A Chat with Mrs Bubbles (02.10.2021)
There is often a message woven into the music we listen to. Mrs Bubbles is bringing two concepts and sides to her second album Refracted that come together for a wonderful whole. Merging to form a cohesive story through the tracks of the album, these concepts are ones we can easily relate to and that leaves us revelling in the depths of her music. We had the chance to chat with Mrs Bubbles about her latest album, these concepts, experimental sounds, emotions, visuals in music and much more!
OSR: Was there a moment or experience that made you think that you want to make music?
Mrs Bubbles: It wasn’t a specific moment, but I’ve always been drawn to artistic stuff and I started with other forms of art, but music had actually been on my mind since I was a teenager. I had some concepts here and there, some lyrics and melodies, but for the longest time, it was more of an idea at the back of my mind. Then one day, someone from an online community that I was part of created a song contest, and I decided to fully write, produce and submit a song, something that I had never done before. That’s how I actually started doing it.
OSR: Your second album Refracted, has two concepts laced through the tracks. Is this something you actively tried to achieve or did it happen organically?
Mrs Bubbles: From the beginning, I knew that I really needed a concept, a clear storyline that would tie the album together, because all tracks had been inspired by the same initial situation. But it wasn’t until I had written almost all the songs that I actually found not one but two concepts that would both tie the songs in a logical order. They were just here from the beginning and I hadn’t noticed them.
The first concept was about feeling surrounded by layers of glass that were hiding my true self from people, and my journey into discovering and trying to break them. The second concept was about different stages of grief and how I would go through them. Not necessarily in the traditional order that we’ve been taught, and going through the same stages multiple times.
OSR: The story of the album is linked to your personal journey at the time it was created, how do you feel the impacted your creative process?
Mrs Bubbles: I think it definitely had an impact on it, and the album wouldn’t have been the same if I had worked on it later. Some of these songs were planned before I even started working on the album, and some of them emerged later in the process. I think the tone of the lyrics and the music was highly influenced by how I was personally feeling. By comparison, most of the songs from my first album were written months or years after the things they were about happened, so my writing was more detached. I think that writing my second album was exciting, as I didn’t know what the tracklist would be like until much later in the process.
OSR: Your music always has an experimental edge to it as you combine different genres and styles. Do you feel this experimentation helps evolve your sound into something better with each release?
Mrs Bubbles: I think it’s important for me to experiment with different genres, because each song has its specific meaning and mood, and I can’t imagine a single genre that could fit everything. This experimentation helps me discover and try new things all the time. Then when I find that there’s something I really like, I try to go more in that direction in my future work. So yes, eventually, this is how you become better as an artist, you focus more on the things that you like doing and that you’re best at.
OSR: Do you have a particular genre or musical style that you prefer?
Mrs Bubbles: It’s hard to say, as there are many genres I like and listen to. I think it’s often the melody that will make me like a song, no matter what the genre is. I listen to a lot of rock, pop, jazz, even classical music even though I’m not sure you could hear the influence in my music.
OSR: How do you feel this album compares to your last?
Mrs Bubbles: I think this album is more refined, whether it is in the songwriting, the production or the singing. And as I already mentioned, the approach to both of these projects was totally different. As a result, I think the first album felt more detached, while the second one is more emotionally intense. When you write about your emotions while going through them, it creates something more authentic and close to what you’re feeling, rather than being based on memory.
OSR: What is the one thing you would like people to feel as they listen to the album?
Mrs Bubbles: I think that mostly, I would like them to understand how I feel and what these songs mean to me because that’s part of the concept of the album. Each of these songs was written for a reason, there was something painful inside of me that I had to express to make it heard because I couldn’t say it in any other way. I tried my best to make every song reflect the emotions it’s associated with, through the music, the writing and the performance. When I listen to these songs, it feels right, it’s exactly how it felt when I wrote them, so I really hope people can feel it too.
OSR: Your tracks have a delightful storytelling quality to them with each song acting as a story on its own while part of the whole. How difficult was this to achieve?
Mrs Bubbles: I don’t think it was that difficult for me, because while each song was about a specific issue that I needed to go more in detail with, they all had the same origin, they were all part of a common bigger issue. It was just natural that all of these songs would fit in the general storyline while also having their own story. To reinforce this, I made a lot of links between the songs, using common themes and imagery.
OSR: You have a range of photos and videos that represents the music in visuals, can you tell us a little more about them?
Mrs Bubbles: I have a very visual imagination, and while writing the album, it was clear to me that there was a big part of the concept that I wouldn’t be able to represent just with words or music, so I had to complete it with visuals. I am a videographer, so it also just makes sense that I get to reinterpret my own music with photos and videos. In many of these photos, I played around with glass and different elements, like light or water, to create some visual refraction effects. I also made a music video for ‘Can’t Dance the Pain Away’, where I used an animation technique with photos rather than videos, to represent the meaning of this song, which is my inability to dance, and being stuck in a robotic state.
OSR: If your music was a new colour addition to the crayon box, what colour would it be and why?
Mrs Bubbles: I would say iridescent. It’s not a colour but it has the ability to change and look a bit different every time, which is what I’m trying to achieve.
OSR: Your music hits on a really personal level, how do you feel when listeners are able to connect with the depths of your music?
Mrs Bubbles: It’s an amazing feeling and I didn’t expect it at first. I don’t really write music with people in mind, I’m not wondering whether people can relate and how my music can impact them, I’m doing it for myself first and foremost. So when people tell me that a song that I made brought tears to their eyes because they know that feeling and that I made a mood for it through my music, it really touches me. It’s the power of music, after all.
OSR: What else can we expect from you in the next 12 months?
Mrs Bubbles: I have recently launched a series of videos called “Behind the Refractions”, where I explain each song, the inspiration behind it, how I made it and I also share some visuals and early drafts. There will be a new episode every week, so it will be going on for a few months. I haven’t started working on new music yet, but I already have a few ideas for my next album, and I should start working on it soon. So I’m not sure a new album will be out by next year, but there will probably be some songs!
Thanks to Mrs Bubbles for chatting with us! You can find more about her on her website, Instagram and Spotify.
