{"id":490347,"date":"2019-09-20T09:51:12","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T15:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=887410"},"modified":"2019-09-20T09:51:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T15:51:12","slug":"song-you-need-to-know-beabadoobee-i-wish-i-was-stephen-malkmus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/song-you-need-to-know-beabadoobee-i-wish-i-was-stephen-malkmus\/","title":{"rendered":"Song You Need To Know: beabadoobee, \u2018I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s official: Gen Z stans the Nineties just as much as millennials do. Eighteen-year-old London musician Bea Kristi, who performs under beabadoobee, released her new single \u201cI Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus\u201d this week, and the song\u2019s devotion to the alt-rock prophet goes beyond a name-check. \u201cSitting at home, crying to Pavement<\/a>\/I wish I was Stephen Malkmus<\/a>,\u201d Kristi bemoans over distorted guitar fuzz \u2013 a sure sign that someone\u2019s been listening to a lot of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Growing up as the lone Filipino student in an all-girls Catholic school in London, Kristi has already had her fair share of identity crises. \u201cIt was really hard accepting myself,\u201d she told the Fader<\/em><\/a> earlier this year, going on to describe her music and the music of her peers like Omar Apollo and Clairo<\/a>, who she\u2019s opening for on tour this fall<\/a>, as \u201clike a way of counseling.\u201d On \u201cStephen Malkmus,\u201d she mentions her Ramona Flowers-esque blue hair six times across the song\u2019s four minutes, and addresses her isolation with a tentative optimism: \u201cI\u2019m from outer space\/And I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ll get used to it.\u201d Through Pavement\u2019s hazy ennui, Kristi finds a way to escape her own circumstances.<\/p>\n

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This tripzz me out https:\/\/t.co\/AeVJtlJcIb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Stephen malkmus (@dronecoma) September 19, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In her short career, Kristi\u2019s three EPs as beabadoobee have frequently been lumped into the catch-all label of \u201cbedroom pop,\u201d implying a DIY sensibility with minimal electronic production and Billie Eilish mumblecore vocals. Songs like \u201cStephen Malkmus\u201d lean closer to therapeutic alt-rock. During the bridge, Kristi suddenly switches to an accusatory second person: \u201c\u2018Cause your photos suck, your brand is shit\/You\u2019re up your butt\/You never really ask me how I am, ask me how I am,\u201d she sings, using very 2019 language to describe age-old feelings of betrayal and miscommunication. The message rings loud and clear: if you want to know what Bea Kristi\u2019s really all about, it\u2019s right there in the title.<\/p>\n