Home » Albums » reputation » Songs on reputation » I Did Something Bad

I Did Something Bad

reputation (2017)

“I Did Something Bad” is track three on Taylor’s sixth studio album, reputation (2017). It plays on the public’s perception of her at the time, with her singing from the fictional, dark character they portrayed her as.

Background

Taylor released her fifth studio album, 1989, in October 2014. Its synth-pop production transformed her sound and image from country-oriented to mainstream pop. The album was a massive commercial success, selling over five million copies in the U.S. within one year, and spawning three Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles. The BBC asserted that the success of 1989 solidified Taylor’s status as a global pop star.

In 2016, when Taylor was at the peak of overexposure, some of her rivals in the industry (including Scooter Braun, Kanye West and Justin Bieber) succeded in launching a worldwide hate campaign against her. As a result, Taylor disappeared from public view for an entire year and thought about quitting music for good. She became increasingly reticent on social media, having previously maintained an active presence with a large following, and avoided interactions with the press. She conceived her sixth studio album, reputation, as an answer to the media commotion surrounding her celebrity.

Lyrical Theme

For the lyrics, Taylor partly took inspiration from the season seven finale episode “The Dragon and the Wolf” of the fantasy series Game of Thrones, in which the sisters Sansa and Arya Stark together plot a scheme to murder Littlefinger for his treachery. She portrays herself as a self-confident character who is unapologetic and defies her detractors. Media publications interpreted “I Did Something Bad” as Taylor’s answer to the tumultuous media scrutiny on her personal life and celebrity, affected by the publicized disputes and relationships with other celebrities. She explained the actual meaning to Rolling Stone in 2019:

«I kind of grew up thinking, 'If I’m nice, and if I try to do the right thing, you know, maybe I can just, like, ace this whole thing [life].' And it turns out I can’t. It’s something I’ve had to reconcile within myself in the last couple of years — that sort of 'good' complex. Because from the time I was a kid I’d try to be kind, be a good person. Try really hard. But you get walked all over sometimes. And how do you respond to being walked all over? You can’t just sit there and eat your salad and let it happen. 'I Did Something Bad' was about doing something that was so against what I would usually do.»

Taylor Swift

Production

Regarding the song’s production, Taylor said that this song was the first one she and Max Martin wrote where they felt they made something different enough from 1989:

«I wrote this song on piano...it's not going to sound like it, though. It's not that kind of song. So, I brought it to them [Max Martin & Shellback] and I was trying to explain the production. I had had a weird dream and I had woken up with this sound in my head. It was a sound that was so hooky and so catchy that I knew it had to be in a song because it was that annoying. It wouldn't stop going around in my head. Like, after the chorus, that's what I wanna hear, but I don't want it to be my voice, I want it to be an instrument. What instrument is that? So I was playing the voice memo to Max, and he's like 'Oh no, there's not an instrument that can do that. But what we can do is, we can take your voice doing it, and pitch it down, so that it sounds like an enchantress/a dude.' So, that's what you're hearing after the chorus. This is when we first kinda knew we might be onto something with the album.»

Taylor Swift

“I Did Something Bad” is also the first song in Taylor’s career which includes profane language (the word “shit”). Although it has explicit lyrics, the song and album are not marked as explicit.

Live Performances

Taylor first performed “I Did Something Bad” on live TV when she opened the 2018 American Music Awards. In the remix performed on the “reputation Stadium Tour” (2018), she added new lyrics to the bridge of the song. In this version, she insists people are trying to destroy famous personalities simply because they like to see someone fall from grace.

They’re burning all the witches
Even if you aren’t one
They got their pitchforks and proof
Their receipts and reasons

They’re burning all the witches
Even if you aren’t one
And it’s just for fun

They’re burning all the witches
Eeven if you aren’t one
They got pitchforks and proof
They don’t need their reasons

On “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024), Taylor played an acoustic version of “I Did Something Bad” on August 17, 2024, in London.

Critical Reception

“I Did Something Bad” received mixed reviews. Leah Greenblatt from Entertainment Weekly noted the track as an example for Taylor’s new defiant attitude on reputation, where she makes confessional songs about “seduction, alcohol, and the soul-numbing isolation of fame”, which does not successfully show Swift’s abilities as a songwriter. Jordan Bassett from NME agreed, calling it the song that represents the album. On a positive side, Time‘s Raise Bruner complimented the lyrics for featuring “blazing imagery”. New York‘s Nate Jones opined that “I Did Something Bad” should have been reputation‘s lead single rather than “Look What You Made Me Do“, writing: “not only does ‘Something Bad’ sell the lack of remorse much better, it bangs harder than any other song on pop radio this summer except ‘Bodak Yellow’.” Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said: “This is just waiting for her to turn it into a head-banging live guitar monster.”

Commercial Performance

Despite not being a single, “I Did Something Bad” charted at No. 14 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100, an extension to the US Billboard Hot 100, and at No. 5 on the New Zealand Heatseeker Singles, an extension to the New Zealand Singles Chart.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
I never trust a narcissist
But they love me
So I play ’em like a violin
And I make it look oh so easy
‘Cause for every lie I tell them
They tell me three
This is how the world works
Now all he thinks about is me

[Pre-Chorus 1]
I can feel the flames on my skin
Crimson red paint on my lips
If a man talks shit
Then I owe him nothing
I don’t regret it one bit
‘Cause he had it comin’

[Chorus]
They say I did something bad
Then why’s it feel so good?
They say I did something bad
Then why’s it feel so…good?
Most fun I ever had
And I’d do it over and over and over again if I could
It just felt so…good…good

[Post-Chorus]
Ra-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-da-da
Ra-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-da-da
Ra-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-da-da
Da-da da-da

[Verse 2]
I never trust a playboy
But they love me
So I fly ’em all around the world
And I let them think they saved me
They never see it coming
…What I do next
This is how the world works
You gotta leave before you get left

[Pre-Chorus 2]
I can feel the flames on my skin
He says, “Don’t throw away a good thing”
But if he drops my name
Then I owe him nothing
And if he spends my change
Then he had it coming

[Post-Chorus]
Ra-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-da-da
Ra-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-da-da
It just felt so good
Ra-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-da-da
Da-da da-da

[Bridge]
They’re burning all the witches
Even if you aren’t one
They got their pitchforks and proof
Their receipts and reasons
They’re burning all the witches
Even if you aren’t one
So light me up (Light me up)
Light me up (Light me up)
Light me up, go ahead and light me up (Light me up)
Light me up (Light me up)
Light me up (light me up)
Light me up (light me up)
Light me up

[Final Chorus]
They say I did something bad (Oh)
Then why’s it feel so good? (So good)
They say I did something bad
Then why’s it feel so…good…good?
Most fun I ever had (Most fun I ever had)
And I’d do it over and over and over again if I could
It just felt so…good…good (Good)

[Outro]
So bad, why’s it feel so good?
Why’s it feel…why’s it feel so…good… (Bad)
It just felt so good…good