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Beabadoobee cites Bloc Party as inspiration for Pylon album, names Silent Alarm as one of the "best debuts ever"
17 September 2026, 20:00 | Updated: 21 September 2026, 21:12
Beabadoobee on how taking a social media break while touring inspired Pylon
The Switchblade singer caught up with Radio X's Dan O'Connell to discuss some of her favourite artists, social media breaks and the inspiration behind her Pylon album.
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Beabadoobee has cited Bloc Party as a big inspiration and dubbed their Silent Alarm album as one of the "best debuts ever".
The Memories singer - whose real name is Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus - is set to release her fourth studio album Pylon this Friday (18th September) and stopped by Radio X HQ to discuss everything from the collaborators who worked on the record to band's she's always admired from afar.
Quizzed if there's anyone she's been listening to who helped inform the sound of Pylon or who's creatively guided her, the artist replied: "Bloc Party, definitely".
"They're such an awesome band," she went on. "One of my favourite songs is Helicopter so..."
When the DJ offered up that her album possibly had "Silent Alarm vibes," she commented: "Best debuts, like... ever."
Watch our interview with Beabadoobee above.
Read more:
- Bloc Party announce new album Anatomy Of A Brief Romance & share single Coming On Strong
- Beabadoobee reveals what she learned touring with Taylor Swift & how she inspired her new album
Beabadoobee - Sun Has Set (Official Music Video)
Beabadoobee's new album also sees contributions from the likes of Paramore's Hayley Williams and Deftones' Chino Moreno which still amazes the singer.
She told Dan O'Connell: "It's very unbelievable till this day, but like, I think just, you know, the fact that they just contributed and Even a little, like, whether it's a little way or a big way, the fact that they wanted to be involved in something that feels so special to me just meant a whole lot."
Previous collaborators Matty Healy and George Daniel also worked on the record, which Bea described as familiar and "like going back to 2021".
Quizzed about the album title itself and why she decided to call it Pylon, Bea revealed that both connection, technology and a lack thereof played a part.
"It was kind of this object that I gravitated towards when I was on the road," she told Radio X. "Which is kind of what this album is about, and it's about being away. And I think every time I missed home, I was so desperate that I just kind of got obsessed with these things that helped me feel connected to everything I missed.
She went on: "And this was actually the first tour I was like, you know, off social media. And so I was like, you know, twiddling my thumbs quite a lot. And so I was looking out the window quite a lot and these incredible— and I always like pylons had always existed in my life and just, you know, everywhere. But like I never took notice of them up until I took the time to look out the tour bus window and saw a bunch all the time."
Pylon - which follows Fake It Flowers (2020), Beatopia (2022) and This Is How Tomorrow Moves (2024 - is out this Friday (17th September) and is to pre-order and pre-save here. See the artwork and the tracklist to the album below:
Beabadoobee's Plyon tracklist:
- Pylon
- Sun Has Set
- Estranged
- Switchblade
- Write Me A Letter
- It's Alright
- In Motion
- Memories
- Nothing To Prove (feat. Hayley Williams)
- Radio
- Powerlines (feat. Brendan Yates)
- Spark
- Despite That
- Satellite
To celebrate the release of the record, Beabadoobee will play two sets at Hackney Church tomorrow (18 September), before heading out on the road for her North American tour.
She'll then return to the UK this winter to play UK and European tour dates, which will include a stint at The O2, London as part of The Powerlines Tour.
Visit beabadoobee.com/live for her latest tour schedule and to buy tickets.
