beabadoobee, an indie rock singer-songwriter also known as Beatrice Laus, released her single “Glue Song” on Valentine’s Day, accompanied by a music video.
Before the song’s official release, beabadoobee performed “Glue Song” live at the Brooklyn concert of her tour last October, and later at a National Public Radio Tiny Desk Concert released on YouTube. Snippets of the song gained popularity on social media over the past several months, with users making videos to the track that showcase their love for the special people in their lives.
The song’s catchy opening lines — “I’ve never known someone like you / Tangled in love, stuck by you / From the glue.”— feature beabadoobee sharing a timid yet playful love confession that fans have started to affectionately apply to their own lives.
It’s easy to see why “Glue Song” had such wide appeal even months before its official release. As opposed to the grungy, cosmic sounds and aesthetics that characterized her recent albums “Beatopia” and “Fake It Flowers,” beabadoobee opts for a soft set of instrumentals that could belong in a ballad, which allow for her signature gentle, lilting voice to swim its way through. Backed by flowing strings and trumpets, she delivers lyrics as if she were singing a lullaby in an endearing, innocently lovesick way.
Despite their simplicity, the lyrics of “Glue Song” are heartwarming in how genuine they feel. “Don’t forget to kiss me,” beabadoobee sings in the song’s main verse, “or else you’ll have to miss me.” Beabadoobee says it best herself with the lyrics “Finding the right words / To use for this song / I have you in mind / So it won’t take so long.”
The single, though certainly more polished in terms of its sound and production quality, is reminiscent of beabadoobee’s quiet beginnings as a London teenager scribbling down lyrics and playing acoustic guitar in her bedroom. “Glue Song” in many ways feels like a return to beabadoobee’s early fuzzy, slow-paced singles and EPs like “Coffee,” “Susie May” and “Lice” — but it also lets her listeners see and listen to her growth as a songwriter, singer and person.
“It’s a heartfelt song that means a lot to me,” beabadoobee said in a Rolling Stone press release. “A love song and the first one I’ve written in my new relationship,” Reflecting on her past songwriting, beabadoobee said that most of her lyrics have been more melancholic.
“For the first time this is just me being really happy,” she told Rolling Stone.
Beabadoobee and her boyfriend Jake Erland filmed the music video for “Glue Song” in her hometown of Iloilo City in the Philippines. The video was directed by Erland and shot on 16mm film, producing a hazy, nostalgic clip that resembles a home-recorded tape.
Just as much a love letter to her hometown as it is to her relationship, the video follows beabadoobee around several local spots in Iloilo City, featuring her flipping through photo albums with her relatives and standing in tall grass fields.
Rather than shooting a staged romantic scene, the video captures beabadoobee’s home in its true essence, allowing its natural charm to come through. The assembled clips are saturated with color and warm tones, creating a raw, picturesque portrait of love in all its forms. Beabadoobee seems most herself filming for “Glue Song,” and it is clear that she is more than happy to share this version of herself with the world.
Adding to her prominent and personable presence in both the music scene and on social media, beabadoobee ultimately invites listeners into an exciting and vulnerable chapter of her life through “Glue Song” — her pure rendition of what it means to celebrate love and appreciate someone meaningful.
Some fans know that beabadoobee is in a similar position as them — beginning a new relationship and searching for the right path to follow and choices to make. Love may be a journey of uncertainties and sticky situations, but for now, beabadoobee tells her listeners to cherish the glue that binds them together.
Isabel Hahn is an Arts & Culture section editor who concentrates in English and Behavioral Decision Sciences. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, reading, and journaling.
