When an artist has put in the work, built an extensive catalogue of releases and in the process perfected their own balancing of professionalism and passion, the results can make it seem like they’re a natural in the creative realm.
Indie’s legendary and unmistakable artist Bad Bubble marks a fine example of precisely that kind of musician.
With a multitude of albums, EPs, singles and even creative covers to his name, the Bad Bubble repertoire is immense, and consistently distinct. Fans will no doubt agree – there’s nobody else who sounds like Bad Bubble in the modern music industry.
Which brings us to today’s album feature, a project that takes us back to the very beginning of his journey – a debut release from March, 2022. Future 9 was Bad Bubble’s first ever solo record, a collection of great songs that were twenty years in the making, from an artist with a uniquely captivating story and style.
Eleven songs make up Future 9, a project crafted with the help of the equally unique engineer Prof Toast. You can tell by the opening classical calm and melody of an instrumental Velvet Off, that this first project was indeed something special.
This is For Kori comes next and has been an unexpected fan favourite. Bad Bubble remarks: ‘It wasn’t even supposed to be on the album, it was a total accident, and it’s my number one streamed song so far’. The song features BB’s recognisable voice quietly mixed within a humble tapestry of synths and subtle rhythms. It’s a passionate but delicate performance, with a smooth progression and intriguing story that aptly introduce the thoughtful nature of a songwriter unafraid to take things to the depths of the human experience.
Next we move into the haunting piano flow of Messier Thirty One, a personal favourite – gritty lyrics and a dramatic beat working in unison with the piano and the simple vocal melody, to create a beautifully provocative and enchanting listen.
There’s a simplicity to these early songs, shorter-form rhymes and poetic calm to coincide with the more familiar musicality. Even with natural world and sci-elements intertwined, such as for Summer Fall, there’s comfort in the arrangements. It’s a likable, even joyful song, purely about a functionable drug addict traversing daily life; for which the subsequent and memorable, even catchy Smart Secrets marks a cleverly crafted Part 2.
It’s fascinating, because by his own admission this album is one of the greats, and the more I listen, the more I have to agree.
Other highlights include the heavier tones and effects of a chaotic and confronting, almost Jazz-kissed Love Slop, and Bad Bubble’s own favourite, Digital Zero. Here we delve into higher-toned vocals and the more contemporary sound of BB’s later projects.
Stripping things back is the intimate and dreamy Autumn & The Overture, another rising classical arrangement, before the now renowned title and sound of The Eggs, Pt. 1 draws us back into the stories and segments of mystique and connection carefully intertwined.
Future 9 concludes with a fusion of standard piano, heavy synths, and eighties rhythmic sound play. That Day is powerful in lyric and production, the higher voice returning, the passion prominent in everything from the opening line to the distorted crescendo and subsequent fade away into the inescapable impact of events past. There’s an emotional depth here that transcends the style or the bigger project, and this perhaps explains why this too has reached listeners in the thousands.
His story is far from told in full, but the chapters and pages we’ve been granted now start to piece together in a manner that’s completely incomparable for a musical artist of late. Bad Bubble’s autobiography is a collection of studio projects told in both personal and mystifying ways – the tentative image of the artist, the auto-tune, the uncertainty elevated by the sheer boldness of the revelations. It’s a style he’s taken full control of, and its poignancy and creativity will live on forever.
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“If you told your life’s story, how long would it take you to do so in a real and important way?
It’s going to take me 3 years…I just hope I did ok…”
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Find Bad Bubble on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter & his Website.
