Phoebe Bridgers joined Danny Elfman for a live-to-film performance of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas on December 9 and 10 at London’s OVO Arena Wembley, and the duo sat down with NME to discuss their creepy collaboration.
The “I Know the End” singer revealed that she had “such a crush on Sally” growing up and the film “informed stylistically a lot of me gravitating towards goth stuff as a kid.” Thus, she was the perfect fit to take on the singing role of the rebellious ragdoll, alongside Elfman, who reprised his role as the pumpkin king Jack Skellington for the shows.
Later on in the interview, Bridgers talked about the process making her SZA collaboration, “Ghost in the Machine,” off the latter’s freshly released album, S.O.S. “That record is insane,” Bridgers noted.
“She just hit me up. She just sent me a DM, and then it all happened so fast,” the 28-year-old recalled of how the collaboration came together. “I wasn’t really used to that in that pop world, because vinyl isn’t so much of a consideration until way later. It’s just like, ‘Do you want to be on this record? OK, it’s out next week.’ It was so recent, which I really like. I like that turnaround time. Personally, I sit on stuff for so long and it takes me years to make albums. I like seeing someone else’s world from that angle.”
Of SZA, Bridgers gushed, “She’s definitely my favorite rapper. She’s so, so effective and cool and a great hang.”
Watch the full interview below.
