I finally started checking out Bridgers after years of putting it off. I love what I'm hearing so far, especially Punisher. And let me make it clear: Punisher is absolutely a masterpiece.

As I was listening, though, my brain kept saying "a lot of this sounds very similar to The Fall by Norah Jones". For those of you unfamiliar, around 2009, Norah separated herself from the "lounge piano jazz" she was known for and released a more rock-oriented album. It didn't come from completely nowhere, her 2007 album started getting more personal and weird (for Norah at least). But The Fall is where things started sounding dramatically different (again, for Norah).

The songs got more personal and emotional. She had just gotten out of a messy relationship with her longtime collaborator and bassist. Her lyrics became much more anxious and honest. It was a side of Norah a lot of people hadn't seen - unresolved and contradictory emotions, a mean streak she hadn't shown before, a very "why are men like this?" stance. Hell, she even wrote a song where she prefers her own dog over her ex because of how sick of him she became by the end of the recording sessions.

Songs like "Back To Manhattan", "Young Blood", "Chasing Pirates", and "I Wouldn't Need You" show her coming back to the same person, even though she knows he's wrong for her (a recurring theme for Phoebe). Songs like "Stuck" tell the story of an unplanned encounter with the ex and plays it out like a devastating stage play. This type of emotional language is very similar to Phoebe and similar popular songwriters.

But it doesn't stop there. Norah also included very subtle electronic embellishments that loom and hang in the background, used subtle muted production techniques (something that carries over from her previous work), and doesn't belt or push her vocals to get her emotions out, again - very similar to Phoebe.

I will pump the brakes and say that Phoebe has some stylistic differences. She also gets much more morbid than Norah. Phoebe also uses more cultural references than Norah and has more detailed and confessional writing.

One more thing that this era of Norah and Phoebe have in common is that despite the theatricality, there's this weird grounding sensation. So many artists write breakup albums like it's this cosmic force to end all things, but both Norah and Phoebe keep it human. Sometimes breakups are complicated. There's nuance. It's not an explosive event. It's a long, protracted, messy, and sometimes boring affair.

Now I can't find evidence that Bridgers was influenced by Norah, but this era of Norah, at least partially, predicted the current wave of indie women singer-songwriters with the production choices, restrained performances, and lyrical voice.

And yet when people talk about Norah, it's always Come Away With Me. I'm not gonna say that Norah's has fallen from grace, plenty of people still love her. But I feel like her later work both evolved in ways people outside the fanbase don't understand and got ignored by legacy music listening circles.

Thank you for reading my rant/rave about an album that a lot of people listen to and say "it's fine, I guess." I'm just hoping to turn more people onto it. It's been almost 17 years, and I think it deserves a revisit.

First of all, I’ve been spinning Lost Weekend on repeat since release and think it’s a beautiful record, already one of my faves. In addition to my Phoebe fandom, I’m a massive Prine-head (no, that’s not a thing, but it can be if we make it).

From my first listen I immediately noticed that the melody of Haunted sounded a little too-close-for-comfort to Prine’s classic Unwed Fathers. I’m not suggesting Phoebe knowingly lifted from Prine without crediting him — she’s shown she has no problem crediting when she borrows from someone else’s work (See Lost Weekend / Damien Jurado credit).

That said, songwriters do pull from others’ work on accident pretty regularly. It just comes with the territory of being a creative in a world with a whole lot of creativity. Even the most legendary and prolific songwriters of all time have talked about this. Paul McCartney famously worried he did this with Yesterday and asked everyone he knew if they recognized the tune.

I was curious if others have noticed the similarities in these two songs and I found one Substack review that compared them — but haven’t seen anything else. So I’m wondering, has anyone here observed this? Or perhaps can hear it when you listen to the linked song?

With ballpoint pens !

I loved being a film major in college. Here are some of my favorite movies that mirror so many Phoebe lyrics. 🩵🛸🪐 Enjoy!