Kyoto (Phoebe Bridgers song)
"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.[2][3][4][5][6][7] At the 2021 Grammy Awards, "Kyoto" was nominated for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.
"Kyoto"
April 9, 2020
Sound City (Los Angeles, California)[1]
3:04
- Phoebe Bridgers
- Morgan Nagler
- Marshall Vore
- Tony Berg
- Ethan Gruska
- Phoebe Bridgers
Music video[edit]
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,[12] 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.[14] 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.[12] The video was directed and edited by Nina Ljeti.[15]
Live performances[edit]
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.[18] Bridgers did another remote performance of the song on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on July 20, 2020.[19] On September 12, 2020 Bridgers performed the song on CBS This Morning alongside other Punisher tracks.[20] 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.[21] She performed the song on her Saturday Night Live debut on February 6, 2021.[22]