Indie singer/songwriter comes out with cover of Simple Minds classic.
(Yes, I understand that is a cringey title. Let’s just move past it) Beabadoobee has exploded onto the scene in the last two years. Having two great EPs under her belt, the most recently released of the two, ‘Space Cadet’ being one of my favourite releases this year, Bea has quickly shown herself as a force to be reckoned with in the alternative scene. With a style being dubbed ‘bubblegum grunge’ by her fans, she blends a luscious mixture of alternative 90s guitar pop and some of the lighter, more atmospheric aspects of grunge. Her music creates a sense of nostalgia that is very difficult to achieve. She takes heavy inspiration from, in my opinion, one of the greatest decades and genres in music, but manages to inject enough of her own cute personality into her music that keeps it fresh and modern. She reinvigorates a time when Indie meant music that was independently produced, raw and was hard to place in any one genre. Bea has come out, in collaboration with Spotify, to release a two track single last week, one being an acoustic rendition of her hit from earlier this year, ‘She Plays Bass’, and a cover of 80s legends Simple Mind’s ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’. Both tracks are wonderful, and I will now explain, to the best of my ability, why.
‘Bedroom’ Pop.
The first track on this single is an acoustic version of Bea’s hit, ‘She Plays Bass’. I loved the original song for its stripped back, almost shoegaze-esque instrumental. It’s a little bit ambient, it’s produced beautifully, and it retains the 90s guitar pop elements of her music I love. As a three-piece band, they manage to create a very full sounding musical palette. Doing an acoustic version of this song was more than a good idea. It takes an already beautifully atmospheric track and ups the beauty to eleven. If you are an easy crier, you may find yourself being set off by this track. The acoustic setting makes the song so much more intimate. The production and instrumentals on the original song, with the heavy reverb and quiet vocals already create a closed and intimate atmosphere, but stripping this to just Bea and an acoustic guitar really emphasises the ‘bedroom’ element people often describe her music with. It feels like someone is serenading you late at night. I cannot reinforce enough how pretty, raw and real this feels. In an era of young new artists opting for soulless, auto-tuned music, devoid of real emotion (*cough* Post Malone *cough* army of Lil rappers *cough*), Bea is putting her songwriting first, and it is a wonderful thing. At around the 3:10 mark, Bea performs the outro, with hushed falsetto vocals on the word ‘more’. specific I know, but this is where my heart melts. please listen to this track, I cannot stress how gorgeous it is.
Simple, mind.
The other track on this single is the Simple Minds cover. Whilst not being a huge fan of the 80s as a whole, feeling that a lot of the music from the decade is hit or miss, I have always believed, despite the experimental, often ineffective soundscapes created, the songwriting of the decade was top-notch, often shown when modern artists perform covers of them, like Marilyn Manson’s cover of ‘Tainted Love’ (not that that song isn’t amazing in its original form). This is more than evident with Bea’s cover. It’s as if ‘Don’t you’ was written by a band like The Cranberries or bôa (I said like. I understand Dolores R’iordan has a very distinctive Irish voice), and just reminds me of my favourite thing about, not only Bea’s music, but the alternative rock scene from the 90s/early 2000s; it’s quite simple. And that could not be further from negative. The songs come first, and that is the same here. They did exactly what anyone covering a song should be aiming for; creating a fresh take on the original, whilst still retaining elements of the original as to not stray too far from it. keeping with that theme, the instrumental performances from all three members are consistent; simple, stripped back and serving the song. Not implementing anything too experimental allows the grungey style of the cover to shine through as it’s own difference from the original. Bea’s vocals work perfectly for this track. It fits well within her range, and her cutesy, hushed singing style elevates the song, adding a signature flavour to the cover. This cover may have not had the same lasting impact without the contrast between Bea’s vocals and the more hard-hitting instrumental track. Overall this is a phenomenal cover, and it was a nice change of pace to hear a more straight up rock song from beabadoobee.
The takeaway.
It’s quite simple: I love beabadoobee. Everything they/she puts out is high quality and consistent, I love that they are bringing back one of my favourite genres/eras of music, and I will continue to eagerly wait for more music, hopefully having that desire sated in the near future. Whilst I do recommend listening to this new single, I highly recommend listening to Bea’s EP ‘Space Cadet’ as well.
Listen to the single here on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4aopXLUhE3lthQLauMTC8X?si=VeHoB7rRR0GNFGukJBotKw
And also listen to beabadoobee’s most recent EP, ‘Space Cadet’: https://open.spotify.com/album/1R5kPLo5rJAgp161g5hOFQ?si=TbmyDAG3QY6r585oLbjgVg
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