Bad Things

Chart History and Background: "Bad Things" by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello

"Bad Things" was released by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello on September 23, 2016, and became one of the most commercially successful songs of the winter of 2016 and early 2017, demonstrating the pop crossover potential of both artists at a pivotal moment in each of their careers. The track was written by Machine Gun Kelly, born Colson Baker, alongside Camila Cabello, Tor Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen of the production duo Stargate, and Eskil Harrang. Production was handled by Stargate, the Norwegian duo whose credits across the previous two decades had included some of the biggest pop and R&B hits in recorded music history, working with artists including Beyonce, Rihanna, and Ne-Yo.

The song was released through Bad Boy Records and Interscope Records as part of Machine Gun Kelly's promotion for his third studio album, Bloom, which arrived in May 2017. For Cabello, the song arrived at a transitional moment: she was still an official member of Fifth Harmony at the time of the song's release, though she would announce her departure from the group in December 2016. "Bad Things" thus functioned as an early demonstration of her capacity as a solo pop artist, coming as industry observers were beginning to widely discuss whether she would eventually pursue an individual career.

On the Billboard Hot 100, "Bad Things" was a sustained commercial force, peaking at number four in February 2017 and spending more than twenty weeks on the chart. The song was certified four times platinum by the RIAA and was a significant commercial performer on streaming platforms throughout its promotional window. Its radio performance was equally strong, receiving heavy rotation on Top 40 and Hot AC formats, where the combination of Machine Gun Kelly's rap verses and Cabello's melodically compelling hook gave the track a versatility that worked across dayparts and listener demographics.

The track samples the 1966 recording "I Put a Spell on You" by the band Creedence Clearwater Revival's protege project, though the more prominent reference is the original Screamin' Jay Hawkins version of that song. The sample was cleared and credited appropriately, and its incorporation gave the track a gothic, blues-inflected undertone that contrasted interestingly with the contemporary pop and rap production elements. This combination of classic rock/blues heritage with modern radio production was itself a statement of musical range and contributed to the song's broad appeal.

Machine Gun Kelly had been building his career in the hip-hop world since the early 2010s, known for a rapid-fire delivery style and a willingness to work across genre boundaries. His collaboration with Cabello was part of a pattern of genre-crossing work that would eventually lead to his full transition into pop-punk territory in the early 2020s, but at this point in his career the pop collaboration represented an expansion rather than a departure. Cabello's vocal performance on the track drew widespread praise, with reviewers noting her ability to convey emotional urgency and vulnerability within a commercially polished production context.

The music video, which accompanied the single's release, placed both artists in a romantic, slightly gothic visual environment consistent with the song's thematic content about attraction to dangerous or unconventional relationships. The visual treatment emphasized the chemistry between the two performers and drew significant viewership, accumulating hundreds of millions of plays on YouTube. The video's success contributed to the song's strong position on the YouTube and VEVO viewership charts, which at that time still held significant weight in overall chart calculations alongside audio streaming.

At the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, "Bad Things" was recognized in competitive categories reflecting its commercial performance, and the song's nominations contributed to both artists' broader visibility in the mainstream pop awards circuit. The track's continued presence on streaming platforms years after its initial release has contributed to its status as a canonical entry in both artists' catalogs, particularly as Cabello subsequently became one of the most commercially successful solo pop artists of the late 2010s and Machine Gun Kelly evolved into a pop-punk crossover figure of significant commercial stature.

The song was also notable for how effectively it used the Stargate production framework to bridge genuinely different artistic worlds. At the time of its release, the pairing of a rapper with a pop vocalist on a major commercial single was not unusual, but the specific combination of Machine Gun Kelly's rock and rap sensibilities with Cabello's classical pop training created a track that sounded immediately singular. Stargate's long experience navigating exactly these kinds of genre intersections, having previously bridged R&B and pop, gospel and hip-hop, and various other combinations, meant the collaboration had an experienced creative hand keeping the production coherent and radio-ready. The song's ongoing commercial performance in streaming playlists, particularly those oriented toward early-2017 nostalgia and pop-rap crossover content, confirms that it found an enduring place in the cultural memory of its release period.