by Andrew Auclair ’29 on October 1, 2026
A&E - Music
This September, Beabadoobee released her fourth studio album, Pylon, after a little over two years of waiting since her last album, This is How Tomorrow Moves. Personally, This Is How Tomorrow Moves was a very special album to me because it was what made me start consistently following Beabadoobee’s music, and it contains many songs that I still hold dear to my heart. Even though it was only two years ago, it felt like it had been ages since we got any new music from Beabadoobee, but sometime over the summer, she announced Pylon, set to release Sept. 18.
Pylon doesn’t follow a precise story, but it centers around the idea of searching for connection on the open road, a complete U-turn from This Is How Tomorrow Moves’ themes of quiet love and complete infatuation. Some of Pylon’s songs hold on to that signature Beabadoobee subject of unrequited love and longing, such as the opening track, “Pylon,” and fifth track, “Write me a Letter.” What I was personally surprised by on this album is how many tracks talk about her completely moving on from somebody she thought she never could. In songs like “Estranged,” “Radio,” and, especially, “Sun has Set,” Bea lets the brutality of heartbreak seep into every lyric. “Estranged” is by far my favorite song on this tracklist because it reminds me of what I love so much about Beabadoobee’s music. It stays upbeat for most of the track while covering topics that would normally make me feel sad but end up making me even more hopeful than I was before. From the overly-catchy guitar picking that plays throughout the whole track to the chirping birds in the background and even the false drop, where the song slows down for a moment before exploding back into the chorus, making it feel like a spiritual successor to my favorite Beabadoobee track, “10:36,” off of her second album, Beatopia, which was released in 2022.
When this album was announced, I was fully prepared to listen to it over and over so that I could form the best opinion possible for this article. However, in all honesty, I’m still not sure of my complete thoughts. I think it is consistently good throughout the album—an issue I have with all of her previous releases—but there is nothing that particularly sticks out to me as incredible or near perfect. Obviously, songs like “Estranged,” “Write me a Letter,” and “Memories” have that signature Beabadoobee longing sound, but most of the rest of the tracklist doesn’t do much for me. “Sun has Set” is a good song in all rights, but it just feels way too short, and I think it would benefit from another verse or even a stronger bridge. “Nothing to Prove” is a song on the album that I was so excited to listen to due to the supposed Hayley Williams feature coinciding with my love for Paramore. However, to my disappointment, Williams doesn’t get a full verse or even a few lyrics to herself. For most of the song, she is just the background “la la las.” Looking back, the song is fine, but it still disappointed me immeasurably. A couple of other songs that don’t exactly do it for me are “Powerlines” and “Switchblade,” just due to how boring they are, at least personally.
Pylon by Beabadoobee is, in my opinion, a pretty unique concept for a collection of songs, and feels like her most consistent tracklist to date. Despite how little I feel toward some songs, other songs actually do bring the vibes I go for when I want to listen to Bea. The lyricism on this album is pretty great, all things considered, especially on the track “Spark,” which my friends are really tired of because of how often I have been sending lyrics from this track to them. The lines, “Pickin’ at the socket, purple spark / ‘Cause I’m sick of the obnoxious dark / It’s nothing much, but it’s a start,” are some of my favorite lines she has ever written. Pylon is a reminder of why I continue to follow Beabadoobee’s music, even if it doesn’t completely live up to some of her previous work. There are plenty of songs here that I’ll keep coming back to, and for me and her incredible fanbase, sometimes that’s all an album needs.