London’s Bea and her Business captures the passion and pain of our turbulent teenage years in her sophomore EP ‘Me vs. Me,’ a dramatic, unfiltered, and unapologetic indie pop record that shines with the light of her own raw inner reckoning.

Stream: “WOW!” – Bea and her Business

Self-discovery can be a beautiful, magical, and wondrous thing.

Learning more about ourselves and figuring out who we are deep down can help us not only align our actions with our desires, but it can also help make us feel happier and more fulfilled in our lives.

But when you’re a teenager and in the thick of it for that first time, all you want is to be out. It’s a “nightmare being 19,” constantly battling yourself – a perennial truism borne out time and again, throughout different cultures and countries and in every generation. London’s Bea and her Business captures the passion and pain of that intimate, universal coming-of-age soul-search in her aptly titled sophomore EP Me vs. Me, a dramatic, unfiltered, and unapologetic indie pop record that brings her own raw inner reckoning to the forefront.

Me vs. Me - Bea and her Business — Me vs. Me – Bea and her Business

Every morning I put on some makeup
I colour my face in
Like a colouring pad
Trying to tell myself that I’m a weapon
And I look amazing
But I don’t mean that

Describe yourself in 3 words,
I’ll list things that I despise
There’s only one person involved
and I’m here picking sides
I’ll batter every inch of
what’s been keeping me alive

– “Me Against My Head,” Bea and her Business

Released May 24, 2024 via Elektra Records / Warner Music UK, Me vs. Me is an emphatic, emotionally charged record charting the rocky road from troubled teen to triumphant(-ish) twenty-something. In six songs, Bea and her Business – the musical project of 20-year-old singer and songwriter Bea Wheeler – openly and earnestly reflects on the highs and lows (and lows… and lows) of her recent, deeply formative years, holding nothing back as she shine a light into the dark parts of her mind. She sings aloud the things we usually keep to ourselves, turning “ugly thoughts” into beautiful affirmation of life’s complexity and hardship.

“I think this EP is an insight into fear, self-deprecation, and feeling out of my depth in my teenage years,” Wheeler tells Atwood Magazine. “I’m constantly battling between ‘god I’m awful at everything I do’ and ‘I’m taking the world by storm, who’s coming with me?’”

“When I wrote this EP, I didn’t have boundaries; as such, I just wrote lyrics and hoped the melodies would follow, which makes me kind of see this EP as a collection of things I needed to get off my chest. Things like wanting to be someone else, feeling awkward, feeling lonely, feeling isolated, being a bit of a ‘copy/paste’ girl at 16, following the crowd because that formula always seemed to work, the constant chase for people to like you, struggling with your body or struggling with the words you say, always feeling uninteresting or out of place, the pressures that come with growing up – I could go on forever, but once you’re out the other end, you actually realize there’s a reason why you are you. Stopping running from it. You are great.”

Made with a slew of critically-acclaimed producers – including Fraser T. Smith (Adele), Stuart Price (Madonna, The Killers, Dua Lipa), and Anthony Vander West (of Oh Wonder) – Me vs. Me arrives just seven months after Bea and her Business made a splash with her debut EP Introverted Extrovert, whose songs have already racked up nearly 50 million combined streams.

“I wrote most of Introverted Extrovert whilst I was still at school, so most of those songs were about silly boys from school and they were all mostly ballads,” Wheeler reflects, “whereas I think this EP is a lot more introspective and solitary. I also think musically, it’s hinting at a couple of different sides to me that no one has really seen yet with ‘Good Things’ being quite indie pop, ‘Sunburnt Shoulders’ being a little folk, and ‘WOW!’ slightly edging in a funk-pop direction, which I never thought I’d be saying!”

**For Wheeler, Me vs. Me represents both an emotional and sonic evolution in her still very young and very much burgeoning artistry.**

While she didn’t go into it with a specific vision in mind, she acknowledges how the EP’s songs were all influenced by what she was going through in her late teens.

