March 17. Bridgers will join her in May.

Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour at FedExField on July 10, 2018, in Landover, Maryland.Jason Kempin/Getty Images
In an Instagram post on November 1, 2022, Bridgers subtly announced that she’d be accompanying Swift on her highly anticipated Eras Tour for seven nights. She posted a slideshow that contained two photos of herself and Swift, and a graphic promoting the tour.

The two singer-songwriters are vocal admirers of one another. In January 2023, Bridgers told Rolling Stone, “[Swift is] such a deep, wise human being, and has not sacrificed fun at all. She validates those boundaries that people have tried to take from her for her whole life.”

To Seth Meyers, Swift referred to Bridgers as “one of my favorite artists in the world.”

The Eras Tour started on Friday, March 17 in Glendale, Arizona, with Paramore opening for Swift.

Bridgers will accompany Swift at concerts in Nashville, Philadelphia, Foxborough in Massachusetts, and East Rutherford in New Jersey. Those shows start May 5 and wrap up May 28.

Other artists, including Haim, Girl in Red, and Gracie Abrams, are set to open for Swift for the rest of her tour.

Read the original article on Insider