Bad Habit (Steve Lacy song)

(pictured) In 2015, Lacy became a member of the Los Angeles-based R&B and neo soul group The Internet, an offshoot of the hip hop collective Odd Future, Lacy went on to release his debut studio album, Apollo XXI, in 2019, which he wrote, produced, and mixed on his own, and to collaborate on songs with J. Cole, Solange, Tyler, the Creator, Mac Miller, Vampire Weekend, Kendrick Lamar, Dev Hynes, and YG. In 2021, Lacy signed to RCA Records. "Bad Habit" was first recorded in June 2021 using a beat Lacy created with drums he had previously used. Lacy described writing it as a turning point for him, stating that it was "the start of this renaissance of the separation between [past] Steve and [present] Steve". John Carroll Kirby and Matthew Castellanos are also credited as co-writers. It was produced by Lacy, mixed by Neal Pogue at his Hot Purple Petting Zoo studio in Los Angeles, and mastered by Mike Bozzi of Bernie Grundman Mastering. It found viral success on TikTok starting in July 2022 and soundtracked over 710,000 TikTok videos by January 2023. Fan-made sped-up versions also became popular on TikTok, one of which was used in over 430,000 videos. This prompted RCA Records to officially release a sped-up version, which Lacy initially found "gross" but eventually agreed to in the hopes that it would help the song reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 while it sat at number two behind Harry Styles' 2022 single "As It Was". ==Composition==

"Bad Habit" is a psychedelic, R&B, bedroom pop, and alt-pop soft rock, punk, synth-pop, indie rock, neo soul, funk, slacker rock, jangle pop, Sheet music for the song shows the key of F minor with a tempo range of 84-88 beats per minute. Vocals range from C4 to C6. The song opens with vocals from Fousheé and is split into three parts. due to his shyness "messy-sounding" drums, funk-styled synths, In its chorus, he sings, "I wish I knew/I wish I knew you wanted me," which was changed from Lacy's original lyrics—"I wish I knew you/I wish I knew you wanted me"—following a suggestion from Tyler, the Creator to remove the first "you" for the chorus to "be more memorable". before ending with a "chaotic" jazz fusion breakdown, during which Lacy sings, with "rougher" and "more textured" vocals, "Let's fuck in the back of the mall, lose control/Go stupid, go crazy, babe". (pictured) For Exclaim!, A. Harmony wrote that the song was about "scorching lust". Clashs Shahzaib Hussain called the song "lilting" and "Mac DeMarco-esque". HipHopDXs Lauren Floyd stated that Lacy sang with a "boyish tone" that "transports listeners back to the MTV golden era of spring break beach jams". For NPR, LaTesha Harris compared the synths on the song to Prince and Lacy's falsetto to D'Angelo, calling the song a "seductive tragedy" and stating that its lyrics and vocals "alternate between petulant, obsessive, regretful and smug". ==Reception==

"Bad Habit" received critical acclaim. For Billboard, Andrew Unterberger called "Bad Habit" a "perfect pop song" that displayed Lacy's "impossibly high-level" craft, adding that it "never ran out of new thrills, big and small, to get you swooning like the first time ... you heard it". It was called a "flirty standout" from Gemini Rights and a "summer bop" by Ecleen Luzmila Caraballo of Crack. Sam Eeckhout of The Line of Best Fit called the song "powerful" and used the song as an example of Lacy's vocals "carry[ing]" Gemini Rights. Cady Lang of Time wrote that the song evoked "pure, euphoric joy" and that Lacy's songwriting had a "deeply emotional impact", while NMEs Sam Moore called it a showcase of "Lacy's impressive vocal range, his nifty way around a guitar and his tattoo-worthy lyrics". Mics Austin Williams praised "Bad Habit" as "immediately singable and instantly replayable", deeming its melodies "addictive" and its lyrics "endearing". For The Guardian, Shaad D'Souza opined that it was "arguably" the best song to "spring forth from the new wave of TikTok-beloved lo-fi bedroom pop stars such as Clairo and Beabadoobee" and that it "captures all the brilliance of Lacy's outstanding second record Gemini Rights". Consequences Paolo Ragusa described the song as "a miraculously good pop song", "a testament to Lacy's creative freedom", and "one of the most deserved breakthroughs of 2022", which "twist[ed] the concept of desire and a missed connection into something wholly original and authentic". Paul Tingen of Sound on Sound wrote that the song "lacks the typical trappings of modern hit songs" such as 808s and Auto-Tune, but that its attitude was the likely reason for its popularity. For the Washington Post, Chris Kelly described "Bad Habit" as "a gentle pop earworm that sounds like staring at stars glued to a bedroom ceiling". Accolades "Bad Habit" was named the best song of 2022 by Billboard The Guardian, USA Today, Associated Press, Time, Consequence, Entertainment Weekly, and NME. It was also nominated for Song of Summer at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, for Best Song of the Year and the Ashford & Simpson Songwriter's Award at the 2022 Soul Train Music Awards, for TikTok Bop of the Year at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards, and for Song of the Year at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. ==Commercial performance==

in October 2022, ending a 15-week-long streak at the top led by "As It Was" by Harry Styles (pictured) "Bad Habit" first entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 100 when it first became popular on TikTok in July 2022. It was the third song of 2022 to be both the first chart entry and first number one for an artist on the Hot 100 after "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals and "We Don't Talk About Bruno" by the cast of Encanto, and the first number one since "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi topped the chart in November 2019 to have no accompanying acts and also be an artist's first chart entry. In Australia, "Bad Habit" reached number three on the ARIA Singles Chart. ==Music video==

The music video for "Bad Habit" was directed by Julian Klincewicz, who also photographed the cover for Gemini Rights, and released on the same day as the single. It features Lacy singing, dancing, and making wide, maniacal movements in a color-changing empty space. In it, he wears black leather pants, black sunglasses, black boots, and a white shirt bearing an "S" on the front and a target on the back, the same outfit worn by him in the music video for his previous single, "Mercury". and the 2022 Soul Train Music Awards. ==Live performances and cover versions==

Lacy performed "Bad Habit" at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2023 alongside Thundercat and three other backing musicians. The performance began with Lacy, who wore a leather outfit, sunglasses, and high heels, starting with a lyric from the song ("You can't surprise a Gemini") before giving a thumbs up and singing the song while playing guitar. Lacy performed "Bad Habit" on an Amy Schumer-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live in November 2022. Stephen Thompson wrote of the performance for NPR that "Lacy and his band didn't do much to elevate the material onstage" and that "the energy levels [were] set to 'mid'". The song was included on the setlist for Lacy's Give You the World Tour through North America, which promoted Gemini Rights and ran from October to November 2022, where it was used to close out Lacy's shows. During a performance of the song at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans in late October 2022, Lacy stopped to ask fans not to throw items onstage before taking a disposable camera from a fan in the front row and smashing it on the ground, after which he ended the show. Later that week, he posted a statement to his Instagram account about the camera, writing, "I don't believe I owe anyone an apology... maybe I could've reacted better? Sure." ==Personnel and credits==

Credits adapted from liner notes of Gemini Rights. • Steve Lacy – songwriting, production, bass • John Carroll Kirby – songwriting, additional synths • Brittany Fousheé – songwriting • Diana Gordon – songwriting • Matthew Castellanos – songwriting ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==