“My bedroom is my safe space,” beabadoobee tells Apple Music of the place where she’s written her music ever since 2017, when her father gave her her first guitar. “It’s where everything started. It’s seen me cry, it’s seen me get really happy and it’s seen me dance in my underpants late at night.” You’ll find all those moods in the Philippines-born, London-raised singer-songwriter’s deeply confessional, ultra-nostalgic indie pop—from the first song she ever wrote (2017’s grainy “Coffee”, which unexpectedly went viral and landed her a record deal) to 2020’s raw-edged debut, Fake It Flowers, on which beabadoobee—real name Beatrice Laus—dissects the thorny business of growing up. In her moving Up Next film, the artist takes us inside that childhood bedroom to reveal how music healed her after the turbulence of her teenage years—which included self-harm and being kicked out of school—and how she wants young women to feel empowered by her sound: “I want it to feel like a warm blanket,” she says. And in an interview with Apple Music 1’s Matt Wilkinson, she opens up about the realities of wearing your heart on your sleeve, going to the Fashion Awards with The 1975’s Matty Healy (and showing up to class the next day in the make-up from the night before), how she’s coping with her sudden rise and much more. Watch the interview and film, along with selections from the rest of the artists in the Up Next series.
