The Gen Z queen talks rising above a ‘difficult childhood’
The much-awaited “Beatopia” tour finally happened on Sept. 17 in Manila, the first stop of its Asian leg. Filling our ’90s coming-of-age movie void and riding on the post-Buwan Ng Wika wave, Filipino-British Beabadoobee—a.k.a. Beatrice Kristi Laus—rocked her Y2K-esque tracks in Filipiniana and staple regalias.
Before Beabadoobee took the Manila stage, Scout and other members of the press got to talk to the rising Gen Z star. She narrated how her stop in our homeland went, which can also be seen in her IG feed: She dropped by a tiangge, crossed over EDSA, and posed in a jeepney.
But apart from sharing our place of origin, another thing that makes Beabadoobee relatable to most of us is how she pursued her dreams despite having her own bout with childhood trauma.
Bea’s family moved to London when she was three years old so she could get a decent education. But living abroad came with its own challenges. Creating her own world, Beatopia, was a coping mechanism when faced with difficulties at home at seven. At age 11, she suffered a breakdown after feeling “isolated” in school.
During her exclusive IRL talk with Philippine media, Beabadoobee also shared with Scout her message for all budding artists who also want to get away from a hard upbringing.
“Don’t use your difficult childhood or what you’ve been through to hold you down from doing something that you love… That’s your drive. Use that as your drive. Use that as your inspiration because that makes you different from everyone else.”
“Don’t use your difficult childhood or what you’ve been through to hold you down from doing something that you love… That’s your drive. Use that as your drive. Use that as your inspiration because that makes you different from everyone else”
“There are so many musicians that haven’t been through anywhere near that I’ve been through… That’s the one thing that makes me feel different and makes me feel like ‘Oh, I can write a song that they would never understand.‘ So use that as a motivation to create art,” Beabadoobee added.
Bea unfolded her painful girlhood universe through a 12-track record in 2020’s “Fake It Flowers”—freeing our inner “be loud, bitch, and be okay” spirit in the process, too. Drawing from her uphill, sometimes messy journey to becoming the global artist she is now, her works prove to us that your make-believe world can turn into reality.
Back to Beatopia: This imaginary universe had countries and languages all laid out in a poster. To think she was just seven when she did it! Unfortunately, this fictitious cosmos was made fun of by her teacher and classmates—making Beatrice delete Beatopia from her mind.
Regardless of her unpleasant childhood experience, the once-forgotten world she built turned into a hit sophomore record. Beatrice not only produced a diaristic, nostalgic rock-themed album for girls to resonate with, she also amplified the voices of Gen Zs trying to navigate the tricky parts of life.
With that heartfelt message to us, we can’t help but feel sentimental about how far she’s come while revisiting her performances in our camera rolls.