Bad Times by Imael Angel: how an AI song became a viral hit
TL;DR: “Bad Times” began with Imael Angel’s own concept and lyrics, developed into a track using AI. Its success brought millions of plays—and a new recording with a human singer. Which version you hear matters.
The creator’s SoundCloud upload, dated March 30, 2026; approximately 6 minutes 40 seconds.
The person behind the track
Imael Angel is Bernadett Gángó, a Hungarian-born Reiki practitioner living in England. Her route into music came through spiritual writing and experimenting with AI, rather than a conventional recording career. Hungarian broadcaster ; her still centres on Reiki sessions and teaching.
That helps explain the unusual crossover: personal affirmations and spiritual themes becoming dance music for an audience far beyond her original community.
How big did it get?
The March release found a wider audience months later. describes TikTok creators picking it up in September and says the station added it to its own rotation that month.
By October 30, the SoundCloud upload above showed more than 3 million plays and roughly 95,800 likes. The gives it a No. 67 peak on the main singles chart, alongside No. 2 on the separate downloads chart. Those are different measures, but together they show an audience extending beyond a fleeting meme.
Yes, AI was involved. There is also a human-sung recording.
The strongest production account is an : Angel supplied the concept and lyrics, and used AI platforms to make an initial version. Separately, as AI-generated content.
That same promotion describes a subsequent, newly produced recording with Ibiza-based singer Cali Bee and producer Robin Brandes. An also names Cali Bee. The public account confirms the AI starting point without giving a model-by-model breakdown of the original audio.
There is a precedent in Angel’s own catalogue: “Movin’ to the Sun”. , traces that separate song to Angel’s Suno demo, followed by his team’s production and Ultra Naté’s recorded vocals.
The interesting development is the path from an outsider’s AI experiment to listeners, then professional collaborators. “Bad Times” makes a good case for asking a more precise question about AI music: who wrote, generated, performed and produced the particular recording we are hearing?