“I was never writing for a particular project or towards a specific title,” she says. “I felt as though I was writing a never-ending stream of consciousness without an idea of where it would lead me. Weirdly, they all happened to fall under that self-deprecating bracket. I think there was a real phase I went through of feeling super isolated and confused as to who my friends were and what I was doing with my life.”

She adds, “These were songs I wrote from 17-19 years old, so of course my perspective shifted on certain feelings that I might have had previously. I think in ‘Too Loud (And That’s The Way I’m Going Out),’ it’s such a relief to feel self-acceptance, and I think this EP is the journey up to that feeling. It’s that weird thing of pushing through the discomfort and the loneliness and the anxiety and once you’ve made it through to the other side, there’s that sense of, ‘Ok, I’ve got this, I kinda know where I stand and I’m gonna be fine.’”

**She very honestly and cheekily describes Me vs. Me as self-deprecating, unapologetic, and single – laughing as she says the last one out loud.**

The EP’s title speaks directly to its subject matter. “I hadn’t ever been in love with anyone at the time of writing it, which left me with no choice but to write about myself,” she says. “I promise I’m not a narcissist… ha! It’s weird because talking about my emotions was my least favorite thing to do, but then all my friends left to go to university, leaving little old me alone in the big city. It kind of forced me to sit and think about how I really felt towards myself, which was slightly brutal. People always say, ‘you are your own worst enemy,’ and I think these songs can vouch for that saying.”

Me vs. Me‘s release was preceded by the heart-on-sleeve single “Me Against My Head,” the feverish and dynamic pop-rock anthem “Good Things,” and “WOW!” – the latter of which earned Atwood Magazine‘s attention and praise for its colorful lyrics and catchy melodies. “The teenaged pop artist captures infatuation’s intensity and immediacy,” we wrote in our track review this past spring (at the time, Wheeler was still 19), going on to call “WOW! an an irresistible, cheeky ode to falling uncontrollably headfirst in love.

I’m a wet wipe
the doctor diagnosed me this morning.
It seems to me I’ve caught unwanted feelings
And we haven’t even touched yet,
and I never even knew what love was

It was daytime,
and I got a really weird feeling in my stomach
Don’t think that it’s my lunch that’s causing havoc
And missing you really sucks yeah
And we haven’t even touched yet

:: TODAY'S SONG ::

While these songs are indisputable highlights (and pre-release singles for good reason), highlights abound throughout the EP’s 17-minute run.

“I think ‘Sunburnt Shoulders’ was always an immediate favorite for me,” Wheeler says of the sun-kissed, folk-tinged fourth track, an emotional scorcher in which she reckons with defining things like success and career milestones, and what “doing well” looks like for her, in her music career.

“As soon as I had written the melody it felt so special,” she adds. “I didn’t have a clue what direction I wanted to take the song lyrically that day, so I remember going home and frantically trying to find what it was that I wanted to say. I wrote the first verse and took it back into the studio and that then dictated the rest of the song. We felt a massive payoff and release after writing it.”

I’m terrified of romance
My friends all fall in love so easily
I’m terrified of no plans
Cuz usually I’m kinda OCD
I’m terrified of Jesus
Always wondered if he’s looking down on me
I’m terrified of myself
And the loser that I might turn out to be

Party’s over and everybody’s leaving
Backwash in the drinks I’m getting left behind
Wearing dirty clothes and oversleeping
When am I gonna do something with my life

– “Sunburnt Shoulders,” Bea and her Business

As an avid songwriter, Wheeler has several favorite lyrics strewn across the EP’s tracks. “One is ‘I’m a copy and paste it girl, done tryna save the world, just trying my best to fit in’ from ‘Nightmare Being 19’, as it’s so defeatist and heartbreaking and really summed up how I felt in that particular moment. I also think ‘I wanna be left field but people only dance when you play the hits’ from ‘Sunburnt Shoulders’; this one for me sums up the feeling of letting others dictate what you’re going to do with your life. That confusion of not knowing what path you should take, one that’s slightly off the beaten track or one that’s very well-trodden.”

