Beabadoobee Mines Her Own Cosmic Dust

Very fun.”Much has been made about Bea’s sound evolution in such a short time, especially regarding the heavily ’90s alternative and Britpop echoes on standouts like “Worth It” and “Sorry.” That aesthetic, similar to what labelmates and pals The 1975 explored on Notes on a Conditional Form, electrifies the twelve songs on Fake It Flowers, giving Bea a bedrock from which to share her occasionally funny, often offbeat truths. “I’ve had to put up with your shit when you’re / Not even that cute,” she sings on “Dye It Red.” By “Emo Song,” she’s sharing nighttime poetry: “Nobody knows when I was young / I lost myself in cosmic dust.” They’re the kinds of lines with a specific audience, even if she doesn’t name them directly.“There was an ongoing theme in Fake It Flowers, the idea of everything I was supposed to tell someone but couldn't. It’s exactly why Fake It Flowers is destined to take Bea to the stratosphere — like Soccer Mommy’s “Circle the Drain” and Mxmtoon’s “Bon Iver,” Bea synthesizes ’90s and early-aughts sonic influences (and lyrical shout-outs) with contemporary sensibilities and a social media presence ("gettin this bread," her Twitter bio reads).The acoustic-confessional Beabadoobee returns briefly in the album's penultimate track, "How Was Your Day?," a charming diary entry she captured on a four-track cassette recorder in Harrison's garden during quarantine.