"Bad Girls" | ||||||||
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Single by M.I.A. | ||||||||
from the album Vicki Leekx and Matangi | ||||||||
Released | 31 January 2012 | |||||||
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Recorded | 2010-12; Hit Factory Criteria, Circle House Studios Miami, Florida, U.S. |
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Length | 3:48 | |||||||
Label | Interscope | |||||||
Writer(s) |
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Producer(s) | Danja | |||||||
M.I.A. singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Bad Girls" is a song by British recording artist M.I.A. for her fourth studio album, Matangi (2013). The song is written by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Marcella Araica and Floyd Nathaniel "Danja" Hills, and produced by Danja. The song, her first release following her departure from XL Recordings in 2011, was self-released worldwide under exclusive license to Interscope Records in the US on 31 January 2012. A shorter version of the song appeared on Vicki Leekx (2010), a free online mixtape on 31 December 2010. "Bad Girls" was released as a digital download a day after its world premiere on radio and online.
The track is a midtempo dancehall song with Middle Eastern influences and exhibiting elements of worldbeat and syncopated drums in its instrumentation. The song's lyrics revolve around sexual prowess and female empowerment, while its chorus features the refrain "Live fast die young, bad girls do it well" sung in a haughty rap-sung delivery. The song received positive reviews from contemporary critics, who lauded it as a highlight from the mixtape and commended its hook and lyrics on its final version as containing hallmarks of her previous songs including "Paper Planes" (2007) and "XXXO" (2010).
An accompanying music video for the song was shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco in solidarity with the women to drive movement, premiering on 3 February 2012. Directed by Romain Gavras and written by Arulpragasam, the video garnered universal acclaim and accolades from other artists. The song charted in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Korea, Switzerland, the UK and the US solely on downloads and was distributed in physical format on 12 March 2012.