Under 100,000 Special Edition: Arapahoe’s Very Own Rising Star, Bee Ler!

You may not know her, but I’m sure you’ve seen her around the halls of Arapahoe High School — our very own Claire Beeler, whose life has been filled with music since her childhood. She’s a senior at Arapahoe, and in her words, describes herself as a folk musician. She currently has released three songs on Spotify under the pseudonym Bee Ler, and as of the release of this article, she plans on releasing her fourth song, “Moth Man”, tomorrow!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before “Moth Man” comes out, I thought it would be fitting to review and analyze Claire’s songs as best I could, as part of my “Under 100,000” series. As someone who’s seen the production of some of these songs first hand, I know just how much heart and soul she pours into her work. Each song she’s produced is meaningful and emotional, and I highly encourage you to give her work a listen. 

A quick side note — as Claire is a close friend, I will refrain from rating her songs, and have this serve more as an analysis and discussion. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

The first of Claire’s songs to be released is titled “Encore / Farewell”. Released in 2019, the interesting thing about this song is that it’s a far cry from her current style of music, the song being something like modern pop. The key difference between her then and now is the instrumentals. “Encore / Farewell” has a digital, almost synth sound to it. There’s an absence of any instruments, the reason for this being that Claire wrote this song before she learned how to play guitar!

Even though this song marks the beginning of Claire’s music career, the nuances of this song are like that of a seasoned songwriter. The song doesn’t have a traditional narrative, but each section of lyrics build up an overarching feeling, and between that and the trance-like vocals, the song makes you feel hypnotized, and I believe that’s the point. It has to deal with losing control against someone you love, and even though you can tell it’s a toxic relationship, you can’t leave.

For what it is, “Encore / Farewell” is simple and effective, while still being a rather experimental first song for someone to release. While I definitely think you should listen to the song, just keep in mind Claire’s more recent work is more accurate to her style now.

Next up, released in 2020, is “Crying Birds Still Sing”. Now, this song does feature a simple backing track with nothing but a melodic guitar, though I still would hesitate to call it the same as Claire’s current style of music. I think anyone could guess from the title alone that this would be a sad song, and that’s certainly the case. The fact that the guitar and vocals stand alone make this song sadder, in my mind — it enhances the feeling of loneliness the song portrays.

I view “Crying Birds Still Sing” as a natural evolution of “Encore / Farewell”. Both in the sense that the song talks about leaving and healing from a relationship void of love, and because the vocals and instrumentals have improved, as you would imagine would happen in the gap year between the release of the songs.

Finally, her most recent song, released in 2021, “Vedauwoo”. This song marks Claire’s introduction into the folk genre — or, the genre where she’s solidified herself as a musician. “Vedauwoo” is another simple song, consisting of a guitar, percussion, and haunting but beautiful vocals. And, if you wanna be let in on a secret, the percussion in this song is actually a bottle of sprinkles.

Ignoring the confectionary trivia, this song is absolutely packed with emotion. One thing that I have to commend Claire on is that, since the release of her two prior songs, her singing skill has gotten amazing. Not to say her voice wasn’t great before, but in this song, it gains depth as she shows off her huge range and tone.

In any case, “Vedauwoo” is another song that lacks an overarching narrative, but the different verses all build up to convey a feeling; being lost. I think that the most obvious line in the song to display this is the lyric, “I may get lost along the way, though / You see my navigation ain’t so spick and span”.

Of course, that lyric portrays being lost in the traditional sense, that being lost in a location. However, while that is a recurring theme, it serves to give way to the greater theme, being lost inside your head, or being lost as a person. It’s a simple feeling we’ve all had experience with. It’s the thought of not knowing who you are in a world full of people who look like they know exactly who they are and what they’re supposed to do.

And that’s all three of Bee Ler’s songs!

As is standard for this series, I’m choosing one to recommend to you over the others. I was gonna cop out and tell you to listen to all her music, but frankly, I can’t do that in good conscience. That’s because “Vedauwoo” is an amazing song that I think anyone can relate to. “Vedauwoo” is simply a culmination of her musical talent over the years, and has so much more depth to it than her other two songs.  For that reason, I’m recommending it to you. 

If you’re still here — thank you so much for reading! Once again, Claire’s new single, “Moth Man”, releases on Friday, November 19th. If I had to guess, you’re reading this on or after that date, so I encourage you to go check it out!

Once again, my name’s Wyatt, and I’m a music nerd with a bit of an individuality complex. I’ll see you again in the next issue of “Under 100,000”!