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"Bad for Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, featuring guest vocals from Teddy Swims. It was released on June 24, 2022, as the lead single from her fifth major-label studio album, Takin' It Back (2022). Trainor, Stephen Wrabel, Ajay Bhattacharyya, and Federico Vindver wrote the song, and Vindver produced it. A pop song with gospel influences, "Bad for Me" has lyrics about a toxic relationship with a family member and distancing oneself from them.

"Bad for Me"
Single by Meghan Trainor featuring Teddy Swims
from the album Takin' It Back
Released	June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24)
Genre	Pop
Length	3:33
Label	Epic
Songwriter(s)	Meghan Trainor Stephen Wrabel Ajay Bhattacharyya Federico Vindver
Producer(s)	Federico Vindver
Meghan Trainor singles chronology
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (2021) "Bad for Me" (2022) "Made You Look" (2022)
Teddy Swims singles chronology
"Dose" (2022) "Bad for Me" (2022) "Better" (2022)
Music video
"Bad for Me" on YouTube

"Bad for Me" reached number 15 on the Adult Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts in the United States, and entered digital sales charts in Canada and the United Kingdom. Thom Kerr directed the music video for the song, which depicts Trainor and Swims navigating an illusory set of flowers interspersed with panoramic imagery. They performed it on television shows including Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Background

Meghan Trainor released two major-label studio albums in 2020, her third, Treat Myself, and her fourth, A Very Trainor Christmas.[1] She struggled while creating the former, rewriting it four times as an attempt to "adapt to what's going on in the music industry" after its preceding singles underperformed.[2] After Trainor's 2014 song "Title" attained viral popularity on video-sharing service TikTok in 2021, she announced her intention to pivot to the doo-wop sound of its 2015 parent album of the same name on her fifth one, in May the following year, along with her pregnancy's influence on it.[3] In June 2022, she began teasing a song titled "Bad for Me" as the lead single from it.[4] Trainor revealed that it is about a toxic relationship, along with its lyrics "Please don't make promises that you can't keep/ Your best intentions end up hurting me/ No matter what, I love you endlessly". She appeared without makeup in the teaser, which Portal Popline's Leonardo Rocha interpreted as emblematic of the lyrics's sincerity.[5][6]

"Bad for Me" was released on June 24, 2022, and features guest vocals from American singer-songwriter Teddy Swims.[7][8][9] Three days later, Epic Records serviced the song to hot adult contemporary radio stations in the United States.[10] An acoustic version, and an EP featuring remixes of it by JTrain, Disco Lines, and Zookëper, were released in August 2022.[11][12]

Composition

"Bad for Me" is three minutes and 33 seconds long.[13] Federico Vindver produced, programmed, and engineered the song. He plays the keyboards, guitar, bass, and piano. Jeremie Inhaber mixed it, and Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in New York City.[14]

"Bad for Me" is a pop song with gospel influences; People's Jeff Nelson characterized it as "sad-girl pop".[15][16] The song's instrumentation incorporates the piano and an acoustic six-string guitar.[17] Forbes's Chris Malone Méndez and The Breeze's Gracie Brogowski likened it to "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" (2015), Trainor's duet with John Legend.[18][19] Trainor wrote "Bad for Me" with Ajay Bhattacharyya and Stephen Wrabel, strangers to her at the time, about a personal situation she experienced. She stated: "Toxic relationships can be in your family and you can step away from them and it sucks. But it's doable." That night, Daryl Sabara suggested that it is the right song for Trainor to record as a duet with Swims, who she had wished to collaborate with for a long time. Swims, friends with Bhattacharyya and Wrabel, responded to the proposition: "I would be honored to be part of this", and they recorded "Bad for Me" in Trainor's home studio the following week.[20] She considered the song more personal than her others as it involved another person; she refused to name the subject but dispelled the idea that it is about her brother Ryan.[15]

Reception

Jacob Uitti of American Songwriter included "Bad for Me" in the magazine's weekly rundown of the best new releases in music: "[The song] is a powerful pop masterpiece from the standout songwriter."[21] He added that the song "showcases her knack for lyricism and wordplay and offers yet another reason why she's one of the most sought-after pop artists of the 2020s".[17] Writing for Riff, Piper Westrom thought it was the strongest track on Takin' It Back (2022), and deviated from what is expected from Trainor, offering a perspective "different from the traditional toxic romantic relationship angle".[22] Stereogum's Rachel Brodsky criticized it in her review: "I find [Trainor] cringe and cloying on just about every level", and was also negative about Trainor's comment in an interview that it was her "Adele moment".[16]

Commercially, "Bad for Me" reached number 25 on the US Adult Contemporary chart.[23] The song peaked at number 15 on the US Adult Top 40.[24] It charted at number 32 on the Canada Digital Song Sales chart.[25] "Bad for Me" reached number 19 on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart.[26] The song peaked at number 57 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart.[27]

Music video

Thom Kerr directed the music video for "Bad for Me", which premiered the same day as the song. In it, Trainor and Swims navigate an illusory set of flowers interspersed with panoramic imagery; American Songwriter's Tina Benitez-Eves interpreted it as an illustration of the song's lyrics about dissociating from toxic relationships.[28]

Live performances

Trainor first performed "Bad for Me" live with Swims at Jimmy Kimmel Live! on June 24, 2022.[28] On August 24, 2022 they reprised the song on The Late Late Show with James Corden.[29][30] Trainor sang it on Today on October 21, 2022.[31]

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Takin' It Back.[14]

• Federico Vindver – producer, songwriter, programming, engineering, keyboards, guitar, bass, piano
• Meghan Trainor – songwriter
• Ajay Bhattacharyya – songwriter
• Stephen Wrabel – songwriter
• Randy Merrill – mastering
• Jeremie Inhaber – mixing

Charts

Chart positions for "Bad for Me"

Chart (2022)	Peak position
Canada Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[25]	32
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[26]	19
UK Singles Downloads (OCC)[27]	57
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[23]	25
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[24]	15

Release history

Release dates and format(s) for "Bad for Me"

Region	Date	Format	Version	Label	Ref.
Various	June 24, 2022	Digital download streaming	Original	Epic	[32]
United States	June 27, 2022	Hot adult contemporary			[10]
Various	August 15, 2022	Digital download streaming	Acoustic		[11]
	August 26, 2022		Remixes		[12]

References

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