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| Bad Guy | |||||
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| Single by Billie Eilish | |||||
| Album | When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? | ||||
| Released | March 29, 2019 | ||||
| Genre(s) | Electropop dance pop Pop-trap Nu-goth pop | ||||
| Length | 3:14 | ||||
| Label(s) | Darkroom, Interscope | ||||
| Producer(s) | Finneas O'Connell | ||||
| When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? chronology | |||||
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Bad Guy (stylized in all lowercase) is a song recorded by Billie Eilish. It was released by Darkroom and Interscope Records as the fifth single from Eilish's debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?.
The song was written by Perry, Johan Carlsson, John Ryan and Jacob Kasher Hindlin, and was produced by Johan Carlsson. Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell co-wrote "Bad Guy", with the latter producing it and the former providing additional production. The song was described as electropop, dance-pop, pop-trap, and nu-goth pop in press reviews, for which synth bass, a kick drum, finger snaps and 808 bass provide minimalist instrumentation. During the song's lyrics, Eilish taunts her lover for being a bad guy although suggesting that she is more resilient than he is, and further touches on themes about misandry and sarcasm.
Upon its release, "Bad Guy" received mainly positive reviews. It was also likened to music recorded by the White Stripes, Lorde and Fiona Apple. "Bad Guy" was a commercial success, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as on the charts in Australia, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Russia. In the United States, "Bad Guy" ended the record-breaking 19-week run of "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. "Bad Guy" also peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, among others. It has been awarded several certifications, notably a tenfold platinum award from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and a sextuple one from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Bad Guy" has received several awards, including Record and Song of the Year at the62nd Annual Grammy Awards.
Dave Meyers directed the music video for "Bad Guy" which was uploaded onto Eilish's YouTube channel at the same time as the single's digital release. The video depicts Eilish being involved in several activities, including wild dancing, suffering a nosebleed and sitting on the back of a man doing push-ups. Reviewers noted the video for its camp elements and eccentric imagery. For promotional purposes, Eilish performed the song on several occasions and also included it on the set list for her When We All Fall Asleep Tour (2019) and Where Do We Go? World Tour (2020). On July 11, 2019, a remix of "Bad Guy" featuring Canadian singer Justin Bieber was released to mixed reviews from critics, who mostly commented on Bieber's vocals.
Background and release[]
Billie Eilish released her debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? on March 29, 2019, via Darkroom and Records. "Bad Guy" was simultaneously issued as the record's fifth single. The song was co-written by Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell, with the latter also produced the track and Eilish providing additional production. It was mastered by John Greenham and mixed by Rob Kinelski, both of whom also served as studio personnel. In August 2019, the single was made available for pre-order on cassette and scheduled to ship in October; selected cassettes were signed by Eilish. Additionally, a flexi disc was similarly released for pre-order to ship in the following 4–6 weeks. Each of the two releases came with a digital single delivered via email for US customers.
Music videos[]
A music video for "Bad Guy" was directed by Dave Meyers and was uploaded to Eilish's official YouTube channel on March 29, 2019. Additionally, Eilish released a vertical video on August 15, 2019. The video begins with a yellow backdrop while the opening track "!!!!!!!" from When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? plays. Eilish discusses taking out her Invisalign dental brace before laughing. She eventually kicks her way through a wall while wearing a yellow sweatshirt and sweatpants, and hands her dental brace to a man, Eric Lutz, on her right. Scenes showing Eilish dancing wildly are interspersed with her feeding pigeons, getting a nosebleed while wearing a white outfit in a blue room with a clock, pouring milk and cereal into a suited man's mouth against the backdrop of a red desert, riding on a miniature car with a gang of men on tricycles, wearing snorkel gear while men's heads float in plastic bags above her, and sitting on a wall in front of a group of overweight men who flex their bellies to the beat. The video ends sinisterly with Billie in a dark, red room, sitting on the back of a man who does push-ups. "Bad Guy" surpassed one billion views in November 2020; to celebrate, Google created an 'Infinite Bad Guy' interactive site that allowed users to switch between over 15,000 different covers of the song available on YouTube.
The video was positively received by music critics. Uproxx's White called the use of "!!!!!!!" at its beginning "effective". James Rettig of Stereogum noticed elements of camp although he acknowledged the video was "still being emotionally sincere and vulnerable. This one features a lot of weirdo imagery ... in a way that's both goofy and genuinely unsettling". Chloe Gilke, writing for Uproxx, said the video takes several of the song's lyrics literally and that it is "awash in primary colors and black and white, Eilish's bold aesthetic". Rolling Stone's Jon Blistein noticed "a series of strange, grotesque and weirdly hilarious sequences", while Laura Dzubay of The Michigan Daily pointed out "strange dances, from a backward Exorcist-style crawl to a squatting sidestep to an energetic roll". Upon its release, the video was accused of "blatantly" plagiarizing photographs by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari of Toiletpaper magazine. The video received significant attention online and was the subject of several memes. Melissa McCarthy parodied it on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2019. On the January 16, 2020 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the show parodied the song as "Bond Guy", which references No Time to Die, where Eilish will provide the theme for the movie.
