beabadoobee and The Marías Blur the Line Between Dream and Reality in “All I Did Was Dream of You”
Photo: AboveGround
beabadoobee is stepping back into the spotlight with “All I Did Was Dream of You,” a hazy new single that finds the British pop-rocker teaming up with The Marías. The collaboration feels almost inevitable as Bea blends ’90s shoegaze textures, earnest folk, and a smidge of electronica into a swirling soundscape that makes it difficult to tell where reality ends and the dream begins.
“All I Did Was Dream of You” brims with yearning energy beneath its gauzy production. The vaporous atmosphere, reminiscent of much of The Marías’ signature sound, is layered with punchy guitar lines that give the track just enough grit to cut through the haze. “Stay, stay / Stay or just leave me be,” Bea sings wistfully as waves of distortion swell around her. Meanwhile, María Zardoya’s airy, haunting vocals glide in on the second verse, “Nightmares always feel like / They swallow me / But I let go.”
“thank you to the marias for joining me on this song <3 soooo happy we could get this one out before my album,” Bea shared on social media. “I have missed this, i’ve missed youuuu and this year is going to be unreal !!”
The accompanying music video, directed by Jake Erland and AboveGround, mirrors the track’s surreal mood. Bea wanders through the snowy Lithuanian countryside and appears in a series of quiet day-in-the-life vignettes that feel pulled straight from a dream. The calm eventually fractures when a car suddenly explodes, though she walks away from the wreckage unscathed and seemingly unfazed.
“All I Did Was Dream of You” marks Beabadoobee’s first official release of new music in nearly two years. In the interim, she contributed a cover of Elliott Smith’s “Say Yes” to HELP (2), a star-studded project benefiting the global children’s charity War Child UK.
The brief pause may have been exactly what Bea needed after an impressive run that saw her release five EPs and two albums in just five years. If “All I Did Was Dream of You” is any indication of what her next era holds, listeners can expect the singer-songwriter to keep blurring the line between dreamy introspection and alt-rock grit.
Watch the "All I Did Was Dream of You" video below:
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