The four female artists leading the indie genre today all have something in common, and it’s not something you see in the music industry everyday. Phoebe Bridgers, Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, and Clairo share a camaraderie that goes beyond a hello at a show or a few twitter interactions. The foursome provide support for one another and encouragement, go to one another’s shows, tour together, and derive inspiration from each other’s work – all while transforming the landscape of indie singer-songwriters. Even with different sounds, the common emphasis on deep, raw lyricism puts these women as the leading indie singer-songwriters today.

Story by Violet Glenewinkel

The 25-year-old indie folk artist, Phoebe Bridgers, has had her fair share of experience in the industry. As the oldest of the four singer-songwriters, she broke out in the scene with her riveting and emotionally-driven LP Stranger in the Alps back in 2017. The album is a lyrical testimony of the everyday horrors of heartache, loss, and emotional turmoil. Yet, to counteract that, she’s full of life and humor in person. In her interview with Office Magazine, she describes how “it’s a plus to show people that you can write dark music” and “also be a real human being” who’s like everyone else – just “trying to take a shit at Trader Joe’s and can’t, because there’s a line out the door.” Five months later, Bridgers comes out with sexual misconduct allegations against the infamous singer-songwriter, Ryan Adams. To accuse a very successful and more prominent male artist in the music industry, and at the very beginning of her break-out career, was an act of courage and telling of who Bridgers is as a person; the girl’s got guts.  Other than the LP, Bridgers has worked with other musicians throughout several collaborative projects such as boygenius, Better Oblivion Community Center, and a single with Matt Berninger of the National. And that’s not even all of the collaborations she’s done.

Sophie Allison, better known as Soccer Mommy, has a pretty different history in the music industry. She traveled from her hometown of Nashville to New York University as a Liberal Arts undergrad, but found herself with depression. Being away from everyone and everything she’s ever known, Allison held herself up in loneliness. There in her dorm, she poured her heartache into a self-produced album titled For Young Hearts (2016). When she started to gain a following on her bandcamp and receive positive feedback, she quit school to focus on a studio album, Clean, which came out in 2018. Then, Bridgers came in. For her Stranger In the Alps tour, Allison supported her as an opener. From there, her music career began to blossom. Her lyricism is generally of the same themes as Bridgers’, but with more of a bittersweet, “teen angst” vibe. Her music shifted down a darker path with the release of Clean, featuring songs such as the album’s title track, “Still Clean”- describing a gore-y metaphor of a romanticized relationship. The tone of her work moved from soft, lo-fi to a more brooding pop-rock. However, Allison consistently keeps her “chill, but kind of sad” (Rollingstone, 2018) tone throughout all of her work as one of the “heartbreak kids” of the indie genre. Just this past month, she released the single “lucy” (which has already received positive feedback from outlets such as NPR) and continues to work on her upcoming new studio album. 

A good friend of Allison’s is Lindsey Jordan, the face and creator of the indie-rock project Snail Mail. Having grown up watching her female rock idols Hayley Williams and Liz Phair, she set out with her three-piece band to create something with a similar passion and amp as the artists she looked up to. The youngest of the four singer-songwriters, Jordan produced her acclaimed EP Habit at the shockingly young age of 16. After graduating high school, she then released her first LP Lush in 2018, and it was a work widely ahead of anyone her age. With her lyrics comes a sense of wisdom, an enlightenment far beyond what most people would think a teenager from Maryland would have. Her skilled guitar work adds to Lush’s old-soul ambiance, but still grips at themes of teenage heartache and loss. “Pristine” with its Sonic Youth tones and the rich with grief “Stick” showcase the range Snail Mail’s first album reached. She’s a “heartbreak kid” like Allison, but with a bite. Jordan’s travelled the world, performed at Madison Square Garden, and currently working on a second album- all before being able to legally buy herself drink.

The most recently emerging artist of the four is Claire Cottrill (Clairo being her stage name), a bedroom-pop singer-songwriter. Two years ago, on a day she was feeling insecure and down, Claire uploaded a simple youtube video featuring her lip-singing to her song “Pretty Girl”. It became iconic in the indie music community (having over 41 million views now) and opened the door for her to continue publishing music on her channel. Following the hit, she published “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos” and then her popular feel-good anthem, “4EVER”. These don’t have 41 million views, but that’s because she was moving away from youtube. Fans were picking up her music through Spotify, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and eventually via , collaborations she was crafting with artists such as Cuco and Mura Masa. Within the next two years, she’s worked with Charli XCX and Los Angeles indie sweethearts Wallows while at the same time releasing not only an EP with FADER, but her first LP this past summer, Immunity. For her most popular recent track “Bags”, she derived inspiration from Bridgers work, which she revealed on her Twitter. The girl’s got talent and a charm to her music that’s reminiscent of  young love. Young adults gravitate to her bedroom-pop love songs and soft vocals for a reason, and it’s the same reason she’s selling out shows right now, cruising through her first headlining tour. 

In the misogynistic music industry with its  competitive, even cruel, atmosphere, there aren’t many women that have formed a community of support like these four. There aren’t many women that are changing the sound of indie rock like them, either. These women are completely taking over a predominantly male genre, and they’re doing it together. 

It’s through Twitter; if you were to look up Jordan’s Twitter, you’d find Allison commenting back in forth with her. In a photo, Cottrill is seen posing with Jordan and Allison at Coachella. On Bridgers’ account, she’s tweeting in support of the work they’re producing.

They go to each other’s shows. Cottrill and Jordan have performed together. Allison and Jordan have toured together. And Bridgers was one of the first artists to advocate for Allison’s work and get her out there, on stage, and on tour. 

To witness four women in the music industry be a friends and supporting of one another is inspiring- not only for other young female singer-songwriters trying to make it in the big, bad industry, but young women in general. These women coming out of dark times or small towns and have fueled their history and heartache into art, all while supporting each other and other female artists in the industry. As they pave the way for other female musicians, they’re proving women don’t have to be put up against each other in the industry to be successful (something that happens way too often in music). Instead, this community of encouragement and support is 

These four have taken their similar lyricism of loss, love, and longing in the broad indie genre and transformed it into a all-girl support group. It’s hopeful. It’s fun. And it’s something unlike the music industry has ever seen before.