Bad Girl (Madonna song)

"Bad Girl"
"Bad Girl"
Single by Madonna
from the album Erotica
B-side	"Fever"
Released	February 2, 1993
Recorded	1992
Studio	Soundworks (New York)
Genre	Pop; R&B;
Length	5:23
Label	Maverick; Sire; Warner Bros.;
Songwriter(s)	Madonna; Shep Pettibone; Anthony Shimkin;
Producer(s)	Madonna; Shep Pettibone;
Madonna singles chronology
Music video
	"Bad Girl" on YouTube

"Bad Girl" is a song by American singer and songwriter Madonna from her fifth studio album, Erotica (1992). It was written and produced by both Madonna and Shep Pettibone, with additional writing from Anthony Shimkin, and released by Maverick, Sire and Warner. In Australia and most European countries, the song was released as the album's third single on February 2, 1993; in the United States, a release was issued on March 11. "Bad Girl" is a pop and R&B ballad with lyrics that describe a woman trying to escape her reality through self-destructive behaviors, such as drinking and chain smoking.

Upon release, "Bad Girl" received positive reviews from music critics, with some noting a departure from Madonna's highly sexual image of the time; in retrospective reviews, it is now considered one of her best and most underrated singles. Commercially, "Bad Girl" saw a lukewarm reception. In the United States, it reached number 36, becoming Madonna's first single to not reach the top 30 or top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, breaking a streak of 27 consecutive top 20 singles that began with "Holiday" (1983) and ended with "Deeper and Deeper" (1992). "Bad Girl" fared better in the United Kingdom, where it reached the top-ten, and in Ecuador, Iceland and Italy, where it reached the charts' top-three spots.

The accompanying music video for "Bad Girl" marked Madonna's final collaboration with director David Fincher; the singer plays Louise Oriole, a successful but promiscuous Manhattan businesswoman who engages in one-night stands with multiple men, until one of them murders her. Christopher Walken played the role of her guardian angel. The visual was lauded by critics, who deemed it one of Madonna's best, and noted tropes and references Fincher would go on to use in his future works. Madonna performed "Bad Girl" during a visit to Saturday Night Live in January 1993, and thirty years later on the Celebration Tour.