Phoebe Bridgers talks childhood cockiness, drinking tobacco spit and hating cats in ‘Chicken Shop Date’ interview
Phoebe Bridgers is the latest artist to sit with Amelia Dimoldenberg for a Chicken Shop Date, discussing such extensive topics as the end of the world, nightmares and deep-seated fears – as well as her blinding overconfidence as a child, ongoing hatred for cats, and tendency to overshare with her mum.
The interview opens bluntly with Dimoldenberg asking Bridgers when she thinks the world will end. “I think it’s ending now,” the artist answers almost instinctively, twitching with a sense of existentialism, “and there’s not going to be, like, fireworks and people falling into the earth’s centre – I think it’s going to be [a] long and painful death.”
The topic quickly shifts to Bridgers’ nightmares, which she says she has “often”, usually entailing situations where she “get[s] onstage and forget[s] all my songs”. Later in the chat, they circle back to the notion of fear, with Dimoldenberg noting that one of hers is “being buried alive”. Although Bridgers says her fear is “valid”, she’s found that “after doing my research into people being buried alive, it doesn’t happen that often”.
The artist stops short of expounding on her own fears, she does speak candidly about her disdain for cats, explaining: “People will post on the Internet, a photo of them with their eye missing, with a bunch of stitches, and be like, ‘My silly cat!’ I’m like, ‘What… What’s the draw there?’”
Speaking of disdain, Bridgers didn’t sound too fond of her younger self, pointing out that she was “a brutal, brutal, spoiled child” who gave off “Bad Seed vibes”. She also revealed that as a child, she once accidentally drank a mixture of cigarette ash and chewed-up tobacco inside a water bottle. “My dad had it in the cup holder,” she said, “and I grabbed it and I chugged it before I realised what it was – that’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Bridgers’ mum also caught a shoutout during the interview, with Bridgers saying of her oversharing tendencies: “She has this whole bit about what love means to her, and then she tells the story about me sending her a photo of my crotch and saying, ‘Is this herpes?’ And she’s like, ‘That’s what love is – the intimacy to ask me that.’” Bridgers would not answer whether it was, in fact, herpes.
Have a look at the full interview below:
Bridgers’ episode of Chicken Shop Date, follows her recent cameos onstage with The 1975, Lorde, Dave Grohl and Jack Antonoff, as well as her starring role as Sally in Danny Elfman‘s live edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas, her engagement to Paul Mescal, and collaborations with Andrew Bird, Maggie Rogers, SZA and Storefront Church.
Last month, too, Bridgers dropped her latest holiday cover – a rendition of ‘So Much Wine’ by The Handsome Family – with all proceeds from the single being donated to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Speaking recently with NME, she said of her annual festive releases: “I like fucked up holiday songs. I always have. I remember being so inspired when I went to Nashville and saw where Elvis had done his Christmas album and, because he’s a crazy person, he had to make it feel like Christmas in July. It’s also a cool thing to do for charity every year, and it’s fun. I like tradition.”
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Ellie Robinson
NME
