Phoebe Bridgers – 'Kyoto'

After the success of her first single of the year, ‘Garden Song’, Phoebe Bridgers blesses us with another track taken from her highly anticipated second solo album ‘Punisher’ (out June 19th) and reminds the world why she is one of the most beloved artists of her generation.

‘Kyoto’ lands a punch from the very first second. Fuzzy guitar riffs and anthemic rhythms set the scene for Phoebe’s unrivalled vocals. Raw, honest, emotive just like her songwriting that perfectly captures a moment. A polaroid in song form. Phoebe impressively manages to paint a picture with sound, you can pretty much see her standing by the payphone probably screaming in frustration - “I’m gonna kill you if you don’t beat me to it. Dreaming through Tokyo skies. I wanted to see the world, then I flew over the ocean and I changed my mind.”

Talking about the inspiration behind ‘Kyoto’ Phoebe says: “This song is about impostor syndrome. About being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I’m living someone else’s life. I dissociate when bad things happen to me, but also when good things happen. It can feel like I’m performing what I think I’m supposed to be like. I wrote this one as a ballad first, but at that point I was so sick of recording slow songs, it turned into this.”

Words by Laura Freyaldenhoven

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