Photo: Instagram
She is more than the abuse she allegedly endured.
By Alison Cerri — Written on Feb 17, 2019
Although the article features different people, the story The New York Times broke on Wednesday follows a similar arc to others we’ve seen in recent months. Women try to advance their career; a man steps in and says he can help … then oversteps professional and ethical boundaries. Les Moonves lost out on a $120 million exit package from CBS because of his lack of cooperation with investigators digging into sexual assault allegations. Women like Bobbie Phillips are finding their voices through and sharing their stories regarding sexual assault in all kinds of settings.
The music scene is not immune to this plague that lurks in the entertainment industry. Ryan Adams may have seven Grammy nominations to his name, but he now also carries emotional abuse and sexual assault allegations as well. Adams was accused by seven different women, two of them anonymous, in The New York Times article. One woman, identified as Ava, began corresponding with him when she was just 14 in 2013. While she wanted a career, Adams allegedly wanted more. Their relationship, which was exclusively through text and Skype, quickly turned graphic. The F.B.I is now looking into their communication.
Adams is clearly not happy with the article. He took to Twitter to contest the accusations.
Another accuser is Adams’s own ex-wife, Mandy Moore. She is now known for her role on This Is Us, but he was an important part in navigating her teen-pop years into a more fully-fledged career. She says in the article, “Music was a point of control for him.” Phoebe Bridgers was also interviewed in the article. The 24-year-old musician is based in Los Angeles and has been making some waves in the industry for a few years. Her sound is different than that of Moore, and another accuser, Courtney Jaye. On Spotify, Bridgers is described as a “folk-rock artist with a dreamy and hook-filled indie pop heart.”
Who is Phoebe Bridgers? Her growing music career may have surpassed Adams’s grips, but his influence still casts a shadow.
1. She had some esteemed music mentors from an early age.
Although Adams was the one who helped her to music’s main stage, Bridger’s musical talent was honed in by some considerable names in the community.
She is connected to Carla Azar of Autolux, and learned the banjo from Ben Harper’s mom. Her musical contacts even extend into other aspects of her life: her lawyer was in The Lemonheads.
2. Her music has been featured on television.
Bridgers has been featured on three different programs. Two of her songs, “Safe at Home” and “Ask Me To/Steamroller” were on ABC Family’s Switched at Birth. She also had two songs on ABC’s Castle, “Georgia” and “Smoke Signals.”
The artist also has a song on the soundtrack for 13 Reasons Why, season 2. She performed “The Night We Met” with Lord Huron.
3. Adams reached out to her when she was 20 years old, and she impressed him with her talent.
According to The New York Times article, Adams asked her to come to his record label Pax-Am’s studio in 2014. He was very taken with her sound. Bridgers told The Times he compared her to Bob Dylan.
Their romantic relationship took off at about the same time as their professional relationship, as while Adams and Bridgers were discussing the 7” vinyl (her EP “Killer”) he said he’d put out under his label, he began sending her flirtatious texts. Within a week of their relationship, he juxtaposed their romance with their careers, talking about both marriage and Bridgers opening for him on tour.
Soon after, he became emotionally abusive. He obsessed over where she was and even went as far as threatening suicide over her. She ended their romantic relationship but was still tied to him professionally. And he continued to tease her professionally, which again turned into unprofessionalism, according to Bridgers. She accepted his offer to open for a few shows of his 2017 tour.
“Then, the first day,” she said, “he asked me to bring him something in his hotel room. I came upstairs and he was completely nude.”
Bridgers’ career will always be connected to Adams, as he received media credit for releasing her first three songs.
4. She wrote a song about Adams.
In an interview with Fader magazine, she revealed that the song “Motion Sickness” is about him. The song outlines her brief romantic relationship with him and its lasting effects.
5. She’s currently on tour.
The Adams story broke on the same day Bridgers played a sold-out show at the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney, Australia.
She is still down under but will be traveling back to the States with Better Oblivion Community Center, a band she fronts along with Conor Oberst. Their eponymous debut album came out in January 2019. The band has performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and CBS This Morning Saturday.
Better Oblivion Community Center’s tour takes off in Tuscon, AZ on March 8 and will circle around the country until April 13. On April 29, the band will head out to Europe until mid-May.
Alison Cerri is an editorial intern at YourTango. When she's not writing, she can be found on a run or at rugby practice. Follow her on Instagram.