Bad Girl (Avril Lavigne song)

Background and composition

When she was 18 years old, Avril Lavigne met American singer Marilyn Manson at one of his concerts, and eventually they became friends. On July 7, 2012, it was reported that Lavigne was dating Manson, with the rocker denying the rumour, claiming, "Yesterday it said that I was dating Avril Lavigne. What the f**k is that - she's Canadian, I wouldn't do that." He continued, "I know her. I accidentally shaved her head," he joked. "But yeah, you never know where these stories come from." Lavigne commented that, "I had wanted to shave the side of my head for quite some time, [...] and so it was kind of like shaving it. And then one night, it was on my adventure to France. During my adventure when I was living there, we were hanging out backstage and we were with his band having a few drinks and I was like, 'Let's shave my head. I'm ready; let's do this!'. He's like that, though. He has fun. He wears his make-up; his wardrobe is very visual. I like his style."

Later, the singer revealed that she did a song with Manson, confirming to Billboard about the collaboration, saying, "I wrote this song called 'Bad Girl', and it's like darker and heavier, it's one of the rock tunes on the record." Lavigne also revealed that recruiting Manson for the track, "It was last minute. I was sitting there at the board thinking Manson would be perfect on this track, so I texted him, and he's like, 'I'll come over and I'll hear it.' So he came at 4 o'clock in the morning. ... Yes, it was one of those nights." "Bad Girl" was written by Avril Lavigne, Chad Kroeger and David Hodges, with production being handled by Kroeger and Hodges. The song features guest vocals by American alternative singer Marilyn Manson. Musically, "Bad Girl" has been described as a nu metal song by Slant Magazine. Lyrically, the song talks about sex, with Manson croaking about his "daddy" fantasies while Avril invites him to "do whatever" and more. "I've been a bad girl, don't you know?/Come get it now or never/I'll let you do whatever," Lavigne sings.

Critical reception

"Bad Girl" has received positive reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine declared that Lavigne's husband Chad Kroeger's "blunt-force hooks and bad taste are evident all over the place on this vaguely icky sex song," ultimately calling it "a union made creepier by Kroeger's presence as a co-writer and producer." Jason Lipshut of Billboard named it a "salacious, sloppy, muddied rock music - as it damn well should be," praising Lavigne and Manson for turning the song into "glorious chaos." Nick Catucci from Entertainment Weekly wrote the song is "kohl-black but super-bouncy", while Sam Lansky of Idolator named it "catchy but shrill."

Robert Copsey of Digital Spy praised the song for "recalling '70s punk surprisingly faithfully and offering an indication of where her sound could be go in the future." Calling it "a riotous, pumping guitar work-out", Laurence Green of musicOMH wrote that 'Bad Girl' "sounds like the soundtrack to that bit in every corny teen movie where the good girl decides it’s time to ‘let loose’ and hit the town." Bradley Stern of MuuMuse declared that the song is "a manic, unapologetically smutty track." Kyle Fowley of Slant Magazine was critical with the song, calling it a "dull piece of nü-metal, featuring a phoned-in performance by a disinterested Marilyn Manson."

Chart performance

Along with many other songs from the parent album, "Bad Girl" debuted at number 58 on the Gaon Music Charts, with 4,511 copies sold in its first week. In Canada, the single peaked at number 88 on the Canadian Hot 100.