Beatrice Laus (22) is a British-Filipino singer who taught herself to play the guitar with Youtube, had a huge hit in 2017 (‘Coffee’) and released a first album in 2020. On her successor we hear her assets again richly. : a soft pop voice, friendly melodies, wrapped in a stylistic amalgam of indie rock, bossa, grungy guitars and folk pop à la Simon & Garfunkel. Her sound is light and refers more to the history of pop music than to the zeitgeist of today, but it is also beautifully done. Laus’ soprano is reminiscent of that of Alison Krauss (also a violinist), but her style variation is ultimately not an asset. ‘Talk’ is Nirvana light, ‘See you soon’ could be Taylor Swift: maybe Beabadoobee’s success at Gen Z was built on nostalgia for what young people never experienced? ‘Ripples’ and ‘You’re here that’s the thing’ certainly seem made to appear in TV series about emo fluctuations in searching twenty-somethings. (vpb)
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