"Bad Blood" is a song by the American singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift from her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014). Swift wrote the song with the producers
Max Martin and
Shellback, and it is a
pop song with prominent drums and
keyboards. The lyrics are about betrayal by a close friend; many media publications interpreted that the American singer
Katy Perry was the subject. A remix featuring the American rapper
Kendrick Lamar, with additional lyrics by Lamar and production by
Ilya, was released to radio as the fourth
single to promote 1989 on May 17, 2015, by
Big Machine and
Republic Records.
Music critics gave the album version of "Bad Blood" mixed reviews; some found it to demonstrate a defiant attitude and deemed it a highlight, but others criticized the production as bland and the lyrics as repetitive. The remix version received somewhat more positive comments for Lamar's verses, and it received a
Grammy nomination for
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Although NME and PopMatters ranked "Bad Blood" among the best songs of 2015, critics have retrospectively considered it one of Swift's worst songs. The single reached number one in Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Scotland, and it received
multi-platinum certifications in the first three countries.
Taylor Swift's fifth studio album, 1989, was inspired by 1980s
synth-pop. The album's electronic production using
synthesizers, programmed
drums, and processed backing vocals marked a departure from the
country styles of her previous releases.[1][2][3] On 1989, Swift and Swedish producer
Max Martin served as
executive producers.[2] Martin and his frequent collaborator
Shellback produced seven out of thirteen songs on the album's standard edition, including "Bad Blood".[4] The album was released in October 2014 to commercial success, selling over one million copies within a week.[3]
"Bad Blood" was released as the fourth single from 1989.[5] The remix version featuring rapper
Kendrick Lamar was released on May 17, 2015, for digital download by
Big Machine Records.[6] The single release was supported by the premiere of its music video at the
2015 Billboard Music Awards.[7] "Bad Blood" impacted US
contemporary hit radio on May 19, 2015, under Big Machine and Republic Records imprint.[8] The song was released to Italian contemporary hit radio on June 12, 2015, through
Universal Music Group.[9][10]
Swift wrote "Bad Blood" about an undisclosed female musician. She revealed in a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone that this female peer, whom she had thought of as a close friend of hers, attempted to sabotage one of her concert tours by hiring people who worked for her.[11] Upon the release of 1989, various publications speculated that
Katy Perry was the subject of the song; Perry and Swift were involved in a heavily publicized
feud that received widespread media coverage.[12][13][14] Several publications including Time and The Washington Post noted parallels between the lyric "If you live like that, you live with ghosts" in "Bad Blood" and the title of "Ghost", a song from Perry's 2013 album Prism.[13][14] Some critics initially interpreted "Bad Blood" to be about lost romance, which is the central theme of 1989.[15] According to several media outlets, Perry's 2017 single "
Swish Swish" is a
diss track responding to "Bad Blood".[16][17][18]
"Bad Blood" was recorded by Sam Holland at
Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and by Michael Ilbert at MXM Studios in
Stockholm, Sweden. The song was
mixed by
Serban Ghenea at Mixstar Studios in
Virginia Beach, Virginia, and
mastered by
Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound Studio in New York.[4] It is a
pop track featuring heavy, stomping
drums. Jem Aswad of Billboard compared its stomping beats to those of
Gwen Stefani's 2005 single "
Hollaback Girl",[19] while The Observer'sKitty Empire likened the production to that of English singer
Charli XCX.[20] The repeated chorus phrases, "Now we got bad blood / You know it used to be mad love," sung by Swift with tense vocals over surging
keyboard tones.[21] Swift resents her former friend for having betrayed her, through lyrics such as "These kinda wounds, they last and they last," and "Band-aids don't fix bullet holes / You say sorry just for show."[22]
The single version incorporates elements of
hip hop. It includes two verses written and performed by Lamar.[23][24] According to Britton Luke of NME, the revamped version resembles the production and structure of
Rihanna's 2010 single "
Rude Boy". Lamar finished his verses in a few takes with Swift during a studio session in Los Angeles, recalling that their collaboration went smoothly because "the vibe was right".[25] He told Rolling Stone in 2017 that he was unaware of the publicized feud between Swift and Perry, saying, "That's far beyond my concern. I have to stay away from that, for sure."[26] The remix saw additional production from
Ilya Salmanzadeh, who incorporated a deeper
bass.[24]
Critical reception
The album version of "Bad Blood" was met with mixed reviews from critics, many of whom singled it out as the weakest song on 1989.[27] Mike Diver from Clash described the song as "a litany of diary-page break-up clichés set to directionless thumps and fuzzes".[28] Mikael Wood from the Los Angeles Times considered "Bad Blood" a generic song where Swift fails to showcase herself as a distinctive artist, felt the song's beat is similar to Perry's 2013 single "
