Who are some younger artists that excite you? I’m gonna gonna go to Twitter and look through the people I follow . I love them all. Everyone’s like, “Who are your favorites?” And I’m like, I have no idea, I think they’re all amazing. [_flips through Twitter_] I follow… Rae Morris, Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy obviously, Margot Price, I’ve got Karen O...

Noisey: When you wrote Guyville in your 20s, a lot of it dealt with feeling trapped in this very guy-centric universe of mansplainers. Do you see a difference now in this generation? Has that culture shifted at all? Liz Phair: A bazillion percent. I can go online and spend all day checking out new bands with women and I’m not even trying to. I follow a new female artist, I’d say, daily on Twitter, just because I hear a cool song. It’s what I dreamed of. I could only dream of it back then. And they’re all coming into the male rock world going, “This sucks, this is horrible, I’m the only woman.” And I’m thinking: You have no idea! [_Laughs_] Right now, I feel like I’m looking at a bumper crop and they’re looking at it going, “We’re still the minority and it’s hard,” and it is, but I can see the progress and I’m very excited about it.

Phair’s newfound urge to reminisce will come in handy this year because her landmark debut, 1993’s Exile in Guyville, is turning 25, and it’s a record about which people have no shortage of opinions. This spring, Exile in Guyville is getting a box set reissue from Matador Records , a seven-LP/three-CD edition, replete with remastered versions of her endearingly lo-fi Girly-Sounds demos and a book full of old photos and interviews. Phair will also be commemorating the anniversary with a tour in June. Though she might be into looking back at the past nowadays, we talked to her about the present, and how much the music industry has changed since those days of feeling stranded in Guyville.

What would Liz Phair’s Twitter have been like in 1993? Oh my god, I would tell you about the millions of things I was smart about, I would be snarky, I would be… When I listen to my old interviews, I just want to reach through the screen and tell myself to shut up. I don’t know what I’m saying and I act like I know everything.

Do you wish that Twitter was around in the 90s? No. It’s funny, Joe [Rogan] and I were just talking about that on his podcast . We’re the last generation to straddle both worlds, when you weren’t connected. We got to live in both times. I liked being part of the world more, and I don’t just mean the human world, I mean the world-world. We don’t just go out anymore. We don’t go looking to see where everyone is. We know where they are.

When you listen to these new artists, do you hear any of your influence in them? Sometimes. Like when I first heard Courtney Barnett, I heard it big time. But I don’t even think she listened to me. She might have known about me, but I don’t think she listened to me. When I was listening to Snail Mail’s guitar, I heard me a lot.

Where do you find out about these artists? I literally use the social network socially. Mostly online word of mouth—someone that I’m following flags something or gives a shout-out to their friend. And then there’s all this reach-out. All these young artists reach out to me on Twitter, and I follow them and see who they follow. To me, it’s like woman-world. It’s awesome. It’s all female artists. I think I mostly listen to female music now.

That’s funny because there’s this old interview in the book that comes with the Guyville reissue and I thought you were really honest in it. It’s a level on unguardedness that I wish people still had. Everything’s very polished now, but you were very forthright.

Aw, that makes me feel really good and I’m gonna take that compliment and hold onto it for at least a week because I like that idea. The one thing I would have in common with myself from then would be that I love to goof around. I love playfulness in interviews.

A lot of the music industry problems you highlighted in the 90s—its male-dominated nature—are finally now being talked about in mainstream conversation. What do you see your role in it as now? Do you feel inclined to lead the charge or are you content to sit on the sidelines and cheer on?

I have been oddly quiet and I’m not even sure why. People have been trying to goad me into getting into the fray and I’m not sure why I’m hanging back. It’s not from anything conscious. I just feel like I’ve been banging that drum for a while and I kind of want to just see what everyone’s saying and follow it. I don’t want to lead, which is weird. That’s something I should figure out at some point. But it feels to me like I’ve already said most of this stuff. So I’m sort of watching it go and supporting it and letting other people talk.