When it comes to the origin of SZA and Phoebe Bridgers teaming up for “Ghost in the Machine,” one of the tracks off SZA’s new album SOS, SZA makes a pretty good case for sliding into someone’s private messages.
“It was just a DM,” she tells Consequence in our latest cover story of how the collaboration came about. “She popped on by. She was cool as fuck.”
This assessment isn’t a total surprise, considering it’s the ultimate Cool Girl Phoebe Bridgers being discussed here. When the news broke that one of indie music’s leading sad girl songwriters would be appearing on the long-awaited album from SZA, also known to get the listener in their feels, it felt like the most pleasant surprise — and the most natural partnership — all at the same time. SZA herself seemed to understand the internet’s implosion, sharing reactions from her own circle.
Response to having phoebe on the albums been pretty positive lol pic.twitter.com/D2Y7ckHP7l
— SZA (@sza) December 6, 2022
“She was so funny, and we had some of the best conversations,” SZA recalls of Bridgers. “We’ve been playing festivals together recently, but on at the same time, so we never really got to meet or anything like that,” SZA adds. “It was interesting to bring us both together.”
Bridgers jumps in for the, ahem, bridge with some quintessentially gloomy and wonderfully dismal observations. “You said all of my friends are on my payroll/ You’re not wrong, you’re an asshole,” she sings.
Check out the full cover story with SZA here, and dig into our review of SOS here.
