A Perfect Album for a Frustrating Decade

Phoebe Bridgers’s new record is heavy with post-pandemic disappointment.

Illustration by Jonelle Afurong / The Atlantic. Sources: mikroman6 / Getty; Todd Owyoung / NBC / Getty. August 13, 2026 Share Save Listen − 1.0 x + Seek 0:00 8:49 One of the coronavirus pandemic’s many terrible legacies is the slow smothering of ambition in popular culture. In the depths of the crisis, media—music, movies, and all the rest—were widely hailed as a “balm” for anxieties and a “lifeline” to the shared society we could look forward to someday returning to. Yet at the same time, that pre-pandemic sense of cohesion was being destabilized. Entertainers emerged from lockdown to find their fans wild-eyed with obsession and everyone else utterly unreachable. The ensuing years in the arts have felt strange and stilted —defined by stalled dreams, a shattered common stage, and a nervous relationship between artists and audiences.