“I’ve also gotta say ‘I’m a wetwipe, the doctor diagnosed me this morning’ from ‘WOW!’ because it’s hilarious and ridiculous. It’s really all about the embarrassment of fancying someone for the first time in a long time. ‘I’m a tragically imperfect bitch, well I wasn’t grown in a Petri dish’ from ‘Too Loud (And That’s The Way I’m Going Out)’ – this lyric is taking no prisoners, it’s just a moment of ‘I couldn’t care less about your opinion and I’m not sorry about it’ – it’s kind of therapeutic as I’d spent so long getting hung up on opinions.”

I’m on a roll I’m doing well
I’ll be the story that they tell
About the girl who runs her mouth
At least I’ve always been myself
I’ll keep kicking up a storm
Cuz that’s the way that I was born
So leave your expectations at the door
I’m never gonna please the crowd
Even if they told me how
I came into this world too loud
And that’s the way I’m going out

– “Too Loud (And That’s The Way I’m Going Out),” Bea and her Business

Bea and her Business 'Me vs. Me' © Lewis Vorn — Bea and her Business ‘Me vs. Me’ © Lewis Vorn

**From end to end, Me vs. Me is a confirmation and reaffirmation of Bea and her Business’ stunning talents.**

A dynamic vocalist and strikingly creative songwriter, she brings listeners deep into her world in these six new songs, taking us on an exhilarating adventure whose highs and lows, memorable melodies and hard-hitting lyrics stick around long after the music’s over. In singing so passionately and powerfully about her own teenaged hurdles, Wheeler creates a soundtrack for all those going through their own troubles and hardships to know they’re not alone – whether they’re thirteen or thirty-one.

“I hope listeners take away that it’s ok to feel alone, single, weird, self-conscious, scared of growing up, unsure what path you want to take, but it’s also ok to feel self-assured, assertive, having your standards and knowing what you god damn deserve,” Wheeler shares, “and by putting it out, I think I’ve also learned [all of] that.”

Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Bea and her Business’ Me vs. Me EP with Atwood Magazine as Bea Wheeler goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her sophomore EP!

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:: stream/purchase Me vs. Me here ::

:: connect with Bea and her Business here ::

Stream: ‘Me vs. Me’ – Bea and her Business

:: Inside Me vs. Me ::

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Nightmare Being 19

This is a song about feeling socially awkward and uncomfortable at a party even though I’m surrounded by a load of friends. It’s about the confusing transition between childhood and adulthood and consequently longing for my innocence back.

Me Against My Head

This song explores body image and the battle that I faced with myself at a certain time in my life. I was really embarrassed and ashamed of my body, and that sucks because your body is something that should be celebrated and empowered. It’s a song that tells the story of Bea vs. A mirror and it’s brutal.

Good Things

This song was written during a time all my friends were getting into relationships, honestly they were dropping like flies. I was sick of getting so hung up on it and I was bored of waiting for someone to come and sweep me off my feet. I feel like this song was a real reminder to me that being single is great, and that I needed to stop wishing it away.

Sunburnt Shoulders

This is a song about a time when I had no idea which path I wanted to take in life. It always felt like everyone had everything figured out and I was just scrambling to find my thing. It’s about the procrastination of growing up and dreading the moment I’d have to take responsibility or make certain sacrifices.

WOW!

This song is about the embarrassing feeling of falling in love/being besotted with someone, even more embarrassing if you’ve only dated for a few days! I used to have a habit of getting far too invested and obsessed with someone far too quickly, this song is a perfect example of that.

Too Loud (And That’s The Way I’m Going Out)

When I was growing up, I’d generally be described as loud or annoying or bossy and eventually it made me quieter. I remember when I was 14 I actually made a conscious effort to stop laughing because people called my laugh annoying. I think this song is just a bit of a middle finger up to all of those people who made me feel smaller and who made me feel like I couldn’t be myself.

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