Beabadoobee released her newest album, This Is How Tomorrow Moves on August 9, 2024, and is labeled as an indie pop/rock album. It consists of 14 songs and has a runtime of around 41 minutes.
During the time period of the announcement and album release, Beabadoobee released 4 singles;“Take a Bite”,“Coming Home”,“Ever Seen”, and“Beaches”.
When listening to the first single, “Take A Bite” I immediately was so excited for the album and blown away. With each release of a new single, more and more excitement built up over time.
“Take a Bite” and “Coming Home” provide a great idea of what to expect sonically. While these two tracks are drastically different, when listening to the full song you can see how the songs connect and relate to the whole release. “Take a Bite” is a very rock-influenced track and has a very smooth sound. In contrast, “Coming Home” has a very soft and melodic tone, and while it isn’t one of my favorite tracks I see how it connects and intertwines.
“Everseen” and “Beaches” have a style that’s a mix of both the rock influence as well as a softer timbre, however, what stands out the most is the lyrics in these songs. “Everseen” brings up one of the main themes of acknowledging the past and the act of being cautious. Some of my favorite parts are the lyrics, “It’s been rough, but I’ve felt worse// I’ll pull myself back up, and you know this” and the bridge; “Every piece of me holds parts of you// Wish I could see that it feels much better when I’m with you// And when I get too high and I can’t breathe// I can’t lie, he has the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen”.
“Girl Song” is an amazing song that brings the simple idea of having a bad day to a complex, digestible story along with vulnerability. She opens with the verse, “In a way, I’m figuring it out at my own pace// Just a girl who overthinks about proportions or her waist// The creases on her face”. I think this lyric is a great way to open as it is very simple, yet down to earth. It also guides the rest of the song as it surrounds topics such as overthinking, previous mistakes, insecurity, and emotions that are just too big to explain. For example, she says, “All I want to do is find the words to make it up to you// Making all the same mistakes// I guess there’s still a lot to prove// And there’s something I can’t say in an ordinary way”.
The closing track“This Is How It Went” is a great closer for an album, but is also a great track for someone like me who’s a frequent listener of Beabadoobee’s discography. The writing on this song is wonderful and also connects to “Talk” from her studio album, Beatopia, with the lyric “Tried to see through the herd to find it stuck on my shoe// Hanging on, piece of gum, it’s time to let it go loose// We’ll just move on” references the line “We go together like the gum on my shoes” from “Talk”.
This track is a great example of taking what’s happened, accepting it, then moving on. I think this track is a very mature way to acknowledge a breakup, particularly referring to her own acts of writing songs: “Just let me write a song like all the songs I love to listen to// Writing ’cause I’m healing, never writing songs to hurt you// Using what I’m best at and I hope you do the same// I’d sure make a movie before plannin’ on somethin’ to say”.
I think this is one of my favorite albums I’ve listened to this year, and is very cohesive. The whole album goes over many mature and relatable themes that are very balanced. I give this album a 10/10.
