Indie artist beabadoobee brought a mellow energy to Dillo Day 2021 this Saturday with a casual, acoustic set.

Singer Beatrice Laus, also known by her stage name beabadoobee, kicked off her singing career with 2017 single “Coffee,” which has over 71 million streams on Spotify. The song was sampled by Powfu in 2020, garnering nearly a billion Spotify streams after it went viral on TikTok.

She has also released four EPs since 2018 and a new album in October 2020 called “Fake It Flowers.”

beabadoobee played fan favorites like “Coffee” and “She Plays Bass,” along with some songs from her new album, including “Care” and “Worth It,” at her 4 p.m. performance.

Dressed in loose green pants, a black tank top and a gray sweatshirt, she performed with her acoustic guitar on a green couch.

Her set had an “intimate feel,” Amirah Ford said. The Medill junior serves as the booking director for Mayfest Productions, which puts on the annual music festival. This simple set-up allowed beabadoobee’s talent to shine through, Ford said.

Following her performance, beabadoobee engaged in a live Q&A with students, who submitted questions in advance via a Google Form posted on Dillo Day’s Twitter.

Margot Bartol, Mayfest producer and Weinberg junior, said that the artist talked about her influence in music and how she came to adopt the name “beabadoobee.” The musician said she posted a song under her now-professional moniker as a joke, expecting only her boyfriend to listen — then the artist blew up. 

In addition, Bartol said she was moved by beabadoobee’s vulnerability and honesty in speaking about mental health.  

“With a campus populace that struggles so deeply, often with mental health issues, it’s really important to give ourselves people to look up to, even though she’s our age,” Bartol said.  

Bartol also emphasized that on top of being a great musician, it was also important for Mayfest to feature beabadoobe, who is Filipina-British. Mayfest sought to improve Asian representation in the lineup, she said.

“It was able to give us more of a personal touch that wouldn’t be at all possible with our regular Dillo,” Ford said.

Ford, the first Black woman to be Mayfest’s booking director, said she focused on inclusivity and representation when curating this year’s lineup. For the first time in the festival’s history, all the artists were people of color.

“In this position, and having a seat at the table, I made it very clear that I want to apply pressure and do something new,” Ford said.

SESP freshman and Mayfest general board member Skylar Deeter, said the Filipina-British singer was a “fun and surprising” addition to this year’s performances.

“We were really excited to get some female and Asian representation on the lineup,” she said.

Mayfest chose beabadoobee to balance out the lineup, which featured a wide range of genres, from rap to EDM to alternative, Deeter said. beabadoobee’s laidback sound as an indie artist complemented other higher energy sets, she added.

This year’s festival also featured virtual performances from Omar Apollo, Playboi Carti and KAYTRANADA, as well as in-person programming that included a student art display, care package distribution and Dildo Day, a sex positivity event.

“If there’s one thing that we can do, as an organization, it is to give people something that would hopefully make them happy,” Ford said. “With all the artists, regardless of whether they were on campus or not, that presence was felt, that community was felt.”

This article has been updated.

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Twitter: @calliemorgan02 

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