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Kyoto (Phoebe Bridgers song)

{{short description|2020 single by Phoebe Bridgers}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Kyoto

| cover = Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto (The Marías Remix).png

| alt =

| caption = The Marías remix version cover

| border = yes

| type = single

| artist = Phoebe Bridgers

| album = Punisher

| released = {{Start date|2020|04|09}}

| recorded =

| studio = Sound City (Los Angeles, California)

| genre = * Indie rock

| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=04}}

| label = Dead Oceans

| writer = * Phoebe Bridgers

| producer = * Tony Berg

  • Ethan Gruska
  • Phoebe Bridgers

| prev_title = Garden Song

| prev_year = 2020

| next_title = ICU

| next_year = 2020

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|Tw0zYd0eIlk|"Kyoto"}}}}

}}

"Kyoto" is a song by American singer-songwriter, Phoebe Bridgers. It was released on April 9, 2020 as the second single from her second studio album, Punisher (2020). Rolling Stone, Billboard, Paste, Variety, Consequence of Sound, and The Line of Best Fit all ranked the song among the best of 2020, the latter placing the song atop its list.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-2020-1097442/|title=Year in Review: The 50 Best Songs of 2020|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=December 7, 2020|accessdate=February 7, 2021}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/9494940/best-songs-2020-top-100/|title=The 100 Best Songs of 2020: Staff List|magazine=Billboard |date=December 8, 2020|accessdate=February 7, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-songs/best-songs-of-2020/#14-phoebe-bridgers-kyoto-|title=The 50 Best Songs of 2020|date=December 11, 2020|accessdate=February 7, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/lists/best-songs-2020-year-review/phoebe-bridgers-kyoto/|title=Year in Review: The Best Songs of 2020|website=Variety|date=January 1, 2021|accessdate=February 7, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://consequence.net/2020/12/top-50-songs-of-2020/5/|title=Top 50 Songs of 2020|website=Consequence of Sound|date=December 3, 2020|accessdate=February 7, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/articles/best-songs-of-2020|title=The best songs of 2020 ranked|website=The Line of Best Fit|date=December 10, 2020|accessdate=February 7, 2021}} At the 2021 Grammy Awards, "Kyoto" was nominated for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.

Background and composition

"Kyoto" has been described to be an indie rock,{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/arts/music/phoebe-bridgers-kyoto.html|title=How Phoebe Bridgers (Begrudgingly) Writes a Rock Song|last=Coscarelli|first=Joe|date=July 30, 2020|website=The New York Times|access-date=December 28, 2020}} grunge-rock,{{cite web |url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/phoebe-bridgers-punisher-album-review|title=Phoebe Bridgers Punisher album review|work=The Line of Best Fit|date=June 18, 2020|access-date=June 21, 2020|author=Nash, Ed|archive-date=June 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621073403/https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/phoebe-bridgers-punisher-album-review|url-status=live}} pop rock,{{cite web|last1=Stanley|first1=Laura|title=Phoebe Bridgers' Miraculous 'Punisher' Is Larger Than Life|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/phoebe_bridgers_punisher_album_review|publisher=Exclaim!|access-date=June 17, 2020}} and garage rock song.{{cite news|author=YP Team|title=Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher|url=https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/entertainment/music/article/3117943/best-albums-2020-taylor-swift-bts-and-dua-lipa|newspaper=SCMP|accessdate=July 22, 2021|date=April 6, 2021}} Bridgers wrote the song about her complicated, evolving relationship with her father. Her parents divorced when she was 20, leaving Bridgers angry.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/25/phoebe-bridgers-frank-anxious-music|title=Phoebe Bridgers's Frank, Anxious Music|first= Amanda |last=Petrusich|date=May 17, 2020|magazine=The New Yorker|accessdate=May 27, 2020}} The song is named for the city in Japan, which Bridgers wrote the song on her first trip to the country in February 2019.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/phoebe-bridgers-kyoto-punisher-album-980795/|title=Phoebe Bridgers Announces New Album, Drops 'Kyoto'|first=Angie|last=Martoccio|date=April 9, 2020|magazine=Rolling Stone|accessdate=May 27, 2020}} A lyric observing that Japan "still" has pay phones – the sentiment being that they are long outdated – was entirely fictional, Bridgers said.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/phoebe-bridgers-punisher-interview-1002273/|title=Laughter, Tears, and Harmony: How Phoebe Bridgers Made 'Punisher'|first=Angie|last=Martoccio|date=May 27, 2020|magazine=Rolling Stone|accessdate=May 27, 2020}} In a press statement, Bridgers expounded upon the song's meaning:

{{cquote|This song is about impostor syndrome. About being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I'm living someone else's life. I dissociate when bad things happen to me, but also when good things happen. It can feel like I'm performing what I think I'm supposed to be like.{{cite news|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/phoebe-bridgers-announces-new-album-punisher-shares-new-song-kyoto-listen/|title=Phoebe Bridgers Announces New Album Punisher, Shares New Song "Kyoto": Listen|first=Matthew |last=Strauss|date=April 9, 2020|work=Pitchfork|accessdate=May 27, 2020}}}}

Producer Tony Berg suggested she speed up the song's tempo, creating a brighter, more upbeat tone. Bridgers agreed, growing "sick" of recording slower ballads. "Kyoto" is instrumentally dense, incorporating twelve-string guitar, synthesizers, Autoharp, and mellotron. Bright Eyes' Nathaniel Walcott also contributes horns, while Jenny Lee Lindberg of Warpaint adds vocals.{{cite news|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2079768/phoebe-bridgers-kyoto-punisher/video/|title=Phoebe Bridgers – "Kyoto"|first=James|last=Rettig|date=April 9, 2020|website=Stereogum|accessdate=May 27, 2020}}

