Phoebe Bridgers Returns with a Smile and a Knife on “Lost Boys”

“Lost Boys” is the lead single off Phoebe Bridgers first new album in six years, Lost Weekend, and the 31-year-old who made her name with achingly sad folk songs is showing a different side of herself: more upbeat, more humorous, and more, well, pop.

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It’s not that she’s abandoned her songwriter’s instincts. Her “Lost Boys” lyrics remain sharply detailed, as when she watches one manchild hurt himself with a Shure SM57 microphone, an instrument she makes sound like a gun. She sings,

“That one time in East Berlin
Whеn you threw a tantrum with a 57 and broke a rib
You told me you wish you wеre dead
But I don’t believe that”

That’s a scene, a relationship, and a whole world in one compact stanza. She hasn’t lost her edge, but for the moment at least, the blade isn’t held at her own throat. She sings about another lover, impatient and dumb, “On a motor bike, doing 90 in a 55/ To another life where they make you cut your hair.” In the chorus, she complains with dry humor that, “Lost boys / Never grow up, never grow old/ Lost boys/ Never spend their lunch money.”

We’re a long way from the visceral “Motion Sickness,” or even “Kyoto” with its uncomfortable phone calls. “Lost Boys” is past tense, written when Bridgers had the emotional distance to sound bemused by these males who won’t grow up.

Speaking of “Kyoto,” “Lost Boys” edges it out as probably the single most upbeat song in Bridgers’ discography. It also has a simple verse-chorus-vers structure, without any of the rewinds or theatrical builds found on Punisher. That and the subject matter contribute to the pop vibe; Sabrina Carpenter and her man-children by way of Bright Eyes. Complimentary.

Because as much as some fans might want Bridgers to punish them again (and look, she still might) her comeback single shows the things pretty much everyone says they want in a comeback: undiminished skills and growth. Her lyrics are still cutting, but now it’s the losers who are about to get cut. Change is interesting, and confidence sounds good on her.