5. This is How Tomorrow Moves - Beabadoobee
beabadoobee's third full length album about growing up and coming into herself as a person and an artist
I spent some time the last couple of weeks doubting the direction of this blog/website/whatever we want to call it. While it was intended to be a space for mostly myself, I felt a wall. What else did I have to write? What importance would even be placed on it? What was the overall purpose of even existing in this space? Coupled with a distinct lack of creative spark, I started scraping into barrels my mind for topics to try to write about. I never intended this to focus solely on new music, but I was going that direction. I never intended to focus on one language or genre, but it felt like it was going that way.
Sometime last week, two substacks I follow and greatly enjoy featured posts on ~coming of age~ (Melted Form, a great substack on ambient and other genres of music; and isla at the silent screen who provides great film commentary and reviews). I wasn’t sure if I was missing something topically in the pop culture space, or what kind of coincidence it was that this topic was across by subscriptions. But my feelings interacting with these posts sat with me and hit an a-ha moment when I was going through my Friday new music listens. It felt almost like it was more than a coincidence — a type of fate? Unsure, but here we are.
I first discovered beabadoobee in or around 2020. I cannot recall exactly, but I do remember her debut album Fake It Flowers being on the albums that really carried me through late 2020 into 2021. I loved the rawness of her nostalgic sound, and felt like the youth angst built into her songwriting really encompassed what I was feeling at that time deep in the pandemic.
Her second album Beatopia did not resonate with me as much. While I came around to parts of it after some time, I didn’t feel as inspired or moved by the material. A continuation of her 90’s alt-rock influenced songs, the album felt like a stagnation of sorts. Overall enjoyable but left questions as to where things would go with her sound and lyricism.
A couple tours around the world later, the ending of relationships, and new sense of self have brought beabadoobee to her third studio album, This is How Tomorrow Moves, a project that feels like a culmination of her life lessons and growth as she enters adulthood. A sort of coming of age — an album on growing up, breakups, self reflection, and new love.
While I waited patiently for the full album to come out and skipped pre-release tracks after “Take A Bite” was released, I’m not sure that I can say that I was excited. “Take a Bite” had the same beabadoobee vibes I was familiar with, but felt cleaner and more refined. I wasn’t sure what the rest of the album would feel like, but I purposefully did not watch other pre-release music videos until we got the full package. Lyrically acknowledging her own toxicity in relationships, the opening track “Take a Bite” sets the tone, and almost a roadmap, for the rest of the album.
“California” is probably her most rock-iest song on the album, and the most similar sonically to her previous works.
Lyrically, the narrator reminiscing about how hard she has tried to be understood, whether it’s with an ex or her listeners, pairs so well with this more traditional rock pop sound. It was a smart production choice to keep this style together rather than explore other genres with such lyrics, almost as if the listener would maybe only really get the message with her usual sound accompanying it (but also being an outlet for her to have a rockier vocal, and let it all out).
“Girl Song” is hands down my favorite track on the album. An on the face of it sweet piano ballad that explores self doubt that stems from having an overall bad day. While fairly simplistic, the stripped down nature of the song with a piano to accompany the vocals makes it just the right amount of emotional for the subject matter.
All I want to do is find the words to make it up to you
Making all the same mistakes
I guеss there's still a lot to prove
And thеre's something I can't say in an ordinary way
While one can debate who she is speaking to here, I took it as if she is really just speaking to herself. All her mistakes she made, or the roads she took over her career, it was always about proving things to herself.
The album’s closing track “This is How It Went” lyrically describes a quite famous (for fans, at least) spat with her ex, who through social media passive aggressiveness ruined a previously very personal song for her and her fans.
I love the juxtaposition of the more upbeat melody with a very bright piano line, to what are slightly frustrated lyrics about just being over it. The Elliott Smith influence is most apparent in this track, but it works so well with her vocals and lyrical style. The constant repetition of lyrics
Getting tired don't want to speak
Oh, please let me go to sleep
Getting tired don't want to speak
Oh, please let me go to sleep
into a singing whisper as the music fades out is such a soft yet poignant way to end the album.
This album’s production feels more clean and polished than her previous work. Perhaps its the influencer of acclaimed producer Rick Rubin who took the helm on this project, or was part of her overall growth in direction, but it was noticeable how some of the fuzzy rock elements that clouded her previous album took a back seat to the vocals and background instruments on this record. I also feel like the influence of Rubin’s more psychologist approach to production influenced beabadoobee to trust herself more and lean into a more open approach to instrumentation, rather than forcing herself to continue in a vacuum.
While she has explored other genres in the past, and even integrated such work in a series of single collabs prior to this album’s release, it feels like all of those were a form of training wheels for beabadoobee to really come into her own in those genres. For example, the bossa nova influenced “A Cruel Affair” - Beatopia’s “The Perfect Pair” was also a nod to the genre, and she explored further jazz roots in her collab with pop-jazz phenom Laufey. But A Cruel Affair feels like a true culmination of her exploration and feels like all the parts came together seamlessly.
I also wonder if the vocals came through for me so well in this album because of new life choices she herself made in the process of working on it. Discussing the way touring negatively impacted her and her sobriety, beabadoobee mentioned the way such a lifestyle also wrecked her voice and she needed to make a change for her to sustain in this career. The narratives of drug use and sobriety were embedded through out many of the songs on this album, and I do wonder in what way this will impact her moving forward.
Music as a form of therapy, a space for vulnerability that doesn’t translate as well in one’s everyday life. Feeling as though she is finally entering into adulthood and a new chapter, the journey on This is How Tomorrow Moves encapsulates so much learning and growth, making you remember that beabadoobee only really even started playing the guitar just 7 years ago.
Writing on new experiences and new changes in her live, beabadoobee seems to have reached a turning point in her life and career, a sort of coming of age, that makes me excited to see where she continues her path in music.
Thanks for tuning in.