Back in 2024, Bright Eyes canceled a bunch of tour dates, citing frontman Conor Oberst's vocal issues. At the time, there was plenty of speculation that Oberst was suffering from other problems as well, and he has basically confirmed that speculation. Oberst was having a hard time. These days, Oberst seems like he's doing much better, playing shows and selling pre-rolls and losing his own lookalike contest. Now, he's talking about how dark things got for him.
Earlier this year, Oberst talked about his darkest moment in an LA Times interview, laughing that the issue wasn't his voice but that he "was not in good shape to sing." In that interview, he said:
I’m doing so much better. Made some lifestyle changes — I’m not gonna say I’m sober because I’m not. But I gave up the worst of it. I’m trying to go on with life and not dwell on it. But any kind of near-death experience, it does completely change your outlook on the world.
Bright Eyes are heading back out on tour this fall, and Oberst recently sat down with my guys Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli on the latest edition of the New York Times Popcast. In the first moment from the interview that the Times people clipped, Coscarelli asks Oberst about his near-death experience. Without getting into the specifics of that experience, Oberst talks about coming back from it:
I didn't see the light or anything like that, but it was very real. I didn't really feel happy or sad or anything like that. I actually had the meanest internal voice, being like, "Haven't you wanted this your whole life, you fucking son of a bitch?" When I was really close to the edge, there was nothing good about it. I could keep doing what I'm doing and probably be dead really fast, or I could change up my style and try to stay around and make more things and don't be in such a hurry. Life's so short...
People need me around, you know? My family need me around, my friends. It's one of those things that I think people find different reasons to live for and all that sort of thing.
Watch that part below.
Conor Oberst's full hour-long Popcast interview is out now, and the whole thing isn't that heavy. Other conversational topics include the question of whether Oberst considers himself a former child star, the difficulty of writing protest songs in the Trump years, and the very concept of the "mom prom." I haven't heard the whole thing yet, but it's cool to hear Oberst hold forth like this.
