by Libby Pierzak-Pee
If “Good 4 U” made you want to slash your ex’s tyres, Rodrigo’s latest delulu girl anthem encourages you to hook-up with him.
While that’s not the usual encouragement you hear, we think it’s time we embrace Rodrigo’s lyrics and accept that we’re all gonna do dumb stuff like that.
Taking over TikTok, Olivia Rodrigo dropped her latest single “bad idea right?” and, quite frankly, we’re taking this one seriously.
Straight from her latest album Guts, the track sees Rodrigo work her purple glittery gel pen magic to create something that is relatable, hilarious and fun.
Sonically reminiscent of the sounds explored on SOUR à la “Brutal” but with a maturation and confidence that firmly signals the arrival of a new Rodrigo era, the grungy bop encapsulates the delusional buzz that comes from the temptation to hook-up with an ex-boyfriend.
While this is something we’d typically warden, sometimes it’s nice to be delusional. And that energy seems to be gaining results.
Delulu girls are young women who are embracing their naivety when it comes to romance, dating and relationships.
Being delulu is a light-hearted, fun way of encouraging you to over-romanticise your dating experiences and remain optimistically unrealistic, even when you know a relationship isn’t particularly healthy, or heading in the direction you initially expected.
All the red flags are flying in the breeze, and you are choosing to ignore them. But you’re delulu so you don’t care.
Under a punchy bassline, the first verse of the song emphasises the internal struggle of emotions we experience when an ex reaches out to us after a breakup. “Haven’t heard from you in a couple of months / But I’m out right now and I’m all fucked up / And you’re callin’ my phone and you’re all alone / And I’m sensing some undertone”.
We’ve all been there. You break up with a guy, the relationship has fizzled out. You both convince yourselves and everyone around you that you can remain friends and not be physically intimate. Yeah…give that a try!
Six months passes (it’s always six months isn’t it?). You’ve had a haircut. You’re now a gym member. You’re striving and thriving, drinking cocktails with the girls when suddenly, the LOSER NOT WORTH MENTIONING calls.
Deciding to answer the phone is a difficult one, especially when 10 pornstar martinis, delusion and poor judgement are thrown into the mix. And whilst we all know deep down that this entire situation could be avoided if only you’d blocked his number in the first place, we choose not to. Because that’s not how delulu girls work!
The refrain embodies the voices in your head telling you not to do this. You should, “probably, probably not” but at this point, it’s too late. Common sense left your body as soon as you agreed to see him.
The pre-chorus expresses the exact moment when you say, “fuck it, it’s fine”. Olivia’s repetition of “seeing you tonight / it’s a bad idea right?”, represents you trying to hype yourself up and convince yourself that this is actually a good idea. It’s not until the next morning when you’ve come down from your sex-crazed hook-up high, that you realise you confused confidence with adrenaline.
When we reach the chorus, we are met with a hilariously accurate list of the endless excuses you make to your friends, justifying why your decision is not the impulsive mistake they think it is. How many times have we all collectively uttered the words, “Yes I know that he’s my ex / But can’t two people reconnect? / I only see him as a friend / I just tripped and fell into his bed”?
In the second verse Rodrigo commits to her decision, choosing not to tell her friends exactly where she’s going and who she’s going to see. “And I told my friends I was asleep / But I never said where or in whose sheets”. We know that if we tell our friends we’re hooking up with our exes we would be ripped to pieces for our poor decision making and inability to grow from our mistakes. So our solution is to attempt to lie our way out of it. Again it’s all part of the delulu experience! Plus, your friends know you’re lying. But they choose not to interfere because it’s a canon event.
Towards the end of the verse, Rodrigo has a brief moment of realisation as she says, “I’m sure I’ve seen much hotter men / But I really can’t remember when”. And the delulu girl strikes again. You know there are better and more attractive men out there who will treat you properly, but instead you choose to return to the familiarity you are used to for one night, even though it will inevitably end in friend-zoning for you, and a massive ego boost for him.
The bridge repeats the sentiments of the chorus, where all of your thoughts are blocked out by the desire to see your ex. You know you’re not going to listen to anybody, and no one can change your mind. It’s just “blah-blah-blah”.
“Bad idea right?” sees Rodrigo commit to embracing and owning her inner delulu girl, as she emphasises that “do it for the plot, fuck it” energy. Dating in the modern world can be incredibly stressful, what with the confusion, the labels, the situationships that are basically relationships with a sprinkle of commitment issues. Why can’t you have a little fun and be delulu for a night?
Whilst hooking up with your ex could be considered counterproductive, Rodrigo reminds us that it’s okay to be a little delulu during the moving on process. We support women’s rights, but we also support women’s wrongs! We know we’ll eventually learn our lesson. But now is not that time. Rodrigo’s playful, blasé vocal delivery combined with her wry, comedic lyrics may be corny and melodramatic to some, but to others, it’s the delulu pop anthem teenage girls and young women have been waiting for.
Remember, embrace the fact you’re delulu - don’t deny it.