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Beabadoobee: How a Filipina singer-songwriter became an international 'bedroom pop' star
“My name is Beabadoobee (pronounced bee-bah-doo-bee), but my name is actually Bea (Be-ah).”
That was how the 20-year-old singer-songwriter — whose full name was Beatrice Kristi Laus — introduced herself over a quick Zoom call last week week. Her accent was British, and she had blonde locks and a pink shirt on which showed off her tattoos on each arm.
Bea said a cheery "hello" from bed in a house in Oxford, and her soft tone and general chill vibe were somehow very familiar.
Much of her music falls under what critics call “bedroom pop,” which is a humble, little space in the industry for young, self-releasing singer-songwriter-producers who want to share their music with the world.
And that is exactly what Beabadoobee is doing.
She's just dropped a hot new single, "Care," which is only a taste of a full-length debut "Fake It Flowers" that she plans to release later this year.
That's not mentioning the three EPs she's previously released under the same label as frequent Manila visitors The 1975 and No Rome.
If you search 'Beabadoobee' on any streaming platform, you’ll find songs like “If You Want To” have chord progressions that make you wanna rock out in your room with the doors locked, but there are also songs like “Coffee” and “Dance With Me” that will make you want to walk into a field of flowers and stay there forever.
During our short conversation, Bea openly talked about how that music came from a girl who felt very different growing up.
Bea was born in the Iloilo and she moved to the UK when she was only three years old.
She coolly admits to raising a bit of hell not so long ago, sharing how she got “kicked out” of her conservative all-girls high school.
“I found it quite hard, going to an all-girls Catholic school, and you know with stuff happening at home,” she told GMA News Online
“I was quite rebellious, in a way. So I got kicked out, and that was pretty tough, yes, especially to my parents. (But) They were siding to me so they’re like super cool and super chill,” she added.
Three years ago, when Bea was 17, she got her first guitar.
“My dad brought home a guitar and was like, ‘Play this, this will make you happy,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, fair enough.’ And it genuinely did!”
She was born in the year 2000, but she pours out her heart to the good old days of '90s alternative rock like The Cure and Elliot Smith. She also adores “frontwomen” heroes Alanis Morisette, The Cranberries, and Veruca Salt, to name a few.
Thanks to her parents, Bea also grew up listening to great OPM.
“Apo Hiking Society! The melody, (and) I think the lyrics are really interesting and heartfelt, and I think Itchyworms because I think they’re bad-ass.
At the mention of the Eraserheads, Bea gasped: “Oh My God!”
Apparently, her mother is a big fan and would frequently play it at home. “I don’t know the actual names of the songs she listens to. She plays them (and) she talks about them, though. I feel like if you play me a song, I’d be like, ‘Yeah, I know this one’.”
The proud Filipino in her also jumped out when she performed as part of the all-Asian lineup for “Asia Rising Forever,” 88Rising’s online benefit concert for COVID-19 relief, earlier this year. She even exclaiming "Asian's rule!" before the start of her set.
“It was pretty empowering,” she said, with a wide grin.
“You know, cause I remember growing up, I was always quite self conscious about my differences and... now, I feel really proud being a Filipino woman, and it was great to be a part of something like that.”
For Bea, everything “pretty much" started when she released “Coffee” with her friend and fellow London musician Oscar Lang online. She quickly amassed millions of listeners who loved her self-released tracks.
The low-fi tune gave birth to the low-fi chart-topper “Death Bed (coffee for your head)” which was a Bea collaboration between with Canadian artist Powfu.
Eventually, she signed with independent London label Dirty Hit, and the girl from Iloilo who liked making music was nominated for the BRITs rising star award and the UK Music Video Awards. She was even complemented by the likes of Harry Styles and Taylor Swift.
Despite all this, the Beabadoobee wants her fellow bedroom artists out there to know that didn’t come all this way just to get fame and money.
“I think (aspiring Filipino artists should) just do everything genuinely, from a genuine place in your heart,” she said.
“Like, don’t do it for the goal to be successful and to be famous. Do it because you want to do it. Do it for your love for music, and blessings will come — if it comes from an honest place, so, and never give up.”
Bea plans to release her full-length debut “Fake It Flowers” in October. "I think (what you) can expect is a lot of feelings, and a lot of honesty from me, and hopefully it would help some people out," Bea said.
Of her current single "Care," the 20-year-old said she "wanted people to dance to something and girls just like rock out to and, by doing, that when writing and creating that song to give that feeling, really helped me to, kind of, get over that bump in my life,” she said. — LA, GMA News
