Ariana Grande’s “Bad Idea” Lyrics Meaning

Ariana’s fandom is convinced that this song is about her terminated romance with comedian Pete Davidson. Although this association lasted only a few months, it was one of her deepest, as the two even got engaged. And it stands to reason that since this relationship ended only three months before the release of “thank u, next”, a good portion of the album would be about Pete.

There are two prevailing theories of how she is addressing Pete in “Bad Ideas”. First is that she also references her ex-boyfriend – the rapper Mac Miller – and is imploring Pete to put that relationship behind him. In that case, the song would have logically had to be written before September 2018, when Mac passed away. The other is that her definition of a bad idea was getting involved with Davidson in the first place. Or perhaps both of these theories are true. Either way, the song is laden with the heavy use of the pronoun “him”, which presumably the writers knew would lead to various interpretations.

A more-plausible theory is that Ariana is seeking a remedy to heartbreak though is questioning the soundness of her intended means of doing so. For instance, in the pre-chorus we find the line “gotta find somebody quickly”. That would indicate that she wasn’t particularly vested in a relationship with Pete at the time. In fact even when she thinks to ‘call him over to numb the pain’, she also classifies that thought also as a “bad idea”.

Facts about “Bad Idea” 

• Writer(s): This song was written by Savan Kotecha, ILYA, Max Martin and Ariana Grande herself
• Producer(s): This track was produced by Max Martin and Swedish sensation ILYA.
• Album/EP: This is the sixth track off of Ariana’s 2019 album thank u, next.
• Release Date:  This song was released on 8 February 2019.
• Record Label: The label behind this track is Republic Records.
• Interesting Stuff:  In “Bad Idea”, Ariana Grande teamed-up with Swedish violinist Mattias Johansson. The two had previously worked together on Grande’s 2016 Grammy-nominated album, Dangerous Woman. In addition to his works with Ariana, Mattias has also worked alongside numerous other big names. For example, he played the violin on Pink’s 2017 track “Beautiful Trauma“.

Was “Bad Idea” released as a single?

No. The album Thank U, Next produced only three singles, and “Bad Idea” wasn’t one of them. The three singles from Thank U, Next are as follows:

• “Thank U, Next”
• “7 Rings”
• “Break up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored”