Hi there. Ethony Patano here, and we're here for a new review of the album, This is How Tomorrow Moves.

This is the third studio album from singer-songwriter beabadoobee, also known as Beatrice, who's been making a name for herself in the independent music scene in the past few years after releasing multiple well-received EPs in the 2010s, which really showcased Beatrice's talent, especially within the lofi bedroom pop genre. On her debut studio album, Fake It Flowers, listeners got to see a new side of Beatrice, which showcased her skills in alternative rock.

Since then, beabadoobee has risen to a more mainstream level of notoriety, having most recently been one of the opening act for Taylor Swift's "Era's Tour". Bringing us now to the present, beabadoobee's latest release sees her continuing to expand down that path of '90s alternative rock, folk-pop, with some new and exciting growth to be had, too. Partnering with producer mega star, Rick Rubin, you might be familiar with his production work with artists like Weezer, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, beabadoobee explores these genres with consistently catchy songwriting.

A standout that comes to mind on the album is "California", where the softer, bubblier verses really grow into this explosive chorus with an intense guitar rip. The chorus is so intensely angsty that it really reminds me of '90s alt-raw predecessors like Liz Phair. Another influence that came to mind to me was Elliott Smith with a very intimate and bear-it-all lyrical approach. It's very clear where Beatrice is getting her influences from, but it's never really to the point where it feels derivative or where it takes away from the music.

"California" then transitions into another huge song, highlight for me, "One Time", where Beatrice is telling the story of a relationship that seems like maybe it was lackluster on both ends. The song builds this fantastic earworm of a bridge where she's explaining her feelings over and over again, adding layers of instrumentation on top of each repetition. The emotion and frustration that you hear at this point of the song reminds us that even though in a relationship that maybe you weren't super passionate about ends, no matter what, you still might have lingering feelings of bitterness and second-guessing yourself.

While the album does mainly hang in this '90s alt rock space, Beatrice does take some leaps outside of that, and they land pretty well. For example, on a song like "A Cruel Affair", she paints this really sad picture of the dread and torture that is a situationship over an otherwise pretty upbeat bossa nova beat, which I thought was a pretty quirky and fun experience.

Also on the song, "Real Man", she does a great job at showcasing judgment and resentment over a moodier, jazzier instrumental. But my favorite song on the album comes closer to the finish with "The Man Who Left Too Soon" because I think it shows just how well Beatrice shines when she strips everything back and really relies on her greatest strength. Her beautiful, delicate vocals and moving storytelling. When I had first listened to the song, I completely misinterpreted it, and I thought that she was talking about a romantic ex-partner, and I said to myself, 'Wow, what a silly concept. No ex is looking at the moon and thinking about you.' But then after another listen and a closer look at the lyrics, I realized that she's actually telling the story of a father leaving you before you ever had the chance to have them in your life at all. As she illustrates on the song, that's the pain that can only really be described as the endless searching for that connection in even the silliest of places.

There are definitely some moments on the album that really don't work for me, both on a lyrical and instrumental front, where you can really see Beatrice still trying to find her footing as a singer and songwriter. To start, "Girl's Song", even by just the title alone, is a song that I found personally to be a little patronizing and disingenuous. While I'm sure and I hope that wasn't the intention. For me, I personally felt like the song perpetuated this idea that a bad day for a girl solely entails worrying about your weight, worrying about wrinkles, worrying about the way you look, worrying about aging. And while that certainly does happen, and that certainly is true, a bad day for a girl cannot be minimized to just those things. Because if you are a woman, you know that that only just scratches the surface of what it means to have a bad day.

On top of that, the sad piano instrumentation really just felt far too melodramatic to the point where it felt like it was forcing you to be sad. I was having a bad day when I listened to this song, and it didn't really make me feel any worse or any better for that matter. The last thing that music should ever really make you feel is indifferent. In a similar vein, I didn't really find the song "Tie My Shoe" to be all that tasteful either. While I definitely understand feeling vulnerable and naive in a relationship, I just don't really love the idea of really heavily relying on this little kid narrative to make that comparison. There are plenty of far more interesting ways to describe an uneven dynamic in a relationship than writing yourself off as a little kid waiting for a man to tie your shoe.

With all of that said, with all of the great highlights and hiccups alike, I think what we, as a listener, get to enjoy the most from listening to this album is hearing both an artist and a 20-something-year-old telling stories about complicated experiences and the confusing but necessary for growth emotions that they bring. While at very few points, is the album ever really reinventing the wheel when it comes to genre, what it does instead is focus in on the nostalgia of these beloved sounds just enough to make it a really sentimental experience. I'm feeling a strong 6 to a light 7 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, beabadoobee, Forever.