What are critics saying about Phoebe Bridgers' new album ‘Lost Weekend’?

Phoebe Bridgers is back with new music, her new album Lost Weekend marks her first solo record in six years.

It comes after the success of her 2020 Grammy-nominated album Punisher, and in the years since this release Bridgers released the 2023 album The Record with rock supergroup Boygenius with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus which went on to win three Grammys.

During this time, Bridgers also dated Irish actor Paul Mescal and were reportedly engaged but the two broke up in 2022 after two years together and she is now dating comedian Bo Burnham - who is credited as a songwriter on her new album.

Bridgers dropped the album's lead single 'Lost Boys' on in June, and performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with children in her backing band.

We know the album consists of 16 tracks, as the full tracklist was revealed at the end of last month.

Earlier this year, Bridgers played a pop-up tour playing small venues across the US (Lexington, KY, Macon, GA, Chattanooga, TN, Savannah, GA, Greenville, SC, Mobile, AL, Jackson, MS, Lubbock, TX, Roswell, NM), and advertising the shows with flyers.

In June, the 31-year-old has surprised fans by announcing a Madison Square Garden show, with tickets starting at only $1 and she performed her new album at the iconic New York venue.

What are critics saying?

Ahead of the album's release this month, Lost Weekend has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, praising Bridger's songwriting and exploring themes of love and loss, in particular the death of her father and her breakup with Mescal.

"Bridgers’ lyrics are brilliant throughout, but they’re matched by the individuality of Lost Weekend’s sound. At heart it’s a well-written Americana-infused indie singer-songwriter album, complete with the yearning melodies, acoustic guitars, mandolins and melancholy violin...," The Guardian''s Alexis Petridis wrote in his five-star review.

Rolling Stone's Angie Martoccio rated the album four-and-a-half stars, "Bridgers makes up for the last several years (you might call it lost time) by giving us her longest and most daring record yet, a tour de force in the art of disappearing, falling in love, and feeling grief so deeply that waking up every day kind of sucks."

"None of the more glittering pop stars taking a leaf out of Bridgers’ book has come up with a line of such quiet devastation as “He kissed me hello. He tasted like a flower with chemicals” as Bridgers does on Kill Me," The Times's Will Hodgkinson noted in his five-star review.

Slant Magazine's Michael Savio gave the record four-and-a-half stars, sharing, "It’s a sprawling, rigorously crafted indie-rock memorandum that charts a tumultuous period of dissociation and reclamation."

When is the album release date?

Lost Weekend, the new album from Phoebe Bridgers comes out on August 14.

Why not read...

• What are critics saying about Ariana Grande's new album, Petal?
• What are critics saying about new Charli XCX album?

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.