Music / beabadoobee

Got new hair, new face

I'm from outer space

—"I Wish I was Stephen Malkmus"

Influences:

• Alex G, Kimya Dawson, Daniel Johnston, Mac Demarco, Mazzy Star, Alanis Morissette, Pavement, Simon & Garfunkel, Elliott Smith, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

beabadoobee (Bea Laus) is a British rock musician and solo artist. She originally gained a following via her Instagram after putting out a few low-fi Bedroom Pop songs, but she quickly switched to a grungy Space Rock sound after picking up a backing band. She came to wider attention after one of her songs went viral on TikTok and signed to the British label Dirty Hit. After releasing four EPs, her first full-length, Fake It Flowers, was released in October 2020.

beabadoobee's sound and image is heavily inspired by 90's lofi Alternative Rock and Power Pop, combining distorted, messy guitars with personal lyrics and catchy songwriting.

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Tropes

• Adults Dressed as Children: The video for "I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus" has Bea wearing overalls, Girlish Pigtails, and scribbling with crayons and playing with barbies, making her look like a small child.
• Alien Abduction: The video for "I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus" has Bea get abducted and experimented on by The Greys. After returning to Earth, she's locked in a government facility for monitoring until she escapes using The Power of Rock.
• all lowercase letters: beabadoobee is always spelled like that.
• Big Stupid Doo Doo Head: "Your brain is shit, you're up your butt" from "I Wish I was Steven Malkmus"
• Break-Up Song:
  • "I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus": A reflection on a past relationship. The narrator of the song alternates between being sad about the breakup, happy about how she's growing and recovering from it, and being very angry at her ex.
  • "Dye It Red" is an anthem about being better off without her ex.
• Female Empowerment Song: "Dye It Red" comes off this way. The chorus is an anthem about feeling confident and powerful on your own without a shitty man holding you down, while the verses talk about all the shitty man things (like being drunk and sexually aggressive) Bea's ex did.
• Female Rockers Play Bass: Referenced in "She Plays Bass", which is about being inspired by and seeking to emulate a female bassist in an older band.
  It hurts my brain
  This chick who plays bass
• "I Am Becoming" Song:
  • "I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus" is about trying to become a new, cooler person after a breakup
    "Think I'm starting to change, with the weeks and the days"
  • "Space Cadet" is about changing her mindset to a happier and trippier one, possibly through drugs.
• I Am the Band: beabadoobee is the name for Bea's music project, and while she has a full backing band, most music videos, album art, and other promotional items only have her in them.
• International Pop Song English: Sounds very American in her singing except for a few words, in contrast to her speaking voice.
• Important Haircut: Dying your hair as a symbol of becoming someone new and changing your mindset shows up in several songs.
• Retraux: While Bea's sound in general could be described this way, as it hearkens back to 90's rock, a few music videos stand out
  • The video for "She Plays Bass" is a straightforward Performance Video, but the use of swirly wipes and Extreme Close-Up Fish-Eye Lens closeups of band members makes it feel like it's out of the early 90's. The fact that the band's bassist's androgynous looks and baggy, grungy clothing makes her resemble Kurt Cobain only adds to the effect.
  • The video for "Worth It" is shot in a motel room with very dated decor out of the 70's-80's and prominently features a landline phone, making it look like it takes place no later than the 90's.
• The Power of Rock: In the video for "I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus", Bea's guitar skills cause the government scientists holding her captive's ears to bleed, presumably enabling her escape.
• Telephone Song:
  • The chorus of "Worth It" is about difficulties communicating over the phone and text, while the music video consists of Bea running around picking up and hanging up a landline phone.
  • "She Plays Bass" begins with worries about not getting texts from someone, before switching topics for the rest of the song.
• Yandere: "Yoshima, Forrest, Magdalene" is told from the perspective of a girl who is very obsessed with her boyfriend, scary when she's mad, and is paranoid that he'll leave her, but she's too pretty for this to happen.

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