From the songwriter and composer who brought us the Underscore series, the single Don’t takes a more singularly expressive approach to detailing the pain of separation and longing when one party has moved on and the other clearly hasn’t.
Structurally unique as per the majority of Bad Bubble releases, Don’t desires no familiarity or mainstream intent, but rather pours through as a sort of diary entry or letter to someone evidently gone from our protagonist’s life.
In this honesty and vulnerability, the song relates to listeners – the juxtaposition of implied gratitude and painful regret is something many will have experienced themselves. This initial presentation of being glad that the world looks brighter, more beautiful, and brings happiness to someone else, is later revealed to be merely a mask over the true ache of realizing you’re not and can never be involved in that.
It’s a hard truth to swallow, and the progression from the poetic imagery and joy of ‘Has the sun been a little warmer?’, to the ultimate self-scorn of ‘I must have been horrible’ is fiercely on point. So too is the resounding realism that the only gift worth giving would be absence from their life.
Even so, Bad Bubble keeps the production light, the melody hopeful for the most part, and the whole thing washes over like a dream or wave of something that used to mean so much but now plays only the role of a memory.
Undeniably raw, in keeping with the Bad Bubble style and unmistakable vocally, Don’t strips away the falseness layer by layer, for a fearlessly revealing look at heartbreak.
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