In her new single “Talk,” Beabadoobee tells a relatable story that encourages us to channel our rebellious side. It sounds like a song you would hear in a YA coming-of-age movie where an edgy girl-next-door meets an uptight protagonist and teaches them how to live a little.
“Talk” is the perfect balance of indie pop and indie rock – Beabadoobee’s sweet, alluring voice and fun lyrics give the song its pop element, but the guitar work solidifies its place in the rock category. The energetic guitar playing is what stands out the most — It’s rare that a song makes me want to headbang but this one was so enticing I couldn’t help it.
You might be wondering why the artist chose to focus on Tuesday in the chorus:
“We go together like the gum on my shoes / We make out, we make out when it’s too late / We go out, we go out on a Tuesday”
I initially thought it was an odd day to invite someone out (unless you’re going to Taco Tuesday), but Beabadoobee explains her reasoning in a press release for the song: “I was obsessed with Tuesday because I thought it was the best night to go out, not too much chaos but just enough to have a good time.”
Some of the chaos comes from the risk — it’s mid-week when most people have work, school, or other obligations the next morning. It’s safer to wait for the weekend, but what is the fun in being safe? In this moment, Beabadoobee is doing what she wants to do rather than what she should do, which is the point of the entire song. She speaks more about this in the press release: “Generally it’s about doing things that aren’t necessarily healthy or great for you but you can’t help indulging. It’s like that unavoidable feeling that you get, you can’t get rid of it and you know it’s bad but you love it really and it’s whatever, so you do it anyway.”
“You don’t exist, you’re my imagination / You don’t exist, you’re just a bad decision”
We see a little bit of regret later in the song. Not necessarily for the actions taken, but for the person they were taken with. Sometimes you meet a person who pushes you out of your comfort zone but things don’t work out. We can’t erase a person from our memory but we tend to try; it’s easier to handle the pain of loss if you tell yourself it isn’t real. This part would correspond with the part in the movie where the protagonist and girl-next-door have a falling out, but ultimately everyone would end up being friends in the end.
The most important takeaway from this listening experience is to be yourself, do what makes you happy, and surround yourself with people who make it easier to do both. If the people in your life aren’t pouring into you the way you pour into them, cut them out and keep it moving.
