Beabadoobee’s Tomorrow Moves in a Mediocre Direction

The camera pans to a small, charming café in a quaint town. A comically large poster of Beatrice “Bea” Kristi Laus, otherwise known as Beabadoobee, hangs in the background as Bea herself appears on screen and the opening strums of her new single “Take a Bite” play. Stuck in a time loop, she mindlessly strolls through the streets, where pedestrians bicker and cars flip over, and always ends up in the same place she started. This silent chaos perpetuates the track’s lyrics about finding familiarity in a toxic cycle. Inspired by the nostalgia of the 2000s, Bea’s music videos are simple and fun with an almost vintage quality. She is the main character, and everything else blurs into the background as a minute detail. The music videos focus on capturing an emotion or atmosphere rather than portraying complex plot lines or intense visual effects. For Bea, conveying lyrics, purpose, and sentiment trump flashy aesthetics. This Is How Tomorrow Moves (2024), Bea’s third and latest studio album, is exactly that—sonically bland, yet admittedly sincere in its messages and intentions.

From the early years of her career, Bea went viral on social media for her Lo-fi hits like “Coffee” (2017) and alternative rock anthems such as “Worth It” (2020). Since then, she’s established herself in the indie scene, growing as her sophomore album Beatopia was released in 2022. Arguably her most successful album, Beatopia set a high expectation for her future endeavors, with its upbeat expression of an imaginary world and viral earworm choruses. In 2023, she released a few singles, including “A Night To Remember” in collaboration with Laufey and “The Way Things Go,” both well-received by fans. Following the release of her single “Take a Bite,” fans increased their expectations for her upcoming album, This Is How Tomorrow Moves.

The first and second tracks, “Take a Bite” and “California,” are immediate standouts among otherwise forgettable tracks and uninspired lyrical moments. Bea cites many popular ‘90s-’00s rock artists as her greatest inspirations, and this influence clearly shines on the promising opening track, which samples “Drive” by popular experimental rock band Incubus. The smooth and catchy guitar-driven production of “Take a Bite” suits Bea’s sweet bedroom-pop vocals, a style that she’s adopted as her own. Despite its slight repetitiveness—which may allude to the lyrics about a cycle—“Take a Bite” is a gemstone among mundane melodies. “California,” which implements a heavier guitar sound, exploding at the chorus, is comparable to “Talk” from Beatopia. After Beatopia, Bea returned to her alternative rock roots with This Is How Tomorrow Moves, and she reaps the benefits with the success of “Take a Bite” and “California.” Placed at the opening of the album, these two tracks raise the bar for the rest of the album.

Bea’s lyrics are minimalistic yet effective. “Girl Song” is a ballad featuring a lone piano behind Bea’s soft vocals. The honesty of her verse and simplicity of the instrumentation emphasize her sincerity and near desperation; Bea laments, “Just a girl who overthinks about proportions or her waist / The creases on her face / Day like no other, and just another bad day.” The song is an ode to the doubt-filled and depressing days of girlhood, a narrative that many can relate to. Bea has an immaculate ability to convey raw emotions and vulnerability at a unique, poetic angle. For example, in “Coming Home,” she expresses missing out on quality time with her family while she’s on tour. She sings, “You do the dishes, I’ll carry the load / To make up lost time.” Instead of simply stating this, Bea brings everyday chores into an intimate and meaningful context through her lyrical prowess. 

However, on several occasions, her creativity fails to produce good lyrics. Multiple tracks contain barely any lyrical substance and are enigmatic, requiring further context to understand the central message. “Post” is a prime example, with its distinctive storyline that pieces together diverse narratives. Each verse is short and subtle, which could be interpreted as poetic yet ultimately detracts from the album’s impact. Vague and repetitive lyrics like “Life worth living, but hard as it gets / Guess sometimes you learn to forget” and “And all I wanted the most / Was to see her name on the post” diminish the song’s backstory, which is interesting and novel. Most of the songs on this album are meant to express deeply personal and emotional topics that could be greatly explored and unpacked. Instead, Bea seems to rely on monotone instrumental breaks and nonexistent musical singularities to fill the gap that her stale lyrics leave.

From its electric beginning to its anticlimactic ending, This Is How Tomorrow Moves ultimately leaves listeners disappointed. It’s poorly executed; the album’s inconsistent lyricism and dull tunes diverge from Beabadoobee’s signature experimental brilliance. Individually, each song is decently pleasant, but the album as a whole aimlessly hops from genre to genre. The main theme isn’t clear, and the tracks eventually blend together. Overall, it feels like a major step down from her previous works. This Is How Tomorrow Moves is a heartfelt album with lost potential that lacks depth sonically and thematically.