Music

beabadoobee unapologetically displays her skill on the slow-burning “Sorry”

LeAnn Nguyen 3 years ago

London-based singer-songwriter beabadoobee (Beatrice Laus) is bringing back the ‘90s in a big way. Her EP from last year, Space Cadet, traded in the lo-fi acoustics of her earlier work for a more lush sound, featuring fuzzed-out guitars and anthemic melodies reminiscent of the best alt-rock bands of the ‘90s. Perhaps there’s no better way to sum up beabadoobee’s newer MO than by her Pavement-name dropping single from Space Cadet, “I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus,” which we reviewed on this site.

beabadoobee sorry — beabadoobee – “Sorry”

As she gears up to release her first full-length album, Fake It Flowers, on October 16th, beabadoobee has maintained her streak of winning singles. The first single from the album, “Care,” is a catchy slice of sunshine pop, but second single “Sorry” takes a more restrained approach than what we’ve heard from her before. “Sorry” opens with beabodoobee singing over a simple background of unvarnished guitar chords. Subsequent verses introduce strings to the instrumental, a new element to her sound that bring to mind their use in some iconic Britpop tunes of the ‘90s (think The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony” or Blur’s “The Universal”). Underlying all this is a line of distorted guitar that foreshadows the song’s cathartic ending: the strings and guitar, skillfully shredded by beabadoobee as always, are turned up into a swirling wall of sound. “Sorry” retains the satisfying instrumentals and melodies that characterized beabadoobee’s previous work while adding a new layer of complexity to her songwriting.

“Sorry” is accompanied by a music video that follows beabadoobee around a number of locales. Its muted color palette and claustrophobic urban scenes align line with the song’s lyrics about someone who’s fallen into a dark place, but the finale of her shredding in an open field reflects the expansiveness of the song’s ending release – and, perhaps, beabadoobee’s vast potential as an artist on her forthcoming album and beyond.

beabadoobee’s debut album Fake it Flowers will be out on October 16th via Dirty Hit.