Any number of songs from beabadoobee's discography could be a hit from the '00s—her style evokes the same vibes as stand-out songs on a coming-of-age movie soundtrack to college radio top hits to bangers featured in now iconic iconic iPod advertisements. Never mind that she was only born in 2000, the Filipino-English indie star has an affinity for early-aughts-inspired alt-rock—and would transport herself back to the decade, if given the chance.
Sonically, beabadoobee teleports herself back to the ‘00s on her folk-pop-heavy new album This Is How Tomorrow Moves. The record, released on August 9, marks her third studio album and biggest to date, as it debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. charts and became her first entry into the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 album charts.
The album arrives just over a year after the singer—discovered in 2017 by The 1975’s label Dirty Hit via YouTube for her bedroom-produced songs—opened several dates of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. (She also toured with The 1975, who produced a number of her early songs.) The indie-darling-turned-rock-star-in-the-making quickly tapped legendary producer and Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin as a collaborator on what could be called her most highly anticipated project. But rather than going for a full tracklist of arena anthems, they created a stunning folk-pop record that you imagine might've been on the iTunes charts with Fiona Apple and Feist in 2007.
The musician, whose real name is Beatrice Laus, also looked more inward than ever for the album, crafting songs that examine her attraction to recklessness and how she's learning to accept when she's in the wrong. Laus tells Marie Claire that writing This Is How Tomorrow Moves was "100 percent" a healing process. "That was the main reason why I needed to write this record: to understand my brain a little better," she says.
The lyrics mark maturity for Laus as a singer-songwriter and an individual. She's previously spoken about having a defiant streak in her adolescence (including being expelled from school at 17) and picking up a guitar as a means to cope. Laus jokes about what her former teenage rebel self would think of the self-reflection she's done: “I hope that she doesn't hate me." She adds that she would tell her younger self, "Just go be as crazy as you want to be, but you'll grow up and then you'll realize a lot of things. But all of it's necessary—a necessary part of growing up." And in doing so, beabadoobee made one of Gen Z's first great records about stepping into womanhood.
With the singer about to set out on a U.S. tour, she opened up to Marie Claire about her music taste, from the alt-rock that raised her to what '00s scene she wishes she could have experienced and the aughties classics on her party playlist.
Dookie by Green Day on CD. I was like 13 or 14.
I try not to put myself in a box with music or albums in terms of getting inspired by something and making a record from it. But an album that I had been listening to a lot while I was making This Is How Tomorrow Moves—and if it shone through within the songwriting, or as in I was inspired by it so much that it just so happened to thread its way within the music—it probably would be Pinegrove's Cardinal.
[In general], I could say Elliot Smith, but then every Elliot Smith record I love. XO is my favorite, but there are so many of his songs that I take inspiration from.
[When] I grew up, my mom would play The Cardigans a lot. That's one of my favorite bands ever. I also loved the lead singer Nina [Persson]'s voice. So it could have been that. Or it could have been during my high school years [when] I had a group of friends—they're my only friends now—and all we did was listen to The Cure and The Smiths, and there's that jangly sound in that. With my first EPs, I really took inspiration from that sonic palette.
Damn, there's a lot. It could have been around [the '60s folk scene with] Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, or it could have been the '90s when shoegaze was happening. Or to be fair, London in the indie sleaze time was the best. Amy Winehouse and all these iconic musicians would hang out in Camden, and I'm not too far from there. That would be a dream, honestly; that would be so sick.
I was always obsessed with that opening scene in The Darjeeling Limited with Adrian Brody running to get the train. It's The Kinks' "This Time Tomorrow." He's running, and it's slow-mo, and the light is warm, and Adrian Brody's just hot as fuck, and The Kinks are playing. I remember watching that scene being like, This is amazing.
Even Elliot Smith's "Needle in the Hay" in The Royal Tenenbaums. I'm like, "Oh, my God, why's this so good?"
Wes Anderson is not my favorite director. He has such a good choice of music.
I could list about 100, probably, but the one song that always go back to would be "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer.
I have a really sick Dinosaur Jr. shirt that I got from the vintage store ages ago. It just says their name in a cool font on a plain white tee. I love Dinosaur Jr.
Just a really iconic, incredible songwriter. Imagine writing with Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, or the guy from APO Hiking Society, which is a Filipino band. That's what I want to do: "Let's just sit down, play guitar together and write a song."
During lockdown when I had Covid, I would go under the covers, light a spliff, get really, really, really, really, really stoned, have my laptop under the covers, and I'd put a show on. This changed my life, I was like, This is the best way of seeing live music! It feels like I'm actually there!
I'd always put on Veruca Salt at Glastonbury. They're a really amazing band. I remember watching their show religiously every night. It was two girls on guitar just screaming, and it was like mania. It was havoc. It was so sick and they're so badass. I remember watching it being like, Oh, to be a girl on stage with a guitar.
If I started a festival, half the people that would be playing would probably be dead. Obviously, Elliot Smith, Pinegrove, The Sundays, Fiona Apple, Sneaker Pimps for fun, dance-y, whack on the beats there, The Beatles, Jack Black's band Tenancious D—I like songs that make me laugh. There will be a mixture of feelings. You take acid during Sneaker Pimps, and then you get stoned and cry during Fiona Apple.
From friends—my friends have amazing music taste. [Matty Healy from The 1975] made me a playlist and there were loads of good bands on there. He showed me Broken Social Scene a couple of years back and they're one of my favorite bands now.
Also from my band, from my mom, from the internet a lot of the time, and, at times, from TikTok. Wisp is an artist I recently discovered, and she is so awesome and so badass. I heard her song from TikTok and she makes the sickest shoegaze music.
Anything by Elliot Smith if I just want to get it out of the system.
This is so funny because I listen to Pinegrove. I'm listening to "Aphasia" and then 10 minutes later I'm at a rave.
I love Songs About Jane by Maroon 5. That entire album pops off and it makes you feel like you're in 2006. If you're at a party and "She Will Be Loved" [comes on] you're like, "I've gone back in time." I always put a song off that record on, and it's kind of funny.
[My boyfriend] Jacob DJs for parties for us and we have a Gossip Girl[-inspired] playlist. So, it's like "Ur So Gay" by Katy Perry, a bunch of Fiona Apple, and that era of music. But then he gets into it, and it's like the Charli XCX album [Brat], loads of upbeat party songs. Or Justin Timberlake. That's so good at a party. The one where it's like, "The boys! The girls!" and [everybody is] always singing. I didn't know what song that is, but he talks about a girl with brown eyes, and I feel seen.
Then it gets to the point where I'm like, "Play Pinegrove!"
I don't drive, but when I'm in the car I like listening to Title Fight a lot. They're one of my favorite bands. My boyfriend [often drives and] controls the music, and he loves putting Chappell Roan and Lana Del Rey. He loves Blue Banisters. He knows every single lyric word on that album.
The Smashing Pumpkins album Siamese Dream.
I think a lot of it is on this record if I'm being honest. I really love, "In a state of finding comfort in familiar places that I know," [on "The Man Who Left Too Soon"] because I think that encapsulates my life. I find that if you feel comfortable in chaos, then you seek it in any situation you are in, despite it being a healthy one. So, it's like you find comfort in things that you are used to.
I also really like the ["Beaches"] lyric: "Days blend to one when I'm on the right beaches," because that's just feel good. And I love the beach.
The girls. It's obviously for everyone, but it's for the girls!
I'm going on tour soon, so "America" by Razorlight.
