This Is How Tomorrow Moves marks a period of growth for Philippines-born Londoner Beabadoobee. In the professional sense, she’s gone viral many times over in the past two years, toured America with Taylor Swift and made this record in California with the legendary Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers/Imagine Dragons/Gossip). In a more personal sense, she’s prioritised growth and healing as she reflects on everything that came before. Stepping away from the angsty grunge-infused alt-pop of her first two records, Fake It Flowers and Beatopia, her Rubin-produced third album favours bright, bold introspection: “I guess it’s about becoming a woman,” she declared in May, when announcing the record.
Complex and hard-hitting emotional themes are the main focus here. Indie-pop opener, and recent single, Take A Bite reflects on her proclivity for chaos with light and airy dream-pop vocals. Tie My Shoes explores the residual pain of childhood trauma and complicated parental relationships, while The Man Who Left Too Soon grieves the fact that she will never get to meet her partner’s late father. Even the thematically lighter moments of the album are approached with depth and maturity, such as Coming Home’s take on homesickness and domestic bliss. And there’s a certain humour in Real Man, where Beabadoobee conjures up the sarky alt-pop of Marina and Halsey as she laments a disappointing one-night stand.
But while the emotional depth of the album is admirable, there is something left to be desired musically on This Is How Tomorrow Moves. Softer numbers like the Swift-inspired singles Ever Seen and Beaches, and a large part of One Time fail to distinguish themselves. In these moments, poignant lyricism is lost in instrumentation that plays it too safe. However, we do see some flashes of Beatopia’s innovation and charm in the grungy Post and the bossa-nova-inspired A Cruel Affair.
Piano ballad Girl Song has great potential, but in the end, it explores insecurities with little depth (“Just a girl who overthinks about proportions or her waist / the creases on her face”). Elsewhere, sickly sweet lyrics like “Now the weather’s got me down / But like the sun you’ll come around” (Everything I Want) fall short beside the album’s punchier emotional moments.
This Is How Tomorrow Moves is raw and candid in its touching analysis of trauma, pain and love, but at many points, the album fails to keep up musically. But if it lacks the personality of Fake It Flowers and the eccentricity of Beatopia, there is still plenty to love about the emotional intimacy of This Is How Tomorrow Moves, and Beabadoobee's star is still rising.
