18 year old Beabadoobee (fka Bea) from London has just released her splendid EP ‘Loveworm’ on the eve of her headline show at Hackney Oslo. As someone who has been following Bea from her first song ‘Coffee’ to her EPs ‘Lice’ and ‘Patched Up’, ‘Loveworm’ enables listeners to follow Bea on her journey through life and love. On her twitter page, in reference to this new EP Bea claims that “love is HARD and at times it could be the best thing ever.” This EP is most definitely a mixture of love and sorrow ranging from songs such as ‘Apple Cider’ to ‘ You Lie All The Time’ to ‘Soren.’ Once again, Beabadoobee has exhibited such potential and raw talent with her heart-wrenching lyricism and specially crafted instrumentals, and clearly displays artistry that is amazing for her age.

The EP starts off with the track ‘Disappear’ which can only be described as dizzy. The soft, lazy strumming of the guitar as the track begins paired with Bea’s soft and airy voice creates a song that conjures up a late summer afternoon engulfed by London haze. Bea comments on the disappearance of the “rush of love” – a nod to her earlier statement about the hard points of being in love, especially in a relationship at such a young age. The highlight of this song for me is the beautifully haunting lyrics; Beabadoobee yearning for the love she felt for her lover to return. For an opener, this song is one that immediately grabbed my attention and I knew from the start that this would be an impressive EP.

Next up is ‘1999’ – Beabadoobee was actually born in 2000, so it is safe to assume that this title is a reference to her boyfriend, Soren. Once again, the instrumentals to this song are just breathtaking. There are subtle chords being played in the background, almost wailing, taking on the tone and mood of the EP thus far as Bea once again delves into the hardships of being in love. Compared to her last EP ‘Patched Up’, Bea has certainly reached a slightly more mature sound (both sonically and lyrically) – her influences of artists such as Radiohead are clear, yet it is evident that she has taken these influences and made her own, refreshing sound, which is so lovely to see from a young British artist.

‘Apple Cider’ was a highly anticipated track for me as Beabadoobee often mentioned it on social media. The track is a lot more upbeat than the first two tracks, with a slightly more punk-pop, early 2000s American sound. This track is reminiscent of American coming-of-age films, and serves as the perfect song for young love. The track climaxes with a stunning guitar solo which actually surprised me. With Bea’s sweet voice and the wailing solo, ‘Apple Cider’ is most definitely one of my favourite tracks off of this EP. The track concludes with some shouty lyrics, giving us some angst which is exactly what I love to hear from a young artist – it is raw and shows her true emotions, something that we don’t often see with young artists who make music for their labels.

The EP next takes on a more somber tone when ‘Ceilings’ begins. The guitar immediately is softly strummed, and some sort of reverb is put on Bea’s voice – making it even more haunting than usual. This is a song that showcases Bea’s singing abilities as she often reaches high notes, and then switches to quite low notes, offering us a range of vocals which perfectly suit the tone of this song. The layered vocals and guitars in between verses creates the ‘dizzy’ feeling that the opening track, ‘Disappear’, created. Again, this is a track where Bea begs her boyfriend to “miss me the way your mother misses your height.” Lyrics like these show us the youth of both Bea and her relationship, creating the earlier mentioned yearning for her young love to go back to the way it was.

‘Angel’ is a track that is an absolute head banger for me. I love the tone of Bea’s voice in this song, as well as the heavier guitar which we also see in songs such as ‘If You Want To’ from her previous EP. The way that Bea plays with her voice in this haunting, and lyrics such as “your bones are only painted gold” subtly link to her song ‘Everest’ where she talks of golden bones, once again showing the shift in her relationship from sweet, young love, to angst and yearning for the niceties to return. Whilst earlier tracks on this EP seem to express Bea’s hurt from the hardships, this track shows Bea taking the blame for the struggles being experienced. This is a track that gives an insight to Beabadoobee’s influences, with similar vibes to Radiohead and Kings of Leon when it comes to instrumentals.

The accusatory track ‘You Lie All The Time’ is the penultimate song where Bea talks of her fear of losing her boyfriend. Following on from ‘Angel’, this song keeps up with the heavier guitar paired with Beabadoobee’s angelic vocals; a contrast that makes these songs so unique and lovely to listen to. This song is definitely a song to listen to when you’re in your feelings (I could say the same for her entire discography to be honest!) and when you want some good head banging. Definitely another one of my favourites on this EP.

The concluding track ‘Soren’ ties the EP together so beautifully – despite all the hardships of being in love and in a committed relationship, nothing can take away from the pure love and affection that Bea and her boyfriend share. This song is absolutely an ode to her boyfriend; the way that Beabadoobee talks about him in this track is so heartbreaking – it is so clear in her tone and lyricism that she absolutely adores him in the way that she comments on tiny features of his face and character. I was lucky enough to watch Bea perform this song before it was released, and the way that she stared at her boyfriend whilst performing this song made it abundantly clear that these hardships would be overcome every time. The orchestral harmonies at the end of the track, and EP, leaves the listener clutching their chest and sharply contrasts the harsher guitar solos in earlier tracks. A beautiful song.

‘Loveworm’ is a carefully pieced together EP, focusing on the heart-wrenching hardships of being in love as a teenager. I love it when music takes me on a journey, and for me this EP took me to so many different places as it went from track to track. To me, this is a definitive sign of artistry, and Beabadoobee is most certainly a musician with the capability of making her listeners feel things. Watching her journey is something I have enjoyed, and it is something that I am eager to continue watching because I am certain that her future is bright. Being signed to Dirty Hit enables her to explore so many different avenues and her experimentation with different sounds makes for beautiful music, especially for an artist of such a young age. This is a beautiful EP.