Beabadoobee - Coming Home

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishikesh, Hirway.

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Biba Dubi is an award-winning singer and songwriter from England who's been releasing music since 2017.

Her third album is called This Is How Tomorrow Moves.

It came out in August 2024 and it went to number one on on the UK charts.

She made the album with her bandmate Jacob Bugden and with producer Rick Rubin at his studio Shangri-La in Malibu.

For this episode, I talked to Bea about how they made a song from that album called Coming Home.

And the Merican Stay makes me feel so far away.

So

My name's Bea, but my artist name is B Badoobi.

I was in a hotel called The Thompson.

It's in Hollywood.

And I had like a little break before the next leg of the era's tour.

with Taylor Swift and I was like on my bed quite sad and not to say that it wasn't really fun playing those shows, it's just every time I go on tour, I get very homesick.

I had been in that hotel for a couple of days now, and I've had very lonely mornings.

I just felt like I really missed my boyfriend.

I think we had just said goodnight, we had a really long conversation.

So, after this phone call, I realized I was alone again.

And every time I have a feeling, I always pick up the guitar.

I just put my fingers on the strings and see what happens.

It definitely matched the feeling I felt at that moment.

I was missing someone I really loved and I was missing home.

There was a longingness to the sound the guitar made every time I pressed my fingers on the strings.

I love the idea of singing about mundane things and making it sound pretty like doing the dishes and doing the washing up and I always thought of Adam Tanler, you know, the wedding singer, when he sings on the intercom of the airport to Drew Barrymore.

And he's like, I'll even let you hold the remote control.

That was one of the first songs I'd ever covered, and I always thought that was sweet.

I wanted to make a song like that one day.

You do the dishes, I'll carry the load to make up.

Lost time, the trash to the brim, I'm scared of it.

It felt like I was writing a letter to my boyfriend.

Me and Jacob bugged him.

He's a bandmate of mine, but also is a main collaborator of my music.

We went to the studio the next day and recorded some demos.

I recorded the guitar first.

And that studio had these two massive doors that led out to a big balcony.

And we left those doors open.

It was a hot day.

So all those sounds naturally bleed in with whatever you're making.

You could hear little birds chirping in the back.

I really fell in love with those sounds and I wanted to keep them in.

It suited

what this song felt like.

And then we moved on to vocals.

And one of my favourite lines in that first verse is: The trash to the brim, I'm scared of it, but you always know what to say.

The trash to the brim, and I'm scared of it, but you always know just what to say.

And I'm sorry if I'm coming home tonight.

And it is mundane.

The trash always gets up to the rim of the bin in my house because everyone, like me and my boyfriend, are terrified about putting it in the bin outside.

But I was that far away from home that I wanted to take the trash out really badly.

And like, I was in a hotel for such a long time, it almost feels like a little prison.

Like, and that's, I think, where the lyric, I'm waking up to the gap in my blinds peeking sunlight and wishing you were there that lyric kind of stuck to me

I'm waking up to the gap all my blinds peaking

sunlight I do anything just to be with you

to sit and watch you slowly wake and I'm sorry if I'm coming home too late

I always felt the need to make up for things because I busy and away from home a lot and I felt like I was losing time with someone I truly truly loved.

And I felt like I was wasting it, like there was almost like a time limit.

There's some part of my brain where it feels like things don't last and so I have to use up every single second to make it worth it.

That's what made being away from home so frustrating for me.

And I'm

There isn't a solid chorus, which I was always self-conscious about, but that's how I wrote it.

And I didn't want to change the way I wrote it.

You know, there's just a moment in the middle of the song.

My drummer was staying in LA too, but he could also play some beautiful piano.

His name's Luca Caruso.

That line is so specific to me and my boyfriend, because I think we had our first ever like argument in a bar on a roof in LA.

And I think it was...

me feeling overwhelmed about being away so much and feeling confused about like am i meant to be in a relationship right now like am i meant to be doing this I remember when I played him the song and he heard that line I don't think he's ever gone out with a musician before so he was like whoa I didn't realize you'd write about about specific things like that

I loved the song and I loved it more after we made the demo

the idea of working with Rick Rubin never crossed my mind just because I didn't think it would ever happen.

But we had been meaning to meet.