Roar".[29]Spin's Andrew Unterberger called the song "disappointingly bland" as it fails to showcase Swift's traditionally vivid songwriting.[30] Writing for Vulture, Lindsay Zoladz felt that the song represented "brainless, evil pop" that Swift had disdained.[31]
On a more positive side, The Quietus writer Amy Pettifier considered "Bad Blood" one of the songs on 1989 that are "crammed with merit", calling it "all sass and bile".[32]Entertainment Weekly's Adam Markovitz said that the track had potentials to become a chart success and listed it as one of the best songs on the album.[33]Consequence reviewer Sasha Geffen applauded the song's heavy hip hop beats and deep basslines resulting in a defiant tune that represented Swift's new attitude, calling its production "the tightest turns Swift has ever cut".[22] Robert Leedham from Drowned in Sound highlighted the song's "proud defiance" that recalled "iconic hardcore bands you've probably never heard of".[34]
The remix version received praise for Lamar's guest verses and the reworked instrumental. Meanwhile, some critics felt that Lamar's radio-friendly verses were unusual of his well-known aggressive
flow.[35][36]Alexis Petridis of The Guardian dubbed the single "a masterstroke" with "potent and effective" verses from Lamar and an "even more anthemic" chorus compared to the album version.[37]
Retrospectively, critics have considered "Bad Blood" one of Swift's weakest songs in her repertoire. Rankings by Rolling Stone'sRob Sheffield,[38]Paste's Jane Song,[39] and Vulture's Nate Jones all ranked "Bad Blood" among the worst songs Swift had released.[40] Nevertheless, "Bad Blood" featured on lists of the best songs of 2015 by NME (11th)[41] and PopMatters (sixth).[42]
Commercial performance
"Bad Blood" first charted on the US
Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in November 2014 and January 2015 as an album cut from 1989, peaking at number 78.[43] Upon its single release, the remix version entered the Hot 100 at number 53 and the
Digital Songs chart at number 26, selling 47,000 digital copies.[43] The following week, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated May 24, 2015, earning 385,000 digital copies in sales, 18.1 million streams, and 57 million radio impressions.[44] Jumping 52 positions to the number-one spot, it marked one of the
largest jumps to the top in Billboard chart history.[44] "Bad Blood" was Swift's fourth Hot 100 number one and 1989's third, making Swift the first artist since
Adele with her 2011 album 21 to yield three chart toppers from the same album.[44] It was Lamar's first number one and second top-10 entry.[44]
"Bad Blood" dropped to number two after spending a week at number one.[45] It spent five consecutive weeks at number two, blocked from the top by "
See You Again" by
Wiz Khalifa and
Charlie Puth.[46] On Billboard's airplay charts, "Bad Blood" reached number one on the
Pop Songs (Mainstream Top 40) chart, a pop-focused airplay chart, in its fifth charting week.[47] It was the fastest song to top the chart since
Nelly's "
Over and Over" (2004) featuring
Tim McGraw, which spent three weeks before ascending to the number-one spot.[47] In the week ending July 12, 2015, "Bad Blood" broke the record for the most single-week plays in the Pop Songs chart's 22-year history, besting the previous record by
Wiz Khalifa and
Charlie Puth's "
See You Again".[5] The single additionally peaked atop the
Adult Top 40 chart.[48] "Bad Blood" was the 10th-best-selling song of 2015 in the US, selling 2.584 million digital copies.[49] The single has been
certified 6× Platinum, based on sales and on-demand streams, by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[50] By July 2019, it had sold 3.2 million digital copies in the US.[51]
The single also topped the charts in Australia,[52] Canada,[53] New Zealand,[54] Scotland [55] and Belgium. It peaked within the top five on charts of South Africa (two),[56] Lebanon (four),[57] and the United Kingdom (four).[58] The song also reach the top ten in Hungary, Finland and Ireland, top twenty in Spain, Japan, France and Mexico, top thirty in Czech Republic and Germany and top forty in New Zealand (solo version), Italy and Netherlands. "Bad Blood" has received
multi-platinum certifications in
Australia (8× Platinum)[59] and
Canada (3× Platinum), platinum certification in
the United Kingdom,[60] and gold in
New Zealand.[61] In the United Kingdom, the single had sold 373,000 downloads as of July 2021.[62]
Set in a fictional
London, the music video starts with Catastrophe (Swift) and her partner, Arsyn (Gomez), fighting off a group of men in a corporate office for a mysterious briefcase. When all of the men are defeated, Arsyn betrays Catastrophe by stealing the briefcase in her hand and kicking her out of a window. The song begins with Catastrophe lying on a broken car, as Welvin da Great begins his rap verse and Lucky Fiori smokes a cigar. Catastrophe is shown being nursed back to health by a trio of girls called The Trinity, and after some time, she is ready to start training for her revenge. When her training is complete, Catastrophe and her friends strike out to exact their revenge on Arsyn and her masked henchwomen. The two teams approach each other in what seems to be slow motion while an enormous explosion goes off in the background, blotting out the London skyline. The final bits of the song contains various scenes from the video and it ends with Catastrophe and Arsyn simultaneously striking each other in the face.[66]
