Phoebe Bridgers SNL Guitar Smash

Overview

Phoebe Bridgers SNL Guitar Smash refers to a performance by indie rock musician Phoebe Bridgers on Saturday Night Live in which she attempted to smash her guitar after performing her song, "I Know The End." The performance drew some criticism from people who said it was wasteful for her to smash the guitar, which in turn led to a wave of people defending her. Others made jokes about her inability to smash the guitar.

Background

Early in the morning on February 7th, 2021, Phoebe Bridgers appeared on Saturday Night Live, performing her songs "Kyoto" and "I Know The End." At the end of her performance of the latter, she attempted to smash her guitar on stage, banging it over a speaker a few times before dropping it to the ground (shown below).

Developments

After the performance aired, some social media users voiced their distaste for the act. One of the most notable criticism came from @mmpadellan,^[1] aka BrooklynDad_Defiant! on Twitter, who wrote, "Why did this woman, Phoebe Bridgers, destroy her guitar on SNL? I mean, I didn't care much for the song either, but that seemed extra." The tweet was heavily criticized, racking up a ratio of 8,300 quote-tweets to 500 retweets (shown below, left). Music critic Matthew Perpetua^[2] reposted a tweet from an anonymous younger user who said the guitar smashing was "rude and wasteful," gaining over 530 retweets and 6,900 likes (shown below, right).

These tweets inspired a wave of jokes in Bridgers' defense. User @NightlifeMingus^[3] wrote, "if phoebe bridgers lightly denting a cheap guitar on SNL can provoke this level of discourse, we absolutely need to make rock music scary again. bring back the blood and snakes. bring back the music videos where a businessman’s head explodes because he hears a guitar solo," gaining over 5,900 retweets and 61,000 likes (shown below, left). User @rajat_suresh^[4] joked, "phoebe bridgers rudely hitting her guitar on studio 8H stage could have broken the stage. please respect the stage that kenan walks on ms. bridgers," gaining over 990 likes (shown below, right). Consequence of Sound^[5] published an opinion piece defending Bridgers smashing her guitar.

Some joked about Bridgers inability to destroy the guitar. User @sullllly^[6] joked, "'sticks and stones may break my bones but phoebe bridgers can never hurt me' -phoebe bridgers’ guitar on snl" (shown below, left). User @savorycumplex^[7] joked Bridgers' shopping list included "a guitar that's easier to break" (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References