---
title: "Underwater"

meaning: "When stability was a bluff: anxiety pulls people away, stationary-bike life, sliding into the ocean: meant to be underwater."

year: 2023
release: "MÖB"
releaseType: "album"

artist: "Scoobert Doobert"
artistId: "#scoobert"

credits: "Written, performed, produced, and mixed by Luke Francis Walton. Mastered by Riley Knapp. Album art by Gentle Giant Illustrations."

apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/album/underwater/1708670332?i=1708670340"
spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/album/7kAZdCuQ89YJHbJQI0xeOB"

themes: ["anxiety", "depression", "body", "MÖB", "honesty"]

isrc: QZNWV2383907
isrcSource: soundexchange
lyrics: |
  I don't wanna talk anymore
  Cause every time we do
  I bring you down
  You never come by anymore
  Sure miss having you
  Around me
  Cause you ground me
  And distract me
  From anxiety
  I'm on a stationary bike
  Wondering if this ride
  Is what the rest of my life looks like

  I'm a bluff failure
  Going into the ocean
  I'm sliding down into the water
  I never shoulda
  Pretended to be stable
  I'm a bluff failure
  Falling into the ocean
  Look out down below I gotta
  Break into smaller little pieces
  Never shoulda faked it
  I'm meant to be underwater
  Underwater
  Meant to be underwater
  Underwater

  Everyday is closer to tomorrow
  Or is it the same length away?
  Everyday I'm reaching out
  Grasping for air and falling down
  Can I get closer to tomorrow?
  Why is it always out of reach?
  Everyday I'm burning out
  Failing to see why I'm hanging round

  I'm a bluff failure
  Going into the ocean
  I'm sliding down into the water
  I never shoulda
  Pretended to be stable
  I'm a bluff failure
  Falling into the ocean
  Look out down below I gotta
  Break into smaller little pieces
  Never should of faked it

  I'm meant to be underwater
  Underwater
  Meant to be underwater
  Underwater
  Meant to be underwater
  Underwater
  Meant to be underwater
  Underwater

draft: false

---

Track seven on [*MÖB*](/albums/mob/), the emotional low point before the record turns to mania, bowling, and [*All I Need*](/songs/all-i-need/). [Ear to the Ground Music](https://www.eartothegroundmusic.co/2023/10/20/album-review-digging-into-the-soulful-stylings-of-scoobert-dooberts-new-mob/) called it heavy and unusually chart-capable, and the song earns that read.

The damage is reported from the inside. *I don't wanna talk anymore* because talking *brings you down*; the best image is effort without arrival, a *stationary bike* and the dread it might be the rest of your life. From there it slides into the chorus, *bluff failure*, *never shoulda pretended to be stable*, *I'm meant to be underwater*, repeated until it sounds like fact and plea at once.

On an LP framed partly around [Guillain-Barré](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain%E2%80%93Barr%C3%A9_syndrome) and nearly losing music ([Rock Da Fuq Out](https://www.rockdafuqout.com/post/scoobert-doobert-new-album-being-diy-and-thoughts-on-the-san-diego-scene-interview)), the sinking is psychological and bodily at once. Between [*TOO HOT*](/songs/too-hot/) and [*fuck it let's go bowling*](/songs/fuck-it-lets-go-bowling/), it's the depth the buoyant songs are floating above.

---