Format Digital download Length 3:59 | Recorded 2016 | |
Released October 14, 2016 (2016-10-14) Label Bad Boy
Interscope
Epic Writer(s) Colson Baker
Camila Cabello
Madison Love
Tony Scalzo
Joe Khajadourian
Alex Schwartz | ||
"Bad Things" is a song by American rapper Machine Gun Kelly and Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello. The song was released on October 14, 2016 and was produced by The Futuristics. Its music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis and premiered on December 1, 2016. The single has reached a peak of number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song features an interpolation of Fastball's 1999 single "Out of My Head".
Contents
Composition
"Bad Things" is a mid-tempo ballad that features an interpolation of the 1999 Fastball single "Out of My Head". Lyrically, the song incorporates themes of pain-is-pleasure type of love.
Critical reception
Gil Kaufman from Billboard called it an "instant earworm four-minute ode to dark pleasure." For Fuse TV's Bianca Gracie the song shows rapper's "softer side", and highlights Cabello's "delicate vocals". She described the song opens with Cabello "softly crooning" the hook, and MGK then comes in with a "naughty rap flow that cruises over the piano melody." In Idolator, Rachel Sonís described it as a "sleek" ballad with a "dreamy" hook. Time staff opined “Camila Cabello’s vocal hook is just fine. But if Cabello wants to make it big as a solo star, she’ll need more wattage than she finds with Machine Gun Kelly, whose milquetoast contribution takes this promising concept and deflates it.”
Music video
Directed by Hannah Lux Davis, the music video premiered on December 1, 2016 on Vevo. It follows the pair as they lead a somewhat adventurous lifestyle, where they burn trash in barrels, steal stuff, and make out in a barren apartment. MGK is the resident bad boy, getting into fights and racing cars while Cabello stays faithfully by his side. At one point in the video, flashbacks to younger versions of the musicians appear reassuring that their bond really has been unbreakable from the start. MGK and Cabello can be seen enjoying late nights at diners, gathering with friends and getting into trouble all while snuggling and fighting along the way. Their rebellious ways as the pair are chased by police after attempting to steal a car. Stuck at the top of a building with the police hot on their trail and nowhere else to go, the pair decide to die together by committing lover's suicide. As MGK looks longingly at Cabello one last time and she nods to him in agreement, the police and their helicopters arrive to apprehend the couple and the lovers join hands together as they prepare to jump off the building together and the video ends.
Commercial performance
"Bad Things" debuted at number 80 on the US Billboard Hot 100 during the week of November 5, 2016, becoming MGK's second entry on the chart, after 2011's "Wild Boy", and his highest-charting single. It has since reached number four in the issue dated February 11, 2017, becoming both MGK and Cabello's first top five single as solo artists. In the UK, the single debuted at number 98 before falling off the chart and re-entering two weeks later at number 52. The single has so far peaked at number 4. The single has sold 596,000 copies in the United States.
Live performances
MGK and Cabello performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on November 23, 2016, and on December 1, 2016 for the The Late Late Show with James Corden. They later performed the song on January 30, 2017 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show following Cabello's exit from girl group Fifth Harmony.