Bad Idea

"Bad Idea" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song performed by the American singer Ariana Grande from her fifth studio album Thank U, Next (2019). The track was written by Grande, Peter Svensson, Savan Kotecha, and its producers Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh. It is an EDM and trap song in which Grande talks about using someone to recover from a previous relationship. Some critics praised the track's composition, while others found it too similar to Gotye and Kimbra's "Somebody That I Used to Know". Following the release of Thank U, Next, "Bad Idea" reached the top ten in Greece, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia. It peaked in the top 30 in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Singapore, and the United States. Grande included the track on the set list of her Sweetener World Tour in 2019. That year, she performed it at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Lollapalooza. Background "Bad Idea" was written by Ariana Grande, Peter Svensson, Savan Kotecha and its producers Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh. The recording took place in two studios—MXM Studios in Los Angeles, California, and the Wolf Cousins Studios located in Stockholm, Sweden. According to Kotecha, during the development of Thank U, Next, they tried to do different things that Grande had not done before. In line with this idea, he wanted to create a song with a melody inspired by British band The Police combined with a trap beat. Svensson, a former member of the band the Cardigans, helped with the phrasing of the second line and created the guitar riff at the beginning of the track with Ilya. Later, Kotecha, Grande and Martin fixed the melodies. Ilya added the instrumental outro, which Grande decided to extend.