The video was filmed from 31 August to 1 September 2009 in various locations in
Los Angeles, directed by
Bryan Barber. The clip starts with Alexandra dressed in a one-piece black leather suit, as her car has broken down in a bad part of town. It then cuts to Flo Rida who sings the opening lines of the song. Next, Burke performs various dance moves in deserted streets while being followed by several men. The video then shows Alexandra entering a bar in a mirrored silver dress, which has been compared to
Janet Jackson around the
janet. era, where she is mobbed by more of these men. She then performs more dance routines, before a fight ensues between the men in the bar over Alexandra and Flo Rida performs his part in the song. During his rap, there are scenes where Alexandra backflips off a bar table, and pushes two men powerfully over a bar and through a door. The video then shows Alexandra dancing with more men in a deserted parking lot. David Whitehouse of
Wonderland Magazine declared the "Bad Boys" video as "the birth of a pop star". After commenting that America generates better, glossier pop than the British, such as the "holy trinity of 21st century pop music",
Christina Aguilera,
Britney Spears, and
Justin Timberlake, Whitehouse said that the video looked and sounded American, "dripping" with "dollar signs and expensive lenses". The review commending Burke's look in the video calling her, "the gutsier, sassier alternative to the anaemic, high school warbling of, say,
Kelly Clarkson or the pre-pubescent offal piped into our children by
Miley Cyrus." Whitehouse stated, "It has pomposity, big dance routines, cars built like tanks, moody street hunks (also built like tanks), stunts, jewellery and a rapper, Flo Rida, who in honesty, could have been anyone". He went on to say, "If we want to make a megastar, let the Americans do it for us. They make megastars. If Alexandra Burke is going to be the pop star we want her to be, she’s going the right way about it". ==Live performances and promotion==