Atlanta-born indie-pop artist Katie Belle dives headfirst into her long struggle with insomnia in her latest single “Bad Dreams,” an electro-synth pop cut that doubles as confession and release. Known for blending dreamy textures with raw lyricism, Belle has spent over a decade crafting her voice in the Atlanta and LA music scenes, and now she’s gearing up to release her debut EP People Pleaser this fall. If that record promises to unpack her journey with anxiety, identity, and people-pleasing habits, then “Bad Dreams” is its restless heartbeat.
The song opens with a hard, pulsing beat layered against the deep, buzzing ambient tones that press into the atmosphere of a sleepless night. Belle’s breathy, high-pitched vocals slip in like a whisper in the dark, as her exasperated and weary delivery matches the lyrical tug-of-war between exhaustion and overthinking. “Can’t sleep ‘cause I’m all in my head, trippin’ over things that I said,” she admits early on, as she exposes the spiral of regret that fuels her sleeplessness. The production keeps shimmering synths floating in the background as it mocks the promise of the rest she can’t reach.
When the chorus hits, the tension breaks into a hypnotic rhythm, “Keep me up, when the stars and the moon collide / I need you to save me from my bad dreams.” It’s not just insomnia anymore—it’s the dread of being left alone with her thoughts, the quiet terror of the self. She sings, “doing bad things, I got bad dreams,” implying that the same impulses that drive her sleepless nights also feed her thrill for life.
By the bridge, Belle confesses, “Losing control, I don’t like it like that,” but the track refuses closure as it cycles back into its restless pulse. “Bad Dreams” is the sound of insomnia set to a beat. Check out the lyric video on YouTube.
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Review by: Naomi Joan