Phoebe Bridgers just beautifully covered Nirvana’s iconic tune “Lithium,” and it’s one of the most transformative cover songs I’ve ever heard.
The singer-songwriter laid down an acoustic version of the song for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge. The arrangement is incredible, turning the abrasive, growling grunge track into a gorgeous folk-pop display. Bridgers’ voice lends itself seamlessly to Kurt Cobain’s poetic lyrics, underscoring the song’s timelessness and legacy.
According to NME, the track seems to have been recorded prior, as on August 19, 2026, Bridgers was forced to cancel some United Kingdom shows due to appendicitis. Certainly, we wish her a speedy recovery and hope to see those rescheduled in the future, but in the meantime, check out her remarkable Nirvana cover below.
Nirvana originally released “Lithium” in 1991, as part of their sophomore album, Nevermind. The track was their third single, and subsequently became one of the band’s biggest songs.
Nirvana’s “Lithium” has gone multi-platinum in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand
According to Radio X, Cobain once said that Lithium was “another story that I made up, but I did infuse some of my personal experiences. Like, breaking up with girlfriends and having bad relationships, feeling that death void that the person in the song is feeling – very lonely, sick.”
However, he later claimed it was also co-inspired by religious uncertainty. “The story is about a guy who lost his girlfriend,” he explained. “I can’t decide what caused her to die, let’s say she died of AIDS or a car accident or something, and he’s going around brooding, and he turned to religion as a last resort to keep himself alive. To keep him from suicide.”
“Sometimes I think religion is ok for certain people,” Cobain continued. “It’s good to use religion as a last resort before you go insane.”
“I have this relative who I really love a lot, and she really inspired me because she was a musician,” he added. “I used to go to her house all the time, and she became really disillusioned with her life and became suicidal. And we felt that she was gonna kill herself. Now she’s a Born Again Christian – and because of religion she is alive still. I think that is ok.”
Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images
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