1990–1992: Girly Sound tapes Phair's entry into the music industry began when she met guitarist
Chris Brokaw, a member of the band
Come. Brokaw was dating one of Phair's friends, and stayed at their loft in
SoMa one weekend. After living in
San Francisco for a year, Phair went broke and returned to
Illinois, moving back in to her family's home. She used the name
Girly-Sound on these recordings. The album received uniformly excellent reviews. The album received significant critical acclaim for its blunt, honest lyrics and for the music itself, a hybrid of
indie rock and
lo-fi, and established Phair's penchant for exploring sexually explicit lyrics. By contrast, her trademark low,
vibrato-less monotone voice gave many of her songs a slightly detached, almost deadpan character. The release of Phair's second album received substantial media attention and an advertising blitz.
Whip-Smart debuted at No. 27 in 1994 and "Supernova," the first single, became a Top 10 modern rock hit, and the video was frequently featured on
MTV. Phair also landed the cover of
Rolling Stone with the headline "A Rock Star Is Born." The album received positive reviews, although not as acclaimed as the debut, but was certified
Gold (shipments of at least 500,000 units). It ultimately did not sell as well as expected, as it was hoped the album would introduce Phair to a wider, more mainstream audience. Following
Whip-Smart, Phair released
Juvenilia, a collection of some early Girly Sound tracks and several B-sides, including her cover of the 1980 song by
The Vapors, "
Turning Japanese." In 1994, Phair made several live television and radio appearances in an effort to promote
Exile in Guyville and
Whip-Smart; she appeared on
Late Show With David Letterman performing "
Never Said" and "Supernova", and on
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno performing an acoustic version of "Whip-Smart". She also performed "Alice Springs" live on
Good Morning America. She also appeared on the MTV alternative rock show
120 Minutes performing "Never Said", "
6'1"", "Cinco de Mayo" and "Supernova" live at various times during 1994 and early 1995. Phair's third album,
Whitechocolatespaceegg, was released in 1998 after some delays, which included a disagreement about content; at one point, Matador rejected the album as submitted, and asked Phair to write a few additional radio-friendly songs for the set. The album displayed a more mature Phair, and reflected some of the ways marriage and motherhood affected her. While the single "
Polyester Bride" received some airplay, and the album received many positive reviews, it was no more successful commercially than her previous records. To promote the record, Phair joined
Lilith Fair. Phair performed on the main stage along with acts like
Sarah McLachlan,
Emmylou Harris,
Sheryl Crow and
Missy Elliott. She also opened for
Alanis Morissette on her 1999
Junkie Tour. Phair portrayed the role of office manager Brynn Allen opposite
Robin Tunney in the 2002 film
Cherish.
2003–2007: Liz Phair and ''Somebody's Miracle'' Phair provided backing vocals on the 2003
Sheryl Crow single "
Soak Up the Sun". In 2003, Phair released her
self-titled fourth album on her new label,
Capitol Records. It departed from Phair's earlier
lo-fi sound for more polished pop production and songwriting. Phair said she wanted to earn more money from her work, and hired
the Matrix, who had produced songs by pop acts including
Avril Lavigne, to create some songs, including the singles "
Extraordinary" and "
Why Can't I?"
Liz Phair debuted at No. 27 on the
Billboard 200. "Why Can't I?" entered the
Adult Top 40 and
Hot Adult Contemporary charts, and its music video placed Phair in heavy rotation on
VH1 for the first time. It received mixed reviews, including negative reviews from the
New York Times and
Pitchfork, who accused Phair of
selling out and mimicking younger artists. In 2019, the
Pitchfork critic Matt LeMay apologized for his review, saying he had failed to appreciate Phair's willingness to "try on different masks". ''
Somebody's Miracle'', Phair's fifth album and final with Capitol Records, was released in 2005. It returned to a rock sound. The album received mixed reviews, with Amy Phillips of
Pitchfork writing: "Now this is a terrible Liz Phair record. ''Somebody's Miracle'' is mostly generic pap that any number of next-big-has-beens could have cranked out, a useless piece of plastic poking a pointy heel in the eye of the carcass of the artist Liz once was." A review published by
MSNBC found the album "less blatantly commercial [than her previous], but still smooth, reflecting her increasing shift toward a clearer sound". In 2006, she performed one of her songs at the end of an episode of TV series
Charmed (season 8, episode 8).
