This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. Phoebe Bridgers performed “Kyoto” and “I Know the End” on SNL over the weekend. I am appalled. That was so controversial, I think we have to cancel Phoebe and no longer post about her on the website.1 I am clearly joking and making fun of the silly “guitar smashing discourse” that overtook all of Twitter yesterday because people are apparently bored out of their minds. I thought about not including this footnote, but I just don’t trust the internet anymore to get sarcasm.↩ more Not all embedded content is displayed here. You can view the original to see embedded videos, tweets, etc.
Honestly, I'm just impressed by how tough that guitar was. But for real, both performances were awesome.
It was lame. The sparks were pyrotechnics. She always seemed so genuine, and her music was no frills and honest.... the premeditated "guitar smash" might have completely ruined her music for me. If you're gonna smash a guitar, just fucking get into the music and smash your guitar. Don't rig up sparks to fly and make a show of it. so corny.
If the cheesiness ruined her music for you, you probably shouldn't follow her on social media lol. She's the goofiest musician I follow, and her smashing a cheap guitar on a fake amp rigged to launch pyrotechnics is the most "Phoebe" thing to ever happen. Get off your rock 'n' roll high horse.
I strongly disagree with this. Didn't feel like her whatsoever, and I follow her on social media. This felt like something she would have laughed at anyone else doing. Cringe as fuck. Nothing remotely "Phoebe" about it.
Weird - I only saw nothing but praise for both performances and the guitar smash on my twitter feed. I thought she killed it. There was a small second during Kyoto were I felt like the moment of her playing SNL hit her and I saw such a genuine happiness from her and the band. Felt like when a local band sells out their first hometown show. Something so great about it - I was smiling the whole damn time. She fucking deserves every bit of success she's gotten and will receive. As for the guitar smash - I immediately thought of Bright Eyes playing on the Kilborn show years ago. To me it felt like a little homage to that.
Guitar smash was clearly staged AF but as someone that didn't really know much about her or her music, I loved it. I had fun watching both performances and purchased both her albums because of it.
Even if it was corny, which i don’t think it was, so what? Lol The amount of energy people seem to be dedicating to shitting on this is so wild - like, its SNL, a show that has been mostly terrible and corny for years, and this is what gets people going? Lol Little corny never killed anyone
I've been looking for a Conor interview for years - it's where he talks about following a girl to a bus stop and getting on the bus then finding out she wasn't vegetarian so he stopped talking to her lol it's from around 2004. Anybody know where to find this?
People are spending too much energy on this. Like, who cares? I feel like the people who dislike the performance want their thoughts to be known so bad. It's just...weird, and a lot of the complaints reek of misogyny. I didn't hear these complaints when Billie Joe Armstrong did it or Win Butler (on the same stage!) or Kurt Cobain or any other male musician that did it prior. I've been a fan of Phoebe since I first saw her in 2016 to a half filled room (may have even been less honestly) and it was awesome to see her on the SNL stage and see how far she has come since then.
Oh shut up. Jesus. Imagine calling someone ELSE corny while claiming that a guitar smash "ruined her music for you" (which has gotten her a ton of attention on already the biggest stage of her career). Grow up. She was smiling and having fun the entire time, it's not like she thought the guitar thing was some badass cobain move, she very likely just thought it was fun/funny. Still makes great music.
She plays mid-tempo indie rock on a guitar designed and priced exclusively for 14 year old metal heads, and she dresses her band like the bad guys from Karate Kid. Doubt she's worried about anyone raking her over the coals over authenticity. Both songs were great and they clearly had a blast. Long live Fefe Badgers.
I don't follow her, but I know her music pretty well. If "tee-hee i'm so punk" is her vibe on social media, then I'll def take your advice and not follow her. My point was, her music doesn't feel phony. That felt phony. Sincerity in art, for me, is something that once there's a crack, there's a chasm. Now that I've seen her pretend to passionately smash a guitar, I'll have trouble listening to her music the same way.
Loved that footnote hahah. Loved the performance as well! Also, I'm pretty upset about people taking that much energy with talking shit about it, honestly, it's the first time I've seen tabloid press for Phoebe here in Poland, and well, can't stand the comments. All male too. Fuck that, if someone claims that was lame, phony, corny - wow, just wow.
Intention is everything. That fact that it was faked should signify it was done more for the irony or as a commentary than anything else. She doesn't actually think smashing a guitar makes you look cool.
The people criticising her are the assholes she writes songs about. She seems to have a weird pull on some of her audience who think they own her. Y'all need to calm down and let this very talented young lady pursue her art - you don't know her, you don't control her, she owes you nothing.
I dunno. I clearly don't have the emotional investment in this artist that you all have. Her songs are good. After seeing the performance, I don't like her as much.