Phoebe Bridgers has explained why her new album ‘Lost Weekend‘ took “forever” to make.
The singer-songwriter released her third solo record on Friday (August 14), ending fans’ six-year wait after her last LP ‘Punisher‘ in 2020.
Bridgers spoke at a fan Q&A at a rollerskating listening party for the album at the Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, California last week (August 11), where she was asked how she decided that it was the right time to make her return.
“I mean, I didn’t love all parts of being away,” she replied (via Variety), explaining that while she knew she wanted to step back after ‘Punisher’, she did not initially intend for it to be such a long gap between records.
“I kept booking studio time and then putting it off…and booking studio time and putting it off, and putting it off…I really wanted to be making something,” she said. “So I just started going in and then taking six months off and then going [back]. So this album took forever. Which is great!”
Phoebe Bridgers stuns in rollerblades during a Q&A pic.twitter.com/jplmwqUoN0
— phoebe daily (@sourcebridgers) August 14, 2026
Bridgers joined around 200 fans on the skating rink at the event, and explained that she wanted the album’s release campaign to feel as though it was “happening in real life”.
She has not given any interviews, but has played a few phone-free pop-up shows and listening parties, as well as specially designed visual presentations at planetariums around the world.
Although ‘Lost Weekend’ is Bridgers’ first solo album since ‘Punisher’, she did reunite with Boygenius bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker for the trio’s 2023 album ‘The Record‘, which was named NME‘s album of the year.
Dacus and Baker both appear on ‘Lost Weekend’, alongside a slew of other big names, including her Better Oblivion Community Center bandmate Conor Oberst, her partner Bo Burnham, Jack Antonoff, Alex G and others.
The credits also list a vocalist by the mysterious name of Son-John Johnson, which many believe is a pseudonym for Geese frontman Cameron Winter, whose distinctive voice seems to appear on ‘Kill Me’ and ‘I Can’t Wait’.
Fans have also discovered the hidden track ‘Best Dressed’, featuring former Black Country, New Road singer Isaac Wood. The track is concealed in the pre-gap before opener ‘The Outside’ on the CD edition and appears as the final track on the vinyl version.
Speculation is also circulating among the Bridgers fanbase that ‘The Governor’s Waltz’ was written about the artist’s former relationship with Paul Mescal.
In a glowing five-star review of ‘Lost Weekend’, NME wrote: “It’s a feat that could only be achieved by a songwriter and musician self-assured in their penmanship and musicality, someone who may have started the journey of writing her third album feeling lost, but by the end wasn’t unmoored at all.”
Bridgers will begin a run of intimate, phone-free UK shows at London’s Union Chapel tomorrow (August 17), followed by dates in Kingston, Brighton and Bristol. ‘The Lost Tour’ then launches in North America next month, with the UK and European leg to follow in November and December. See all the dates here and find any remaining tickets here.
