[2] Caillat commented on the lyrical composition of the song in an interview with Wilson County News on February 20, 2008, following her live performance on The View, "I didn't write "Bubbly" for any [special] guy.

"[3] Susan Visakowitz of Billboard wrote that Caillat's "warm vocals along with a gentle acoustic arrangement effortlessly conjure the idyllic California she calls home".

In Australia—where "Bubbly" was used in a promotional video for the Seven Network soap opera Home and Away—it reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart for the week of April 7, 2008.

Elsewhere, the single reached number one in the Czech Republic and charted within the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, and Sweden.

Caillat performs clad in a simple tank top and jeans which are slightly ripped at the knees; she is also barefoot and wearing a necklace made of sea shells.

Uploaded to Caillat's YouTube and Vevo account on December 13, 2009, the video for "Bubbly" has received a generally positive reaction from fans and has garnered over 125 million views.