Reception
The video received positive feedback regarding its production and styling, with comments pointing out several references to action movies. Rolling Stone described it as a "futuristic
neo-noir" video.[65] Daniel D'Addario of Time called it Swift's "most elaborate" music video yet, and compared its visuals to those of Sin City.[67]Slate agreed and found other film inspirations: "Along the way, they pay homage to countless films. Besides the video's Robocop premise, there's its Sin City aesthetic, its nod toTron's light cycles, and its Kill Bill-like fight in the snow."[68]Billboard drew parallels between the video and the music videos of
Britney Spears's "
Toxic" and "
Womanizer," which were both directed by Kahn.[69] The video broke
Vevo's 24-hour viewing record by accumulating 20.1 million views in its first day of release,[70] which was later broken by Adele's "
Hello" in October 2015, with 27.7 million views in the first 24 hours.[71]
The video's content, allegedly to be about Swift's feud with Katy Perry, drew criticism from some commentators regarding its allegedly anti-feminist message contradicting Swift's
feminist identity.[64][72] Jennifer Gannon from The Irish Times observed that Swift's celebrity friends were a tool for her to build a
cult of personality rather than female empowerment, writing: "Her intentions may be honourable but tangled up within this complicated web of victimhood and tired gossip is her own form of girl power."[73]The Atlantic's Spencer Kornharber defended the video, describing it as Swift's effort to counterattack "old stereotypes about women as inherently catty ... and that females must necessarily compete for the top spot in arenas from music to dating."[74] Hannelore Roth, a literature professor, acknowledged Swift's feminist identity, but argued that the cast featured in the video implied that feminism is only accessible to rich and attractive women. Roth also noted that, since Welvin da Great (Lamar's character) appears to be the ringleader behind these women, the video proves to be "just a violent, pre-modern copy of the patriarchal structures at the office."[75] In a retrospective review, Consequence critic Mary Siroky called the video "The Avengers of music videos."[76]
At the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Swift performed "Bad Blood" in a joint performance with
Nicki Minaj; the two also performed "Trini Dem Girls" and "
The Night Is Still Young," taken from Minaj's album The Pinkprint (2014).[92] Swift included "Bad Blood" on the set list of
the 1989 World Tour, which was launched in support of 1989 and ran through 2015.[93] She also included the song on the set list for her 2018
Reputation Stadium Tour, where she performed it as part of a
medley with her previous single "
Should've Said No" (2008),[94] and
the Eras Tour (2023–2024).[95]
The song has been featured on several occasions. English rock band
Drenge covered the song for
BBC Radio 1's live session on June 23, 2015.[96] The animated web series How It Should Have Ended released a parody video based on "Bad Blood," titled "Bat Blood," in September 2015. "Bat Blood" parodies the marketing of the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.[97]Anthony Rizzo of the
New York Yankees used "Bad Blood" as one of his walk-up songs during his time as a member of the
Chicago Cubs in the
2015 and
2016 seasons.[98][99] Canadian rapper-singer
Drake included the song in his advertisement for
Apple Music in November 2016.[100]
Rock singer
Ryan Adams covered "Bad Blood" as part of his
track-by-track interpretation of Swift's 1989. Adams's version is a
guitar-driven
alt-country song, as opposed to the original's electronic production.[101] He released "Bad Blood" as a single preceding the release of his 1989 cover on September 17, 2015, through Apple Music's Beats 1 radio.[102] Andrew Unterberger from Spin preferred Adams's stripped-down version to Swift's original song,[103] and
Annie Zaleski of The A.V. Club called it "the quintessential Adams-style alt-country shuffle."[104] Adams's "Bad Blood" peaked at number 25 on the
Ultratop chart of Belgian
Wallonia,[105] and number 36 on Billboard'sRock Airplay chart.[106]
Credits and personnel
Credits for the album version are adapted from
liner notes of 1989, and credits for the remix version are adapted from
Tidal.[4][107]
Taylor Swift – vocals, backing vocals, songwriter
Kendrick Lamar[b] – featured vocals, backing vocals, songwriter
Max Martin – producer, songwriter, programmer, keyboards, piano
A re-recorded version of the hip hop remix of "Bad Blood" featuring
Kendrick Lamar was surprise released as the only bonus track of the deluxe edition of 1989 (Taylor's Version), hours after the standard album's release. Lamar re-recorded his rap section for the remix, an act which Swift called "surreal and bewildering."[162][163]
Personnel
Taylor Swift – lead vocals, background vocals, songwriting, production
Christopher Rowe – production, background vocals, vocal engineering
Mike Meadows – synthesizer, acoustic guitar
Dan Burns – drum programming, synth bass, synthesizer, additional engineering
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201523 into search. Retrieved May 30, 2015.