"Bad Habits" is a song by English singer-songwriter

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

. It was released on 25 June 2021, through

Asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

of his fifth studio album, '' =''. The song marked his first solo release from an album in over four years. A limited edition CD and

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980. History The debu ...

were also released. The song received mixed reviews from music critics, who compared its sound and style to the works of

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

, as well as

Bronski Beat Bronski Beat were a British synthpop trio which achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit "Smalltown Boy", from their debut album '' The Age of Consent''. "Smalltown Boy" was their only US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 s ...

. "Bad Habits" was a commercial success, peaking at number one in 28 countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, Switzerland and South Africa, becoming the official first number-one hit on the newly launched South African music charts. The song proved to be particularly successful in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, as it spent eleven consecutive weeks at the top of both the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

and also became the best-selling single of the year in both countries. In the United States, the song peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song also topped the

Global 200 The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or w ...

. A

UK drill UK drill is a subgenre of drill music and road rap that originated in the South London district of Brixton from 2012 onwards. Initially borrowing heavily from the style of Chicago drill music before creating its own unique sound, UK drill artist ...

remix made by

Fumez the Engineer Jahrell Bryan, commonly known as Fumez the Engineer, is a British audio engineer from London. Joining Pressplay Media - a UK rap platform - in 2012, he later moved to Link Up TV, where he would stay before moving back to Pressplay Media followin ...

featuring British rappers

Tion Wayne Dennis Junior Odunwo (born 1 September 1993), known professionally as Tion Wayne, is a British rapper and DJ from Edmonton, North London. He appeared on three top-10 singles on UK Singles Chart as a guest – NSG's " Options", "Keisha & Becky" ...

and

Central Cee Oakley Neil H. T. Caesar-Su (born 4 June 1998), known professionally as Central Cee, is a British rapper and songwriter from Shepherd's Bush, London. He rose to prominence in 2020 with the release of the singles "Day in the Life" and "Loading". ...

was released on 12 August 2021. Following his performance with

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon (often abbreviated as BMTH) are a British rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004. The group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Matt Nicholls and keyboardist Jordan Fis ...

at the 2022

BRIT Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

, the pair announced they were releasing a heavy metal studio version of the track on 17 February 2022. This version of the song was later featured on the Tour deluxe edition of ''=''.

Background

A slower acoustic song was planned to be released as the

from Sheeran's upcoming fifth studio album '' =''. However, when the easing of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

restrictions were announced in England in early 2021, Sheeran chose to record "Bad Habits" and release it instead; "I don't know if the world needs a depressing sad, slow acoustic song when

he country is He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

opening up ", Sheeran said. He wrote the song in January 2021 to "surprise people" and "make something that was totally different" to what is expected of him.

Release

On 23 April 2021, Sheeran was spotted dressed as a

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

on a music video set in London, leading to speculations about upcoming music. Sheeran himself confirmed the pictures to be genuine by posting outtakes of the video shoot on his social media pages in June 2021. On 25 May, he uploaded a picture of himself sitting next to a giant

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pillow, with a caption on the picture above him saying "6/25", hinting at a release on that date. On 4 June, he began teasing the single release on his social media accounts, as well as announcing a performance at

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

show with

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

on 25 June. Sheeran announced the single on 11 June. A promotional image of the single cover appeared on the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Composition and reception

"Bad Habits" is a dance-pop and synth-pop track. "Bad Habits" was met with mixed reviews from critics.

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the song four out of five stars, describing it as "a certain smash that's ready for

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

". Nick Levine of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' gave the track three out of five stars, calling it "neither a misfire nor a surefire winner," and compared the sound style to

works, especially "

Smalltown Boy "Smalltown Boy" is a song by British synth-pop band Bronski Beat, released in May 1984 as the first single from their debut album, '' The Age of Consent'' (1984). The song was a big commercial success, reaching number three in the band's nativ ...

". ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Adam White was less impressed, giving "the stilted comeback" two out of five stars and saying Sheeran was "letting the toplines do the work and rummaging through

Abel Tesfaye Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, romance, and ...

's leftovers." Quinn Moreland of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' derided the song as "painfully predictable", writing that it "aspires for Abel but settles for anonymity".

Accolades

Commercial performance

In the United States, "Bad Habits" debuted at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, with 38.8 million airplay audience impressions, 17.7 million streams and 33,200 copies sold. It opened at number two on

Digital Song Sales The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally starte ...

and number six on

Streaming Songs The Streaming Songs chart is released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists each week's top streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services in the United States. The chart represents one of the three component ...

, and surged 36–11 on Radio Songs. The song became Sheeran's eighth top 10 in the US and first since 2019. On the chart dated 28 August 2021, the song reached a new peak at number two behind "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

" by

the Kid Laroi Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard (born 17 August 2003), known professionally as the Kid Laroi (stylised as the Kid LAROI), is an Australian rapper, singer and songwriter. He originally gained recognition from his association and friendship with A ...

and

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

. The song ranked at number one on the Top Triller US Chart dated to 10 July 2021. The chart highlights the biggest songs on Triller based on a formula blending the amount of views of videos containing a respective songs, the level of engagement with those videos and the raw total of videos uploaded featuring each song.

Music video

The music video for "Bad Habits" was directed by Dave Meyers and filmed at the Catford Centre in

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdiv ...

