On Saturday night, Phoebe Bridgers made the most of her rock star moment.
In her first Saturday Night Live In appearance, Bridgers crowned his two-song performance with an appropriately epic ending. While she and her band played “I Know the End” from the 2020 album Punisher, the American singer and songwriter broke his fucking guitar.
In a time of beautiful chaos, Bridgers confidently joined names like Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon and Jerry Lee Lewis as he turned his musical outlet into a violent expression of raw emotion. Notably, “I Know the End” is a song about depression, loss and leaving the house. It ends in screams and noise, a dissonant cacophony of sound that lends itself perfectly to the sparks that flew when Bridgers repeatedly hit a stage monitor with his ax.
As is often the case when something happens, Twitter folks are left with what to say. Many of them are general praise for Bridgers’ appearance or “made to win” jokes about the broken guitar. Bridgers even shared some of them herself.
I hope the phoebe bridgers have done a good job in snl. I lent her my guitar lol
– broti gupta (@BrotiGupta) February 7, 2021
Speaking like someone who was breaking guitars at the end of the sets, literally before PB was born … it’s so fucking fun and I love it for her.
– vscom-BOO-ter (@vsComputer) February 7, 2021
As always in our modern and fully connected world, there were also sticks in the mud. People who, for one reason or another, thought Bridgers went too far. Which is obviously ridiculous for anyone who has a passing familiarity with rock history.
But in a happy twist, and since a broken guitar moment is never no epic, pessimists simply created fodder for more good jokes.
Phoebe Bridgers, Please go ahead and break all the guitars you want (not that you need anyone’s permission). Never a badass and most of us love to see that.