FROM BUBBLEGUM TO SKY – NOTHING SADDER THAN LONELY QUEEN

Mario Hernandez, the mastermind behind From Bubblegum To Sky, is a product of two worlds. The son of a Hispanic U.S. Marine and a Japanese woman, he was raised for his first ten years in Kyushu, Japan. There, he listened to wacky early Japanese pop, as well as stuff like the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, The Beatles, and KISS. This odd combo of musical styles has to inform the sound of From Bubblegum To Sky on its second album, Nothing Sadder Than Lonely Queen.
I mean, I assume the two musical styles mix in the music. And that’s what the press release tells me. There definitely is a poppy, Beatles-esque flavor to much of the music, mixed with some late '70s disco flavor, and then this weird effervescence just skimming the top that must be some Japanese influence I’ll probably never recognize.
Hernandez’s high, occasionally nasal voice sings sad, bitter words over deceptively happy and poppy keyboards, drums, and guitars. Upon first listen, you’ll probably smile and think you’ve got a good-time, fun pop gem on your hands. Then you might start making out the bitter lyrics about breakups and boring lives. But it’s still a gem. Just not necessarily a happy one.