, South East London. It was uploaded on 25 June 2021, onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

where it has over 438 million views as of October 2022. The music video portrays Sheeran as a

in a

hot pink Pink colors are usually light or desaturated shades of reds, roses, and magentas which are created on computer and television screens using the RGB color model and in printing with the CMYK color model. As such, it is an arbitrary classificati ...

suit. The video starts in a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and medical spas. Beauty treatments Massage for the body is a b ...

with Sheeran as a vampire, withering a flower before flying across chaos-ridden streets. He joins with several other

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

s in doing various activities amidst the panicking crowd, including attacking them for the fun of it and handing out a balloon to a monster child, until the sun begins to rise. Most of the monsters go into hiding, with a few

vaporized Vaporization (or vaporisation) of an element or compound is a phase transition from the liquid phase to vapor. There are two types of vaporization: evaporation and boiling. Evaporation is a surface phenomenon, whereas boiling is a bulk phenom ...

by the sunlight, except for Sheeran, who transforms back into his normal human self, playing the guitar as the video ends. The black cat in the video is a reference to the Catford Cat at the entrance to the shopping Centre. The video concept received comparisons to '' Michael Jackson's Thriller''. Sheeran said he wanted the video to "play on the nature of habits in a fantastical way so I decided on vampires." It was inspired by the song's lyrics and American television series ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...

''. Madison Bloom of ''Pitchfork'' described Sheeran as "the worst monster in the history of pop music", pointing out that the video "constantly suggests the potential for violence and gore but never commits."

Live performances

Sheeran gave his first live performance of "Bad Habits" on 28 June 2021, on ''

The Late Late Show with James Corden ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show on CBS. It is the fourth and current iteration of '' The Late Late Show''. Airing in the U.S. from Monday to Friday nights at 12:37:28am ...

''. On 30 June, Sheeran performed the song on ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...

''. Sheeran performed the song on

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

All-Out Sundays ''All-Out Sundays'' (also known as ''AOS'' or ''AyOS'') is a Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Hosted by Alden Richards, Julie Anne San Jose, Rayver Cruz, Ken Chan, Rita Daniela, Christian Bautista, Aicelle Santos, ...

on 15 August.

Track listing

*Digital download, streaming and CD single #"Bad Habits" – 3:51 *Digital download and streaming – Acoustic Version #"Bad Habits" (Acoustic Version) – 3:52 *Digital download and streaming – MEDUZA Remix #"Bad Habits" (

MEDUZA ''Meduza'' ( rus, Медуза, t=jellyfish) is a Russian- and English-language independent news website, headquartered in Riga. It was founded in 2014 by a group of former employees of the then-independent ''Lenta.ru'' news website. Free mob ...

Remix) – 3:14 *Digital download and streaming – Joel Corry Remix #"Bad Habits" (

Joel Corry Joel Corry (born 10 June 1989) is an English DJ, producer and television personality. He came to prominence in 2019 with the release of his single " Sorry", featuring vocals from Hayley May (who was not credited in the official music video), whi ...

Remix) – 3:09 *Digital download and streaming – The Remixes #"Bad Habits" ( Jubël Remode) – 2:59 #"Bad Habits" (Kooldrink Amapiano Remix) – 5:27 #"Bad Habits" (SHAUN Remix) – 3:44 #"Bad Habits" (Ovy on the Drums Remix) – 3:30 *Digital download and streaming – Fumez the Engineer Remix #"Bad Habits" (

Remix featuring

and

) – 3:42 *Cassette single #"Bad Habits" – 3:51 #"Bad Habits" (Acoustic Version) – 3:52

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

– vocals, songwriting, production, acoustic guitar, percussion * Fred Gibson – songwriting, production, backing vocals, bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, piano, programming, engineering *

Johnny McDaid John McDaid (born 24 July 1976) is a singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Northern Ireland. He is a member of the band Snow Patrol and has written songs with other artists including Ed Sheeran, P!nk, and Robbie Williams. Early ...

– songwriting, production, acoustic guitar, engineering * Graham Archer – vocal production, engineering *

Iain Archer Iain Archer is a writer, producer and solo artist from Bangor, Northern Ireland. He is a two-time Ivor Novello Award winner, winning the 2004 Album Award – ''Final Straw'' by Snow Patrol and Most Performed Work in 2016 for Grammy nominated ...

– slide guitar * Will Reynolds – engineering assistance *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed She ...

– mixing * Matt Wolach – mixing assistance * Stuart Hawkes – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Bring Me the Horizon remix

On 14 February 2022, following the performance, a studio version of the track was announced, set for release on 17 February. The remix was included on the tour version of ''=.''

Live performance

At the 2022 Brit Awards, Sheeran performed "Bad Habits" with

. They'd perform the song together again at

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

later that same year.

Commercial performance

After its first full tracking week, on Billboard charts dated to 5 March 2022, the remix debuted on three charts, on

Hot Alternative Songs The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

at number 17,

Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...

at number 19, becoming Ed Sheeran's first charting song on the chart since

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, and

Hot Hard Rock Songs The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

at number 2, behind "

The Rumbling "The Rumbling" is a single recorded by Japanese alternative metal band SiM, released from the EP ''Beware'' through Pony Canyon label. The television edit version of the song was released on January 10, 2022, while the full version was released o ...

" by SiM, marking Sheeran's first appearance on the chart and Bring Me the Horizon's twelfth.

Reception

The Editor in Chief of ''

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,'' Emperor Rhombus, called the performance at the BRIT Awards an attempt to combine metal with pop, but said that it came off sounding like an

Imagine Dragons Imagine Dragons is an American pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, consisting of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman. The band first gained exposure with the release of their sing ...

song.

Track listing

*Digital download and streaming #"Bad Habits" (featuring

) – 4:10

Charts

Footnotes

References

External links

Background

Release

Composition and reception

Accolades

Commercial performance

Music video

Live performances

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Bring Me the Horizon remix

Live performance

Commercial performance

Reception

Track listing

Charts

Footnotes

See also

References

External links