Beabadoobee: The singer Matty Healy is 'most excited about'
- Published
"I can see the Hollywood sign from my bed."
19-year-old Beabadoobee chats to us from Los Angeles, the morning after her tour date with fellow lo-fi star Clairo.
"Lil Nas X was there," she says. "I didn't see him though because I don't look at the crowd. I pretend to look at the crowd. Otherwise I'd freak out."
Throw in Jaden Smith and singer Roy Blair and she's already building up a famous fanbase.
It's been a crazy couple of years for the Philippines-born, London-raised singer, who - up until this summer - was still in school.
Just don't mention the exams.
"I did really bad," she says. "It took a toll on my self-confidence which it shouldn't have. I was so focused on music I'd go home and write a song instead of revise."
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If the name Beabadoobee doesn't immediately roll off the tongue, she won't mind you calling her by her real name - Bea.
She signed to Dirty Hit last year, which made her label mates with Wolf Alice and The 1975. As a result, she became good friends with Matty Healy who she calls "one of the nicest people".
"He gives me good music to listen to, he gives me good advice... and he smells really nice," she laughs. "Oh and he gives me clothes too!"
He told Radio 1 Newsbeat that Bea is the person he's "most excited about in music" and that's why he made a cameo playing guitar on her new EP, Space Cadet.
Matty Healy from The 1975 took Bea to the 2018 British Fashion Awards
Bea was born in the year 2000 but her passion for music comes from the 1990s, where she cites cult indie artists and bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and Elliott Smith as her influences.
"The music of that time just sounds so familiar," she says. "It hits you differently to any other music."
Her song I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus is named after the lead singer of one of her favourite bands of the era - Pavement, who are reforming in 2020.
"Everything started to make sense when I picked up a guitar and listened to Pavement.
"I'm so jealous of the kids who grew up in that era and the bands of that time. I'm just drawn to that period of time."
Raised in Camden, London, she says she had a "hard time" fitting in at the all-girl Catholic school she attended.
"I was a minority and I had a rough time. But it's made me who I am today."
She played violin for many years, but only picked up a guitar 18 months ago. After mastering the basics, she wrote Coffee - the lo-fi track made in her bedroom, which got her noticed by the music execs.
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- Published22 October 2019
- Published18 October 2019
