Breaking Down the Lyrics to Olivia Rodrigo’s Latest Single ‘Bad Idea Right?’

Olivia Rodrigo’s ~favorite crime~ is the ability to set the internet on fire with her music. Along with the release of her single “Bad Idea Right?” came its accompanying music video on August 10, 2023. Now, fans are picking apart the lyrics and asking who the song is about.

What Do the Lyrics to ‘Bad Idea Right?’ Mean?

“Bad Idea Right?” points to a past lover whom Olivia considered reuniting with. Though most of her songs are ballads or pop beats featuring her spectacular vocals, she doesn’t sing in this single — she talks the whole way through.

“Oh yes, I know that he’s my ex,” she says in the chorus. “But can’t two people reconnect? / I only see him as a friend / The biggest lie I ever said. … I just tripped and fell into his bed.”

In the first verse, the Grammy Award winner unpacks the story of how she heard from the unknown ex.

“Haven't heard from you in a couple of months,” Olivia says. “But I'm out right now and I'm all f—ked up / And you're callin' my phone and you're all alone / And I'm sensing some undertone / And I'm right here with all my friends / But you're sending me your new address / And I know we're done, I know we're through / But, God, when I look at you.”

In the 1990s-themed music video, Olivia is seen at a huge house party putting on makeup with her friends. After she receives a call from a “loser not worth mentioning,” Olivia decides to leave and reunite with him. Upon going outside though, the journey to her ex’s apartment turns into a colossal nightmare. The pop star quickly becomes soaked in a rainstorm and, while on a bus, other passengers even taunt her that what she’s doing is a “bad idea, right?” Her blue sweater and sparkling Guizio low-rise skirt quickly become drenched.

“Now I'm gettin' in the car wreckin' all my plans / I know I should stop, but I can’t,” Olivia says in the second verse of the song. “And I told my friends I was asleep / But I never said where or in whose sheets / And I pull up to your place on the second floor / And you're standing, smiling at the door / And I'm sure I've seen much hotter men / But I really can't remember when.”

Who Is Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Bad Idea Right?’ About?

During an interview with Rolling Stone that was published on August 11, Olivia recalled how she and her team came up with the idea behind the single.

"'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,” she said. “We were throwing the weirdest things at the wall. In one of the choruses, there’s a part that sounds like an instrument, but it’s me gradually screaming louder and louder."

Olivia did not reveal who the song was inspired by. However, fans are convinced that it is pointing to her past relationship with rumored ex DJ Zack Bia. The two were linked in mid-2022 until a source exclusively told Life & Style that August their relationship “sort of fizzled.”

Previously, Olivia released the first single from her upcoming album, Guts. The song “Vampire” and its music video is a somber tune that explains how Olivia regrets dating someone who was allegedly a “bloodsucker, fame-f—ker, bleedin’ me dry like a goddamn vampire.” Though she never publicly mentioned who inspired the song, fans also believe the lyrics point to Zack.

In one verse, Olivia sings that the “vampire” subjected her to “six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise.” Since she and Zack dated for less than a year, many believe he is the face behind the song’s villain.

When Does Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts’ Album Come Out?

Guts will be released on Friday, September 8. Olivia has only released two of its songs so far, but she teased fans with the full tracklist in an Instagram post. In addition to “Vampire” and “Bad Idea Right?” the album includes the following bops: “All American Bitch,” “Lacy,” “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl,” “Making the Bed,” “Logical,” “Get Him Back,” “Love is Embarrassing,” “The Grudge, “Pretty Isn’t Pretty,” and “Teenage Dream.”