beabadoobee

Singer/songwriter Beabadoobee blends softly delivered personal revelations with guitars that deliver forceful impact. Her 2017 debut track “Coffee,” the very first composition she penned, showcased an introspective, low-fidelity aesthetic shaped by admiration for indie figures such as Elliott Smith and Kimya Dawson while aligning with bedroom-pop peers like Clairo. By 2019 she had moved beyond those private settings on the Space Cadet EP, a tribute to the textures of ’90s Sonic Youth and Pavement that included the song “I Wanna Be Stephen Malkmus.” Despite raising the sonic intensity, she retained her candid, exposed perspective across the 2020 debut album Fake It Flowers and 2022’s Beatopia, which incorporated folk, Latin, and psych-rock elements. The 2023 hit single “Glue Song” and the Laufey duet “A Night to Remember” opened the door to the reflective maturity of 2024’s This Is How Tomorrow Moves.

Born in 2000 in Iloilo City, Philippines, Bea Kristi relocated with her family to London’s Camden area at age three. During childhood she studied violin for several years and absorbed Pinoy music alongside ’90s recordings by the Cranberries, Liz Phair, and Natalie Imbruglia that her mother favored. As an adolescent she sensed isolation as the sole Filipino pupil at an all-girls Catholic school, where a 2007 screening of Juno introduced her to Kimya Dawson’s work, a decisive influence. She also contended with depression and prejudice before being expelled at seventeen. Her father attempted to lift her spirits by purchasing a used guitar. Self-taught via online lessons and adopting the stage name Beabadoobee from a former social-media username, she developed a fragile, close-up approach informed by Dawson as well as Alex G, Florist, and Karen O. She captured her first original song, “Coffee,” inside a friend’s bedroom and uploaded it in September 2017. Although intended only for acquaintances, the track quickly amassed hundreds of thousands of streams.

The online traction of “Coffee” drew attention from London’s Dirty Hit label, which signed her in early 2018. That year she issued two EPs on the imprint: March’s Lice and December’s Patched Up, both extending the quiet confessional tone of her breakthrough single. Seeking a richer sound, she enlisted bassist Eliana Sewell, drummer Louis Semlekan-Faith, and guitarist Jacob Bugden. Produced by former Vaccines drummer Pete Robertson, the Loveworm EP arrived in April 2019 and introduced a denser grunge- and shoegaze-tinged approach; an acoustic counterpart, “Loveworm (Bedroom Sessions),” followed in July. Again under Robertson’s guidance, October’s Space Cadet EP offered a more assertive salute to ’90s indie and alternative rock. She closed the year with a cover of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me” and nominations for the 2020 Brit Awards Rising Star Award plus the BBC’s Sound of 2020 poll.

Momentum carried into 2020. After a February support tour with labelmates the 1975, Canadian rapper Powfu’s single “Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head),” built on a sample of “Coffee,” exploded via social-media meme into a multi-billion-stream phenomenon. The track reached the Top Five in multiple territories and secured gold and platinum status in markets including the U.K. and U.S. That October she released her debut album Fake It Flowers. Engineered by Joseph Rodgers and produced by Robertson, it broadened the ’90s alt-rock-meets-pop sensibility of Space Cadet. A Top Ten success in the U.K., the record also charted in Australia, Japan, and the U.S., attracting admirers such as Harry Styles and Taylor Swift.

In May 2021 Beabadoobee returned with the Our Extended Play EP. Co-written and produced with the 1975’s Matty Healy and George Daniel, it featured the pandemic-themed single “Last Day on Earth.” While isolated, she began shaping her second album with Bugden, penning songs that confronted earlier hardships while drawing on folk, bossa nova, and hip-hop. Titled after an imaginary realm she invented at age seven, the introspective July 2022 release Beatopia included contributions from Daniel, Healy, PinkPantheress, and Black Country, New Road’s Georgia Ellery. It entered the Top Five of the U.K. Album Charts and reached number 32 on the U.S. Independent Albums Chart.

Beabadoobee subsequently toured with Halsey and Bleachers before unveiling fresh material in February 2023 with the Valentine’s Day single “Glue Song.” The romantic track became one of her strongest-performing releases, climbing to the U.K. Top 40 (later certified silver) and number 12 on the U.S. Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Chart (certified gold). A Clairo remix appeared months later. July brought the standalone single “The Way Things Go,” followed in October by the Laufey collaboration “A Night to Remember”; both registered on the U.S. Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Chart. Early 2024 saw the arrival of “Take a Bite,” the lead single from August’s album This Is How Tomorrow Moves. Produced by Rick Rubin, the record captured Beabadoobee at mid-twenties, addressing ownership of her emotions and choices.