A new version of the song, featuring a new arrangement from composer Rob Moose was released on November 10, 2020 as the first single from Bridgers and Moose's collaborative Copycat Killer EP.{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/phoebe-bridgers-shares-stirring-version-of-kyoto-from-upcoming-copycat-killer-ep-2813912|title=Phoebe Bridgers shares stirring version of 'Kyoto' from upcoming 'Copycat Killer' EP|last=Skinner|first=Tom|website=NME |date=November 10, 2020|accessdate=November 14, 2020}} Bridgers also shared an acoustic version of the song as a Spotify exclusive in March 2021, featuring guitar and backing vocals from American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne.{{cite web |last1=Yoo |first1=Noah |title=Phoebe Bridgers Enlists Jackson Browne for New Version of "Kyoto": Listen |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/phoebe-bridgers-enlists-jackson-browne-for-new-version-of-kyoto-listen/ |website=Pitchfork |date=March 9, 2021 |publisher=Pitchfork Media |access-date=23 July 2021}}

Music video

The song's music video was initially slated to have been filmed in Kyoto proper. Bridgers planned the shoot to take place during a trip to Japan, supporting the National in March 2020, though these dates were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the clip was recorded in front of a green screen in Los Angeles. It pictures Bridgers in a skeleton costume and superimposed over stock footage of Kyoto, including images of an arcade and at the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine. She flies over the city and an ocean at points in the clip. The video includes appearances by Emily Bannon, Marshall Vore and Harrison Whitford—members of Bridgers' touring band. At one point in the video, the three are saved from Godzilla by Bridgers, who shoots lasers from her eyes. The video was directed and edited by Nina Ljeti.

Live performances

In promotion of the single, Bridgers played the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! remotely from a bathtub in her home while playing a Suzuki QChord and singing into a toy microphone.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/phoebe-bridgers-new-song-kyoto-bathroom-jimmy-kimmel-live-981527/|title=Phoebe Bridgers Brings New Song 'Kyoto' to Her Bathroom on 'Kimmel'|first=Jon|last=Blistein|date=April 10, 2020|magazine=Rolling Stone|accessdate=May 27, 2020}} Bridgers did another remote performance of the song on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on July 20, 2020.{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/watch-phoebe-bridgers-perform-kyoto-on-colbert/|title=Watch Phoebe Bridgers Perform "Kyoto" on Colbert|last=Bloom|first=Madison|work=Pitchfork|date=July 21, 2020|accessdate=December 19, 2020}} On September 12, 2020 Bridgers performed the song on CBS This Morning alongside other Punisher tracks.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/phoebe-bridgers-cbs-this-morning-1058738/|title=See Phoebe Bridgers Play 'Punisher' Songs on 'CBS This Morning'|last=Kreps|first=Daniel|magazine=Rolling Stone|accessdate=December 19, 2020}} She performed the song again on The Late Late Show with James Corden on December 16, 2020, this time while lying down in bed and looking at her phone before walking over to perform at a green screen-ed Carnegie Hall.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/phoebe-bridgers-kyoto-late-late-show-with-james-corden-1105106/|title=Phoebe Bridgers Performs 'Kyoto' in Her Bedroom (and Carnegie Hall)|last=Shaffer|first=Claire|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=December 17, 2020|accessdate=December 19, 2020}} She performed the song on her Saturday Night Live debut on February 6, 2021.{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/watch-phoebe-bridgers-perform-kyoto-and-i-know-the-end-on-snl/|title=Watch Phoebe Bridgers Smash Her Guitar on SNL|last=Yoo|first=Noah|website=Pitchfork |date=February 6, 2021|accessdate=February 7, 2021}}

Accolades

class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Organization

!Award

!Result

!Ref

rowspan="2" |2021

| rowspan="2" |Grammy Awards

|Best Rock Performance

| {{nom}}

| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|{{Cite web|date=2020-11-24|title=2021 GRAMMYs: Complete Nominees List|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2021-grammys-complete-nominees-list|access-date=2020-11-24|website=GRAMMY.com|language=en}}

|Best Rock Song

| {{nom}}

Personnel

Charts

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

=Weekly charts=

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Weekly chart performance for "Kyoto"

! scope="col"| Chart (2020–2021)

! scope="col"| Peak
position

{{single chart|Scotland|7|date=20201127|rowheader=true|accessdate=November 27, 2020}}
{{single chart|Billboardrocksongs|32|artist=Phoebe Bridgers|rowheader=true|accessdate=May 27, 2020}}
{{single chart|Billboardrockairplay|34|artist=Phoebe Bridgers|rowheader=true|accessdate=February 9, 2021}}

{{col-2}}

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Year-end chart performance for "Kyoto"

! scope="col"| Chart (2020)

! scope="col"| Position

scope="row"| US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard){{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2020/adult-alternative-songs|title=Adult Alternative Songs – Year-End 2020|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=October 24, 2021}}

| 44

{{col-end}}

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "Kyoto"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=Phoebe Bridgers|title=Kyoto|award=Silver|type=single|relyear=2020|certyear=2023|id=19396-5897-1|access-date=October 21, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true|nosales=true|noshipments=true}}

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

  • {{YouTube|id=Tw0zYd0eIlk|title="Kyoto" (music video)}}

{{Phoebe Bridgers}}

{{authority control}}

Category:2020 singles

Category:2020 songs

Category:Phoebe Bridgers songs

Category:Songs written by Phoebe Bridgers

Category:Dead Oceans singles

Category:Songs about Japan