You’re Going to Love Emma Ogier’s Music. Just Wait

Last spring, when Bright Eyes kicked off a series of triumphant anniversary shows for their 2005 companion albums I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn , there was a singer onstage that fans didn’t recognize. She had long brunette hair and a Texas twang, delivering Emmylou Harris’ parts on songs like “ We Are Nowhere And It’s Now ” and “ Land Locked Blues. ” Fans took to Instagram and Reddit , asking , “Who was the singer in the blue dress harmonizing?” Some eagle-eyed users sleuthed out her name, and noticed a connection to the Phoebe Bridgers universe when the mystery artist posted a photo with Bridgers’ longtime collaborators Marshall Vore and Harrison Whitford. “I’m just waiting for Phoebe to post about her,” someone wrote. “And [for] her to blow up.”

That same singer performed at a Todd Snider tribute at Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion in March, singing a ridiculously impressive take on “Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White, American Males.” And just recently, she sang on Dominic Fike’s “ Small Town ” and appeared with him onstage , raising even more questions . With her debut album on the way, this is bound to keep happening. So allow us to formally introduce her: Emma Ogier is a songwriter from Houston in her early twenties, and she’s here to stay a while — not only because she’s proven to be one of the most in-demand backup singers, but because her own music is indeed about to blow up (no post from Bridgers or anyone else necessary).

Ogier’s “Baby Don’t Hurt Me,” a highly addictive indie -folk stunner with more than one million streams on Spotify, has been shared by Clairo, Gracie Abrams, Audrey Hobert, Kevin Abstract, Ethel Cain, and others. And her album FLY 1111 , out (fittingly) on Nov. 11, is one of the most surprising and standout debuts of the year — a killer blend of country, folk, indie rock, and pure swagger, with 12 songs that pack a seismic punch when it comes to twentysomething realness. Or, as Ogier puts it, “You don’t know what the fuck it’s like/To be a girl with all these dreams.” Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

When Ogier performs that song, which is called “All These Dreams,” she tells the crowd, “This one’s for the girls, bro!” She recites it to me now on a Zoom call, wearing a Black Keys shirt with her hair in two neat braids. At the time of our interview, Ogier is at her parent’s home in Houston, days away from performing at Austin City Limits (“As a Texan, it’s going to be sick”), and from turning 23 (she was born on Oct. 9, 2003, mere months before Bright Eyes began recording I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning). She’s incredibly down to earth for one of the most buzzed-about songwriters in music, someone you immediately feel like you’ve known for years.

But don’t let her chill disposition fool you: Ogier is incredibly ambitious and confident, as her producer David Baron realized upon meeting her several years ago, when Ogier was still in high school.