The single is her second offering from her upcoming sophomore album, 'GUTS.'
Olivia Rodrigo is showing her silly side with her new single, "bad idea right?". The 20-year-old pop star channels a breakup with levity in the accompanying music video, as she embarks on a journey inspired by early-'90s horror to hook up with an ex after a night out with friends.
The Petra Collins-directed video picks up with Rodrigo at a house party, applying lip gloss in a bathroom where she's joined by pals Iris Apatow, Tate McRae and Madison Hu. As she convinces herself "it's fine" to go see her ex-boyfriend, Rodrigo makes her way through the city via truck bed and public bus, getting rained on and soaked in a red slushy in the process -- only to be met with a surprisingly fantastical twist in the end.
The song was produced and co-written with Rodrigo's frequent collaborator, Daniel Nigro, and is the second offering from her sophomore album, GUTS, following "vampire." GUTS will be released via Geffen Records on Sept. 8 and is available now for pre-order.
"'bad idea right?' started with us making a joke song about me hooking up with an ex-boyfriend, but then we realized we were actually onto something,"" Rodrigo said in a statement. "We were throwing the weirdest things at the wall -- in one of [the] choruses there's a part that sounds like an instrument in the background, but it's me gradually screaming louder and louder."
Rodrigo took to Instagram to share some behind-the-scenes moments from the shoot.
"bad idea right? is out everywhere!!!! I had such a fun time making this song with @dan_nigro in nyc last year. we wrote the chorus as a joke but we loved it so much we made it into a full fledged song lol!" she wrote in her caption. "I had a ball making the music video with my friends @petrafcollins @madisonhu @tatemcrae @irisapatow and I’m so happy it’s out in the world. u can listen and watch now!!!!!"
GUTS is the follow-up to her hit album, SOUR, which won her three GRAMMYs, including Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Pop Solo Performance for her song, "drivers license."
Much of her debut album was rumored to be about her failed romance with High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star, Joshua Bassett. In 2021, she was said to be dating 26-year-old producer Adam Faze, but the two split in early 2022. She was later linked to 27-year-old DJ Zack Bia, though the rumored pair called it quits in August 2022.
The singer recently opened up about the public's interest in her dating life in an interview for Vogue's August issue.
"It's an interesting thing to think about," she said. "I understand it. I could sit here and be like, 'I don't get why people do that,' but I do it so often." The author noted that, earlier in their conversation, Rodrigo shared that her first internet passion was Harry Styles fan fiction.
GUTS is "about figuring stuff out, about failures and successes and making mistakes," she shared, declining to elaborate further on said mistakes.
She added with a laugh, "You'll have to listen to the rest of the album."
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