"Funeral" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Phoebe Bridgers Phoebe Lucille Bridgers (born August 17, 1994) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She has released two solo albums, ''Stranger in the Alps'' (2017) and ''Punisher'' (2020), both of which received critical acclaim ...

. The song and its lyric video were released on September 12, 2017, as the fourth and final single from her debut studio album, ''

Stranger in the Alps ''Stranger in the Alps'' is the debut studio album by American musician Phoebe Bridgers, released by Dead Oceans on September 22, 2017. Background and recording ''Stranger in the Alps'' was produced by Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska. Bridgers recorde ...

'', through the

Dead Oceans Dead Oceans is an American independent record label formed in 2007 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Dead Oceans is part of Secretly Group, which also ...

label. The song follows a narrator describing the death of someone whose funeral she will be singing at, depicting the inescapable grief, anxiety, depression of everyday life. The track is emotional and melancholic, incorporating acoustic guitar patterns and string arrangements; Bridgers has said the song was inspired by the

heroin overdose An opioid overdose is toxicity due to excessive consumption of opioids, such as morphine, codeine, heroin, fentanyl, tramadol, and methadone. This preventable pathology can be fatal if it leads to respiratory depression, a lethal condition tha ...

of her close friend.

Background and composition

"Funeral" is based on the funeral and death of Bridgers's close friend, who overdosed on

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

. She recalls the experience of speaking to her friend's father after his death, with the lyrics: "And I've been talking to his dad/ It makes me so sad/ When I think too much about it I can't breathe". Bridgers illustrates her struggle with depression and her ideation of death: "And I have this dream where I'm screaming under water/ While my friends are waving from the shore". Bridgers has said that much of her music is inspired by death: "I do think about dying a lot. I feel like a lot of my friends, especially artists, are consumed with this idea of the inevitability of death". Bridgers also has spoken about how intimate and emotional "Funeral" is for her: "Every time I sing that song, I get a little bit uncomfortable because it’s so personal". The song is a downbeat, acoustic track that begins and ends with the distortion of an electric guitar. Bridgers's gentle, feathery vocals and lamenting lyrics are accompanied by an acoustic guitar throughout, with string arrangements coming through on the chorus. The chorus's repeating lyrics—"Jesus Christ, I'm so blue all the time/ And that's just how I feel/ Always have and always will"—highlight the recurring cycle of depression.

Lyric Video

Along with the track, the accompanying lyric video for "Funeral" was released on September 12, 2017. The video depicts Bridgers in black and white, her face only partially lit, singing the song against a black background.

Critical reception

"Funeral" placed 2nd place on ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'''s list of "The 101 best songs of 2017", describing it as "brutally unabashed". Mikael Wood of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' lauded "Funeral" as a "a devastating portrait of depression" and called Bridgers "brilliant". ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' praised the song as "haunting", writing that "the delicate, emotive lilt in ridgers'ssoothing voice makes her brutally honest revelations enticing". The magazine '' Paste'' opined that the song was one of the "highlights" of the album and exemplified Bridgers's ability "to make this song about a stranger’s overdose into a highly relatable moment".

References

{{Phoebe Bridgers 2017 singles 2017 songs Phoebe Bridgers songs Songs about death Songs about heroin Songs written by Phoebe Bridgers Dead Oceans singles