The studio at 30065 Morning View Dr., Malibu, California, has a long history.

Initially a coastal ranch property built in 1958, it switched hands between bands, actresses, music executives, and more, over time transforming into the recording studio it is known as today and touching the careers of dozens of artists in the process. “Shangri-La Ranch” was eventually purchased by producer Rick Rubin in 2011, and would later birth another hit: beabadoobee’s third and most recent studio album, “This Is How Tomorrow Moves.”

However, the 1.73 acres of land originally belonged to one of the most universal and simplistic muses for beabadoobee’s newest work: the sea.

While this is discussed throughout the album, the eleventh track, “Beaches,” illustrates beabadoobee’s connection with the Malibu coastline the clearest, poignantly expressing how the cold, wintry California sea served as both an escape from her work when she needed a break and an opportunity to look at music with fresh perspective.

“’Cause days blend to one / When I’m on the right beaches,” she sings, “And the walls painted white / They tell me all their secrets.”

A love letter to the ocean practically lapping at the door of the studio, these lyrics showcase how minimalist surroundings — specifically the iconic white walls of Shangri-La — can inspire creative breakthroughs, offering the listener insight into beabadoobee’s songwriting process. It also elucidates how she came to terms with working on the West Coast despite calling West London home.

Emphasizing the importance of places to understanding ourselves, this song prompts introspection as much as it provides its audience a window into beabadoobee’s life.

“Don’t wait for the tide just to dip both your feet in,” she instructs, explaining how, rather than postponing until the perfect moment to try something new, you should put 100% into everything you do.

In fact, just taking a leap can lead to a renewed work ethic and sense of motivation — in between songwriting sessions in Malibu, beabadoobee said that, although it was the middle of November, “we’d just jump into the sea,” an experience that “motivated everyone in that room so much more to go back and continue working.”

With a beat that immediately brings to mind the pensive but carefree atmosphere of California summers, this song is arguably one of the album’s best. The connecting themes that it highlights — such as homesickness, adaptation to change, and self-understanding — are most poignantly illustrated here, though they also explored on other songs, such as “California,” “Girl Song,” and “The Man Who Left Too Soon.”

Similarly to “Beaches,” the opening notes of “California” immediately introduce the topics the song discusses, a clanging mess of drums and cymbals to mirror the internal chaos it explores.

“Always the same from the inside / Wanted a change, it took a big fight,” beabadoobee plaintively intones, reflecting on the reality of touring and the sacrifices it takes. “And I know they won’t listen till I start to crack / And I pick up the pieces of what they left.”

At once achingly homesick and hopeful for the future, beabadoobee explained in an interview with Rick Rubin that this song is about her coming to terms with the reality of her career, particularly the frequent travel it requires.

While the unhealthy lifestyle she previously had when touring “took a massive toll” on her voice, it became so normalized for her that she just associated it with performing music. She combats that mindset here, with lyrics that clearly illustrate the consequences it has for her mentally and physically and the steps she is taking to move past it.

The struggle of long-distance relationships, seen when she sings “spending too much time out in California,” and the costs of maintaining a career in the music industry are also paralleled on the track “Coming Home,” which discusses the interpersonal difficulties created by the stratospheric success she’s experienced.

A song filled with soft guitar strums and intense feelings of yearning, it keenly portrays the longing she feels for her home country of England when logistics forced her to remain an additional week in the United States after opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

Maintaining a consistently steady, soothing pace, this song’s delivery is akin to an offering of apology, beginning with her concern at the end of the first verse: “And I’m sorry if I’m coming home too late.”

Beabadoobee revealed in an interview that the roughly 5,000 miles separating her from her boyfriend and family are what inspired this song, which she wrote in a hotel room before returning home to the United Kingdom.

What gives this song its beauty is the lyricisms’s authentic expression of longing, particularly the lines, “I’d do anything just to be with you / To sit and watch you slowly wake.”

When discussing the cornerstone for this track, beabadoobee highlighted the importance of seemingly menial tasks and the foundation that they provide for a relationship, explaining that “there’s a beauty in mundane things, especially when life is so fast for a musician.”

The gentle remorse of her voice in this song echoes that sentiment along with light, airy vocals and soft, rhythmic guitar strings that connect with the listener, inviting them to both empathize with her and dwell on their own, similar emotions.

Another ballad to the simple but immeasurable beauty of romance is track eight, “Ever Seen.”

A blend of fairy-tale love and self-aware commentary, it balances beabadobee’s optimistic, angelic vocals with piercing introspection that vividly calls to attention the personal growth and accountability necessary to be happy with someone else.

“’Cause I spent some time waiting for your face / Don’t want to risk just making all the same mistakes,” she sings. “It’s been rough, but I’ve felt worse / I’ll pull myself back up and you know this.”

With intentional, creative guitar, the song slowly builds momentum, layering in a variety of other instruments to carry entirely instrumental sections of the music and underscore the relationship between being in love and understanding yourself, as the lyrics and beat work entirely in harmony with one another.

In contrast to these endearing perspectives on relationships, her songs “Real Man” and “One Time” serve as a direct juxtaposition, uncovering topics such as breakups and unfaithfulness and providing a gripping contrast in the album. Maybe “In ‘Real Man,’ the issue is not the amount of distance — as is the case in ‘Coming Home’ and ‘California’ — but the disappointment she faces when being consistently met with unrequited feelings.”

Beabadoobee presents a rhetorical situation in which her significant other is not taking the relationship seriously in comparison to her, as seen through the lyrics, “need the reassurance, baby, not a silly romance,” hence the need for a “real man.” The idea that the relationship might be seen as more casual for one person is especially common in teen lives with the rise of concepts like “situationships,” and thus calls to her younger audience.

The fifth and last verse of the song utilizes repetition in order to evoke a desperate plea where she urges him to be sincere, therefore putting the pressure on him to make the needed change after she was let down so many times in their relationship.

Along that vein, “One Time” is a song that beabadoobee wanted to write like an angry breakup song. With a bigger emphasis on instruments — including the electric guitar and drums — the progression of this track perpetuates the unhealthy, toxic standards they’ve both implemented into the relationship as a result of carelessness and lack of effort.

The last verse mimics a broken record with repetition that becomes progressively louder, using screaming vocals in the background to also explore the depth of female rage, a spotlight on the female experience that is continued in “Girl Song.”

Unlike “Coming Home,” though, the feelings don’t seem genuine, and instead feel like a dead end: pointless.

This album shows beabadoobee’s growth as a young artist, as she moves past “coming of age” and now grows into what it means to be an adult, facing obstacles that result in deep-seated and weighted emotions, compelling lyricism, and thoughtful melodies. It offers the listener an intimate understanding of her life while providing space for their own self-reflection and a light, optimistic soundtrack to simply enjoy.

Overall, this album reflects the ocean it was written by. At times beautiful, somber, and as pensive and sweeping as the expanse of the open sea, it is unquestionably one of the best albums of the summer.