In September of 2021, I saw Phoebe Bridgers in person for the first time. So of course when she walked on stage I just stood there in shock for a while, as any crazy fangirl would. But when it eventually stopped feeling so surreal to me, I had the best night of my life. My favorite songs she’s created are from her album “Stranger in the Alps.” So, I am going to be reviewing my top five songs from this album. “Motion Sickness” is the second track on the album and Phoebe’s most popular song ever released. “Motion Sickness” is about emotional exhaustion from holding onto hatred toward someone she used to love. The line “I hate you for what you did, but I miss you like a little kid” is easily one of the most heartbreaking lines of the entire album, and it’s the opening line to this song. I feel that the immediate kick of emotion when the song starts is what has gotten people so hooked on this song. Phoebe continues to do this throughout the rest of her music, and it makes it nearly impossible to stop listening.

The next song on the album is “Funeral.” The song starts with Phoebe introducing the sad fact that she is singing at a funeral the next day. Then, the song takes a turn toward how sad she has been her entire life; but it all leads back to her feeling guilty about being sorry for herself when someone else’s kid is dead. Carrying on with the theme of guilt, she feels sorry for all the bad habits she has that make it as if she’s taking her life for granted. “Funeral” is an incredible song confronting conflict and confusion with oneself. A lot of this song seems hopeless, which I feel resonates with a lot of teenagers in the modern age.

“Killer” is easily my favorite song on the album because of how many beautifully morbid layers it has to it. It expresses a fear of being a “killer,” or at least a metaphorical one; and not only that but the fear of scaring the person they love away because of it. Overall, it’s a love song with strong elements of life and death, which adds mortality to it that makes it even more heart-wrenching. There are two versions of this song, the first is on the “Killer” EP, and the second is on “Stranger in the Alps.” The most noticeable difference is that one is guitar and the other is piano. I’ve never been able to decide which one I like better because they are both equally amazing. I feel as if I could write about this song forever, but in conclusion, I love everything about this song and consider it life-changing.

“Georgia” is another song that was originally on the “Killer” EP. She wrote this song when she was only 16 years old, which only makes it that much more impressive. Georgia is the name of the mother of the boy she was in love with at the time. 

The entire song is written to her in the second person. It’s obvious that the boy cares about his mother a lot, and Phoebe wants to be accepted by her. In one of the lines in “Geor- gia,” she says, “if I fix you, will you hate me?” I interpret this as Phoebe wanting to change Georgia to be more accepting of her or the people she cares about in context with the rest of the song. When I was at her concert, she wasn’t originally supposed to play this song but the crowd convinced her.

The last and longest song on the album is “You Missed My Heart.” It’s about an attempted murder in the rage and jealousy of losing someone she loved. Now, Phoebe didn’t try to kill anyone, so writing this song was probably a way of coping with losing and missing this person. The words “you missed my heart” are said repeatedly, and most times mockingly throughout the song by multiple characters in the story it tells. “You Missed My Heart” is mostly about confronting a lost love that was missed to the point of insanity. It has such a longing element of nostalgia in multiple parts of the song, which only adds to how incredibly sad it is.

“Stranger in the Alps” is a heartbreaking album that dives into mental illness in young people and dark moments throughout the becoming of an adult. Every song on this album means a lot to me, even the ones that didn’t make my top five. So, I recommend this album to anyone teenage or older. Even my mom listens to Phoebe Bridgers, and she also went to her concert with me. I wish I had known about Phoebe Bridgers earlier, so I’m telling you about her now, so you won’t miss out more than you already have.