Beabadoobe: This Is How Tomorrow Moves (Dirty Hit) 9th August 2024

(5 / 5)

Beabadoobee’s third studio album, “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” is out today (9th August 2024) via the Dirty Hit label. Produced by the legendary Rick Rubin, for me it is the best thing she’s put out so far. The whole caboodle; songs, arrangements, vocals, musicianship and especially the production values, is/are faultless.

It is a kind of coming of age, with real a maturity in the song writing craft, but she still retains her playfulness. One of the strongest album releases of this year thus far, eight months in, and a shoo-in to grace many “Best Of” lists at the end of 2024, methinks.

The 14-track album features the superb singles “Ever Seen”, “Take A Bite” and “Coming Home”, and stands as a testament to Beabadoobee’s artistic evolution and resilience. It captures a journey through confidence and introspection, with themes of self-acceptance and personal growth woven throughout; in parts a love letter to her younger self and all that she’s been through.

Born in the Philippines and raised in London, 23-year-old Beatrice Laus, known as Beabadoobee, has emerged as a British indie icon – with two acclaimed albums and five diverse EPs, she’s garnered nominations for a BRIT Award and BBC “Sound Of” poll.

With five billion streams worldwide, and an eight and a half million social reach, Beabadoobee has built a massive and dedicated Gen-Z fan base.

Her debut album, “Fake It Flowers” released in 2020, received widespread critical acclaim and debuted in the UK Top 10; followed in 2022 by “Beatopia”, which debuted in the UK Top five accompanied by sold out tours across the globe. My bet is this one will bag a higher chart spot.

Beabadoobee most recently supported Taylor Swift on the North American stretch of her Eras Tour, and has previously joined The 1975, Halsey and Clairo on the road, as well as performing at major festivals such as Coachella and Glastonbury.

With “This Is How Tomorrow Moves”, Bea is comfortable in taking the reins of this next stage of her life: “I love this album. I feel like it’s helped me so much more than anything else has in navigating this new era, this new understanding of where I’m at. I guess it’s about becoming a woman.”

“I think I’m more aware of my actions in these songs. In my previous records, I would consistently sing about my reaction towards other people’s doings, like a blame game. But in this record, it’s an acceptance that there’s an inevitability of my fault in there too. Whether it’s childhood trauma or relationship issues, it takes two to tango in everything.”

Bea has also shared her excellent new single and its video, “Beaches.” One of the later additions to the album, “Beaches” was written when she was recording the album at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio in the US. During that time Bea revelled in her new surroundings: eating healthily, soaking up the sun, going for dips in the ocean and constantly writing and recording. “Beaches” encapsulates this special, unforgettable time with its chorus of: “I’m sure now, I’m sure now” celebrating her self-belief and new level of confidence.

“I was just going to put my feet in,” Bea remembers about her first time jumping into the water in Malibu. “But then everyone was like, ‘Why wouldn’t you just put your whole body in? Jump in!’ And that became such an encapsulation of this whole recording opportunity – don’t do it half-arsed, just go full force!”

With guidance from Rubin, Bea noticed how much she enjoyed getting back to the roots of her craft. “He kind of gave me the confidence that I can trust my song writing – like I earned this position to be in Shangri-La: it’s not an opportunity to waste, and it gave me a shit-ton of confidence: I can write a song, that’s the one thing I know I can do.”

Yes, yes, yes she sure can. There’s 14 gems of ’em on this LP and not a dodgy track or filler among them. It opens strongly with the excellent “Take A Bite”, which whets the appetite for what’s to come. Then “California”, which has vibes of the kind of gorgeous work Holly Humberstone puts out.

This magazine has championed Beabadoobee since 2018/19, prior to her debut album, and we still predict her career has nowhere near reached its destination yet, and her star still very much on the ascent. There is an infectious quality to her vocals and her songs here, and for me, she is an artist very much in her own lane, but bang on-trend for today’s appetite for classy indie music.

If the slot for “Album of the month” for August had not already been filled by Mille Manders and the Shut Up – “Wake Up, Shut Up, Work”, I’d be heavily pitching the editor to award it to this gorgeous offering from the fabulous Beabadoobee. So let’s say this one shares that accolade, unofficially, shall we? Yeah…

2024 also sees Beabadoobee tour across the US and the UK. This month she opens for Mitski at All Points East festival in London and headlines the BBC Radio 1 stage at Reading and Leeds before heading to North America for an extensive tour. She then returns to the UK for her biggest headline run to date, culminating at London Alexandra Palace, before heading off to mainland Europe for a full headline tour.