And when I finally met him, I went up to Malibu and then towards the end I actually played him that demo on my phone.

And then I think a week later, his manager hit mine and said that he wanted to do a record with me, which was mental.

But It was honestly working with Rick and going to Shang La where I really started to believe in myself for the first time ever.

We didn't start over because there is a charm to it and then you didn't want to change.

So it was like if we needed to re-record something, we'd work from that demo and re-record whatever instrument we were doing.

And then Jacob had this really cool idea where at first he was like, there should be drums.

And I was like, really?

Drums?

And then he said, you know, those little monkeys with the kind of like marching drum sound like he wanted to recreate that sound and i thought that was awesome And Jacob isn't a drummer but sometimes it sounds better if someone who doesn't play drums plays it.

I think he almost did like a monkey as well banging the drums with both his hands.

It's not perfect but I think the song doesn't have to be perfect.

You're talking about real life things and the song has to sound real and you have to hear the mistakes.

Because all I'm singing about in the song is about mistakes, forgetting to do the dishes, and forgetting to do the trash.

There is a beauty in the mistakes you make.

I love when artists release their demos, like the Beatles, their anthologies came out, and you see them like figuring out songs.

And there's like a realness to that, and it almost feels like you're in the room, and they wanted coming home to feel like that.

And a

I love when Jacob does back and vocals.

Jacob's voice is so different to mine, but if you pair it together, there's like a slight weirdness to it, but it makes sense in my brain.

Only shows that we're miles away.

There is something so nostalgic about it and something quite creepy about it almost.

I don't know, it sounds like a soundtrack to an old ride in an old theme park.

There's a Beatles song with a muted trumpet in it, and I was like, That's the vibe I want to go for.

So, this man called CJ Camarari was an amazing trumpet player.

And he harmonized with his trumpet take.

Yeah, I mean, that sounds beautiful.

Rick's main thing was that he wanted to keep the meaning and the songwriting at the forefront.

And so, in terms of the production, the simpler it was, the more it made sense.

I'll do the dishes, we'll carry the load, because

we

have time.

I emptied the trash like I said I would and you'd never guess what I'd have to say.

I'm not sorry, cause this time I won't be late.

When I write music, I always want there to be a hopefulness to it, despite maybe not feeling it at the time.

So, in that last verse, I wanted to say, we'll carry the load because we have time, and I don't have to be away this much.

You know what's strange is that I still have the same feeling that I had when I first wrote it because I'm in LA right now, and my boyfriend was actually meant to come, but he couldn't because he's working, so I really feel it.

I really feel it now.

Yeah, it sucks.

I should probably go and write another song about it.

Coming up, you'll hear how all this came together in the final song.

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This episode is brought to you by the new film Splitsville.

It's a comedy about relationships and the messiness that comes with them.

And it stars Dakota Johnson and Adria Arhona.

It premiered at Cannes, where it got rave reviews.

And it's distributed by Neon.

And for me, that's huge because I trust Neon the way that I trust my favorite record labels.

I will definitely check out anything that they put their name on.

So I'm looking forward to seeing this.

Splitsville is already playing now in select theaters, and it'll be playing everywhere on September 5th.

And now, here's Coming Home by Biba Doobie in its entirety.

I'm waking up to the gap, all my blinds peeking.

Sunlight, I do anything just to be with you.

To sit and watch you slowly wake in.

I'm sorry if I'm coming home too late.

A whole delay only means I'll be with you soon.

And my barricade

makes me feel so far away.

So I promise this time I won't be late.

And the bar on the roof's not a good way to leave you too.

And the scene on a plane

only shows that we're miles away.

So I promise this time I won't be late.

I'll do the dishes, we'll carry the load.

Because

we

have time.

I emptied the trash like I said I would and it never guessed what I'd have to say.

I'm not sorry, cause this time I won't be late.

To learn more, visit songexploder.net.

You'll find links to buy or stream coming home.

This episode was produced by Craig Ely, Theo Balcombe, Kathleen Smith, Mary Dolan, and myself.

Our production assistant is Tiger Biscuit.

The episode artwork is by Carlos Lerma, and I made the show's theme music and logo.

Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, listener-supported, artist-owned podcasts.

You can learn more about our shows at radiotopia.fm.

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I'm Rishikesh Hiraway.

Thanks for listening.

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