About this song
- "Bad Habit" is a song by singer & producer Steve Lacy, it was released as the second single from Steve's second album, Gemini Rights on June 29, 2022, alongside an official music video. The psychedelic and lo-fi R&B and bedroom pop-ballad was produced by Steve and is built around a slightly warped guitar riff, accompanied by a funky bassline, drums and synthesisers. Lyrically, it concerns Steve's regret over a missed opportunity with a crush. His lack of confidence later shifts to a more confident perspective during the song's final breakdown. The song is mainly about reflecting on an attraction to someone, and what it could have been if he had expressed how it felt to the person he is singing about. Bad Habit was first recorded in June 2021 using a beat Steve created with drums he had previously used. Steve 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". After he played the instrumental for singer Fousheé, with whom he later collaborated on several songs for 'Gemini Rights', the two spent about 20 minutes freestyling over the song, which led to them writing verses and a melody for the chorus. He changed other elements throughout the following year, such as its ending breakdown, its drums, and its chorus. Songwriter Diana Gordon wrote part of the song's ending. John Carroll Kirby and Matthew Castellanos are also credited as co-writers. According to Steve, it was completed a week before Steve submitted Gemini Rights to RCA Records. Bad Habit found viral success on TikTok starting in July 2022 and soundtracked over 710,000 TikTok videos by January 2023. Fanmade 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 Steve initially found "gross" but eventually agreed to in the hopes that it would help the song reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 while it sat at #2 at the time behind Harry Styles' "As It Was". 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 Steve 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". Bad Habit was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2023 BET Awards and the 2022 Soul Train Music Awards. Bad Habit debuted the Billboard Hot 100 at #100, becoming Steve's first entry on the chart. On the week of August 13, 2022 Bad Habit rose from #11 to the top 10 at #7, becoming his first top-10 single on the Hot 100. On the chart issued September 10, 2022, Bad Habit became the first song to top both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts by Billboard. It also topped Billboard's Hot Rock Songs, Hot Alternative Songs, and Hot R&B Songs charts, making Bad Habit" the first song to top 5 different Billboard genre charts at once. That same week, the song rose to #2 on the Hot 100. After remaining at #2 for 4 weeks, Bad Habit rose to the top of Hot 100 on the chart dated October 3, 2022, dethroning Harry Styles' "As It Was", which had been at the top for 15 weeks, effectively ending " As It Was' " 15 week reign and became Steve's first #1 and the 1,142nd #1 overall. Bad Habit spent 3 consecutive weeks at the top in October 2022 before being overtaken by Sam Smith's "Unholy" with Kim Petras. Bad Habit was the third song of 2022 to be both the first chart entry and first #1 for an artist on the Hot 100 after Glass Animals' "Heat Waves" and "We Don't Talk About Bruno" by the cast of Encanto, and the first #1 since Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" topped the chart in 2019 to have no accompanying acts and also be an artist's first chart entry. It was also the 12th #1 to have debuted at #100. Steve performed Bad Habit at the 65th Grammy Awards in February 2023 alongside Thundercat and three other backing musicians. The performance began with Steve, 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. English band Wet Leg performed a post-punk cover of Bad Habit for the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge in September 2022. Steve 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 Steve's Give You the World Tour through North America, which promoted Gemini Rights and ran from October to November 2022, where it wa — lastfm
- "Bad Habit" is a song recorded by the American musician Steve Lacy. It was the second released single from his second studio album, Gemini Rights, on June 29, 2022. The psychedelic and lo-fi R&B and bedroom pop ballad was produced by Lacy and is built around a slightly warped guitar riff, which is accompanied by a funky bassline, drums and synthesisers. — wikipedia
Chart history
Peak position and weeks on chart across Australian community countdowns.
| Chart | Peak | Most recent | Weeks on |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARIA Top 50 Singles | #3 | 2023-04-24 (#49) | 41 |
Countdown appearances
Featured in
- setlist for Steve · film