2008–2009: television composing Phair signed with
Dave Matthews' label
ATO Records in early 2008 and re-released
Exile in Guyville on June 24, 2008, on CD, vinyl, and in digital format, featuring three songs from the original recording sessions, "Ant in Alaska," "Say You," and an untitled instrumental, and also a documentary DVD, "Guyville Redux." " In May 2009, Phair released a new song, "Faith and Tenderness," sold exclusively at
Banana Republic on a compilation disc featuring other artists. Also in 2009, Phair began working as a television composer, following an invitation by her childhood friend
Mike Kelley to score the show he was creating for CBS,
Swingtown, given it was based on the life in their hometown. For the task, Phair decided to bring in Doc Dauer, producer of a children's album about bodily functions,
The Body Rocks, where Phair performed after being brought in by
Pete Yorn, and Dauer's creative partner
Evan Frankfort. She followed it by creating the theme song for
NBC's
The Weber Show, and working for the CW's
The 100, the USA Network show
In Plain Sight and the CW reboot of
90210, for which she won the 2009 ASCAP award for Top Television Composer.
2010–2015: Funstyle On July 3, 2010, Phair's official website announced a surprise link to download her new album
Funstyle, which she released independently after parting ways with Capitol Records and ATO. The song "
Bollywood" was available to stream from the site for a limited time, before Phair took it down. A note from Phair to her fans posted on her official website explained why the songs were problematic: Phair revealed in an interview with the
Wall Street Journal that the falling out with her record label, ATO, occurred after a change in management. She explained, "The people who were still there didn't like, or didn't know what to do with, the music I was making, so we just stalled out and I asked to leave." Phair went on tour to promote the album, playing many songs from
Guyville and
Whip-Smart, along with songs from the rest of her repertoire. The Funstyle Tour ran from October 2010 to March 2011. The tour's last show took place at the
SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. In 2012, she co-wrote and performed the song "Dotted Line" with
A. R. Rahman for the film
People Like Us. "The song 'Dotted Line' I wrote with A. R. Rahman for
Alex Kurtzman's film 'Welcome To People'," she said in an interview. "Both amazing. 'Welcome To People' is a truly powerful film. Very proud of being part of it." The dystopian holiday song "Ho Ho Ho" was released by Phair in late 2014. In 2014, Capitol released a greatest hits compilation of Phair's work entitled
Icon.
2016–Present: Guyville retrospective, Soberish and recent tours In spring of 2016, Phair performed as the opening act for
The Smashing Pumpkins on their
In Plainsong tour. In late 2015 and mid-2016, Phair stated on her Twitter that she intended to release two albums by the end of 2016. It was confirmed via Twitter that Phair was working on a double album, produced by fellow singer-songwriter
Ryan Adams in his PAX-AM recording studio. Phair's project with Adams did not proceed. When multiple women publicly disclosed accusations of abuse against Adams in 2019, a Twitter user asked Phair for a comment about Adams, to which she replied, "My experience was nowhere near as personally involving, but yes the record ended and the similarities are upsetting." In 2018, it was announced that Phair's former label, Matador, would be releasing a 25th-anniversary retrospective set for her debut album,
Exile in Guyville. The set, titled
Girly Sound to Guyville, included remasters of Phair's 1991 demo tapes recorded under the moniker
Girly-Sound from the original sources, and was released May 4, 2018. In support of this retrospective, Phair embarked on two North American tours — the
Girly Sound to Guyville Tour and the
Amps on the Lawn Tour. Phair continued to tour through the summer of 2019. In April 2019, Phair announced on
Instagram that she had been working on new studio material with
Brad Wood, who produced
Exile in Guyville,
Whip-Smart, and parts of
whitechocolatespaceegg. On October 8, 2019, Phair shared "Good Side," a song from these sessions. Her seventh album,
Soberish, with Wood as producer, was later announced for release in 2021. In April 2020, the release of a cover version of "
Hanging on the Telephone" by Phair with former friend and collaborator
Jim Ellison of
Material Issue was announced. Recorded before Ellison's death in 1996, the song, originally released by
The Nerves in 1976 and also covered by
Blondie, was to be released along with a documentary entitled
Out of Time: The Material Issue Story. Phair and Ellison previously teamed in the 1990s on covers of "
Turning Japanese" and "
The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)". In February 2021, Phair announced she had signed a contract with newly re-formed
Chrysalis Records to issue her album
Soberish later in the year. The album was released that June, produced by Brad Wood. It garnered some of Phair's strongest reviews since
Guyville.
Pitchfork called the album "a solid, sharply written record of sturdy, enjoyable songs that gradually unfold to reveal new depths of feeling." In
Rolling Stone, Jon Dolan wrote that
Soberish "brings to mind the glory of
Guyville and its 1994 follow-up,
Whip-Smart, without feeling at all like self-conscious recapitulation." A review by El Hunt in the
NME stated that "
Soberish serves as a reminder of Liz Phair's brilliance after years of underestimation. Far from simply drawing on her most critically acclaimed albums, it draws on the whole lot, and finds newness within." Phair was due to tour later in 2021 as part of
Alanis Morissette's rescheduled 2020 tour, but canceled for undisclosed reasons. She did end up touring in the fall of 2023 for the 30th anniversary of
Exile in Guyville, where she would perform the album in its entirety alongside several other fan favorites. In August 2024, Phair officially announced a publishing deal with
Warner Chappell Music. ==Personal life==