Joan Didion, iconic writer known for her works like Play It As It Lays and The White Album, has passed away at the age of 87. A groundbreaking journalist covering counter culture in the ’60s, ’70s, and beyond, Didion’s writing influenced generations after her, including many of today’s musicians. Mourning her passing and reflecting on her life’s work, many musicians took to Twitter to pay tribute to the iconic writer.
Some musicians had very heartfelt and touching response to the news about Didion’s passing. Phoebe Bridgers shared a passage from Didion’s essay “Goodbye To All That” about being in an unfamiliar place while adding “RIP Joan.”
RIP Joan.
— traitor joe (@phoebe_bridgers) December 23, 2021
Artists like Maggie Rogers, Best Coast, and Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin reflected on how much Didion’s writing has meant to them over the years.
there’s always a book of joan essays in my backpack. she reminds me how to see. how to be with the world. how to feel it. how to know it bc i feel it.
may the writer gods greet you as you take your great place in the sky.
pic.twitter.com/YgTlr3wmMa
— Maggie Rogers (@maggierogers) December 23, 2021
I moved to New York to study creative writing because of her. I started obsessively writing about California because of her and moved home to start a band. This one really gets me. Thank you Joan for everything
— Best Coast (@BestCoast) December 23, 2021
joan didion means so much to me as a writer, a thinker, a Californian, & a deeply provocative and vulnerable woman with a shield of granite. we lost a giant this week
— illuminati hotties (@illuminatihotts) December 23, 2021
deep rest in the arms of the Almighty to the best prose stylist of her generation or several other generations, a novelist of the first rank, and a figure of profound influence for me. I wrote my English thesis on her; thank God that floppy discs are basically unreadable now. https://t.co/8M2bdKYcHy
— The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) December 23, 2021
Charly Bliss had their own way of remembering the iconic writer. The band retweeted one of their tweets from last month that read, “Joan Didion should go on Hot Ones,” and simply added a few hearts for good measure.
<3 <3 <3 https://t.co/sPbagJSsCM
— Charly Bliss (@charlybliss) December 23, 2021
Several other musicians also shared some thoughts on Didion’s passing including Aly & AJ, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis, Jenny Lewis, and more.
Not Joan Didion & Eve Babitz in the same week
Heaven just got 2 incredible story tellers. Can’t help but be a bit envious of the angels listening in right now. No one spoke about Los Angeles like these two
— Aly & AJ (@alyandaj) December 23, 2021
joan didion and eve babitz going in the same week seems equal parts baffling and like twisted proof of balance in the universe
— speedy ortiz ÷ sad13 ÷ sadie dupuis ÷ haunted guy (@sad13) December 23, 2021
LOVE YOU JOAN
THANK YOU https://t.co/w7Fb3167QA— jenny lewis (@jennylewis) December 23, 2021
Fare thee well Joan Didion. Thank you for your brilliant mind and extraordinary prowess with a pen. pic.twitter.com/L6CHPjoWdg
— Garbage (@garbage) December 23, 2021
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.