"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 the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

, as the

lead single A lead single (or first 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. A similar term, "debut ...

from his fifth studio album, '' ='' ("Equals"). 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 (music), single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was introduced in 1980 in music, 1 ...

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. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

, as well as

Bronski Beat Bronski Beat were a British synth-pop band formed in 1983 in London, England. The initial lineup, which recorded the majority of their hits, consisted of Scottish musicians Jimmy Somerville (vocals) and Steve Bronski (keyboards, percussion) and ...

. "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 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 ...

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. While being sonically distinct from Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous ...

remix made by

Fumez the Engineer Jahrell Bryan (born 16 February 1993), commonly known as Fumez the Engineer, is a British rapper and 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 movi ...

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 Caesar-Su (born 4 June 1998), known professionally as Central Cee, is a British rapper from Shepherd's Bush, London. Regarded as a leading figure in UK rap, he rose to prominence in 2020 with the release of his drill singles "Day i ...

was released on 12 August 2021. Following his performance with

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon are a British Rock music, rock band, formed in Sheffield, England in 2004. The group currently consists of lead vocalist Oli Sykes, drummer Matt Nicholls, guitarist Lee Malia and bassist Matt Kean (musician), Matt Kean. T ...

at the 2022 BRIT Awards, 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 isopening 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. Sheeran later explained in a ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' cover story that the song is about "addiction issues". He pointed out: "If you sing that on a piano really slowly, it’s like a confessional song about addiction". Sheeran declined to elaborate upon his own bad habits, except for hard

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

. He finally realized it was time to get his drinking issues under control when his wife Cherry was pregnant with their first daughter, and she expressed her concern that he might be too intoxicated to safely drive her to the hospital when it was time to give birth.

Release

On 23 April 2021, Sheeran was spotted in costume as what appeared to be a

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

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 humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

on a music video set in London, leading to widespread speculation about an upcoming music release. 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

Snorlax Snorlax (), known in Japan as , is a List of Pokémon, Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise, ''Pokémon'' franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Snorlax first appeared in the Game Boy video game Pokémon Red and Blue, ' ...

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 mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

show with

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

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 in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Composition and reception

"Bad Habits" is a dance-pop and synth-pop track. Sheet music for this song is in the key of

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: Changes need ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 126 beats per minute. Sheeran's vocals range from the note of G₃ to the note of B₄. "Bad Habits" was met with mixed reviews from critics.

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

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

". Nick Levine of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' 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 the debut single by the British synth-pop band Bronski Beat, released in May 1984 by London Recordings. It was included on their debut album, '' The Age of Consent'' (1984). "Smalltown Boy" features electronic instrumentati ...

". ''

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's leftovers." Quinn Moreland of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' 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 Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking so ...

and number six on

Streaming Songs The Streaming Songs chart is released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), 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 ...

, 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 tr ...

" by

the Kid Laroi Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard (born 17 August 2003), known professionally as the Kid Laroi (stylized as The Kid LAROI), is an Australian rapper, singer and songwriter. He was first discovered by Triple J Unearthed in 2016 at the age of 13. As ...

and

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

. 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 subdivi ...

, South East London. It was uploaded on 25 June 2021. The music video portrays Sheeran as a

in a hot pink suit. The video starts in a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas. Beauty treatme ...

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 imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

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 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. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

''. 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." As of November 2024, the music video has amassed over 650 million views on YouTube.

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 simply as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show that aired on CBS from 2015 to 2023. It is the fourth and final iteration of '' The Late Late Show'', and aired in the United Sta ...

''. 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 weekdays at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Roman Kemp, Ronan Keating ...

''. Sheeran performed the song on

GMA Network GMA Network (an acronym of its legal name, Global Media Arts and commonly known as GMA) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine commercial broadcast network, serving as the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network (company), ...

All-Out Sundays ''All-Out Sundays'' (also known as ''AOS'' or ''AyOS'') is a Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Directed by Miggy Tanchanco, it was originally starred by Alden Richards, Julie Anne San Jose, Rayver Cruz, Ken Chan, Ri ...

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'' (Russian: Медуза, named after the Greek goddess Medusa) is a Russian- and English-language independent news website, headquartered in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 2014 by a group of former employees of the then-independent ...

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, which reached number six in the UK Singles Chart. In ...

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 Daniel Echavarría Oviedo (born 1991), known professionally as Ovy on the Drums, is a Colombian record producer, songwriter and former footballer. He is a longtime collaborator with reggaeton artist Karol G, alongside working with, Blessd, Mic ...

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. *

– vocals, songwriting, production, acoustic guitar, percussion * Fred Gibson – songwriting, production, backing vocals, bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, piano, programming, engineering * Johnny McDaid – songwriting, production, acoustic guitar, engineering * Graham Archer – vocal production, engineering *

Iain Archer Iain Archer is a Northern Irish writer, producer, singer and songwriter from Bangor. 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 nominat ...

– 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 Sheeran, ...

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

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly 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, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

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 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), Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of ...

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

at number 2, behind "

The Rumbling "The Rumbling" is a single recorded by Japanese alternative metal band SiM (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 ...

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

Reception

The Editor in Chief of ''

MetalSucks MetalSucks is an American heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock ...

,'' 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 are an American pop rock band formed in 2008, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, and bassist Ben McKee. They first gained exposure with the release of ...

song.

Track listing

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

) – 4:10

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end 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

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Bring Me the Horizon remix

Live performance

Commercial performance

Reception

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Footnotes

See also

References

External links