Bad Bubble’s Boldest Swap Yet - Trading “Hats”!
- Oghamyst
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
It’s been months since we last heard from Chicago-based synthpop artist Bad Bubble, months since February, left us standing in the cold with nothing but a handful of unresolved questions and a haunting aftertaste. In that silence, you could almost feel the weight of what wasn’t being said, the next chapter quietly gathering in the dark. Now, the artist returns, not with a safe reentry, but with “Hats”, a track that doesn’t just pick up where we left off, but drags you deeper into the shadowed corridors of "Underscore’s Accord". If you thought you’d had time to brace yourself, think again!
Some songs just haunt. Bad Bubble’s “Hats” is one of those pieces that feels less like a track on a playlist and more like stumbling across a sealed diary entry you weren’t supposed to find. You can hear the weight in every synth swell, the frustration buried in each syllable, the way the slow-burn beat almost dares you to sit still and absorb the discomfort. It’s synthpop, yes, but steeped in shadows, brooding, patient, and cinematic in its restraint. From the opening, ominous chords, you know this isn’t going to be a safe listen. The synths hang in the air like storm clouds, static and heavy, while the vocals enter in Bad Bubble’s trademark worn, weathered tone, full of confessions and accusations. There’s no polish here to hide behind, just a voice caught between disbelief and resignation.
“So… you’ve found that life is so much better now… than before…But… It’s you, not me clearly… I’d have to disagree…”
The plot woven into “Hats” is devastating in its simplicity as a couple, husband and wife, lose their daughter. In the emotional wreckage that follows, the wife moves on, finding a new relationship that, painfully, turns abusive. The husband is left behind, not only without her but without the fragile tether to life she once represented. Now, he watches from the outside, hearing that she’s smiling again, that she’s put her life back together, but without him. That truth doesn’t heal; it cuts deeper. The title “Hats” itself is loaded. On one level, it’s the literal hat of the wife, transformed into a symbol of his emotional state, a possession that’s now empty of her presence yet full of memories. On another, it’s about the metaphorical “hats” we wear in life and art, survivor, lover, mourner, builder, critic, creator. In the world of Underscore’s Accord, these hats aren’t just roles, they’re masks like ceremonial coverings for identities quietly fracturing underneath.
This is not new terrain for Bad Bubble’s overarching story. “Don’t” and “February 2022” from earlier works also circle this moment, the rupture, the abandonment, the slow erosion of the self. But “Hats” distills it to a sharper point.
“No longer need to turn the motor on… and shut the door? That’s the role I play now…” - land with grim finality. The “motor” reference feels chilling, an allusion to moments when despair pushes toward self-harm, now turned back on the narrator. Instead of being the one helping someone else avoid the edge, he’s the one peering over it, alone. The music mirrors the unraveling. Where a lesser artist might ramp up the tempo to force catharsis, Bad Bubble does the opposite. The slow, steady pulse pulls you deeper into the isolation. Each synth tone is deliberate, like measured steps into a dim hallway you’re not sure you want to walk down. The production is sparse but alive with tension, and nothing feels accidental here at all. There’s a creeping theatricality here, not in the sense of melodrama, but in how every line and scene in the accompanying music video, every musical choice, feels staged to reflect the character’s descent. You could call it modern indie artistry with a taunt, the refusal to soften edges, to give you resolution, to let you off the hook.
A mix of disbelief, bitterness, and quiet collapse. And knowing where this arc leads into "War," that isolation becomes even more dangerous. “Hats” is what happens when grief doesn’t fade but transforms into something stranger, more unstable. It’s the sound of a mind putting on the wrong hat and wearing it until it fits. Listening to it, you can’t help but feel the claustrophobia of his world. And by the time the final line lands -
“Your heart is the only place I should be alone… I guess that was never the case…” - you realize the song has left you exactly where it left him, inside a space that should have been safe, but never was. This isn’t comfort. This isn’t closure. This is "Hats," and you’re supposed to feel disturbed. Listen and let it unsettle you, and support an artist who isn’t afraid to tell the kind of stories most would rather leave unspoken.
Just not listen but watch the awesome artistry behind "Hats" on #YouTube here -
You can check out and follow Bad Bubble’s musical journey on his website here: https://badbubblemusic.myshopify.com
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