Bad Boys

Album: Overcome (2009)
Charted: 1
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Songfacts®:

  • This was 2008 X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke's second single and her first release from her debut album.
  • The electro-R&B tune features American rapper Flo Rida.
  • The song was debuted on Chris Moyles' BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show on the 25th August 2009, which happened to be Burke's 21st birthday.
  • The American hip hop producers Phantom Boyz helmed the song. Among their previous credits was co-producing Korean pop singer BOA's "I Did It For Love."
  • Larry Summerville Jr, Busbee, Lauren Evans and Alexander James penned the song, which is about Burke's propensity for fancying dangerous men.
  • A number of reviewers compared Burke's vocal performance on this song to Donna Summer. Co-incidentally, one of The Queen of Disco's biggest hits was "Bad Girls."
  • Burke told The Sun October 9, 2009 that she's only too familiar with the topic of this song. She said: "I've only ever had two serious relationships and they were both bad boys. I think every girl gets drawn to bad boys at a young age. I was 16 when I had my first relationship. It lasted about two years. Then I dated another guy for six months last year. But he was a bit of a nutcase. I let him go just before X Factor went live. He was very insecure and I have no time for that. There's been no one since."
  • Burke told I Like Music about the vibe of the song: "The thing with this song is that everyone my age tends to go for bad boys. We just don't want to admit it! We don't want to look like a fool when they break our hearts. We have to kiss a lot of frogs before we meet our Prince Charming. I've definitely gone through it and I want to be the first one to admit it! It's a reflection of my personality."
  • The phrase "bad boy," referring to a man who disregards the rules and causes trouble, was first recorded in the title of the composer George Antheil's book, Bad Boy of Music.
  • Another song with a similar theme is Larry Williams 1959 song "Bad Boy," which was later covered by the Beatles. Other "bad boy" songs include a 1983 hit by Wham! and 1987 hit by Inner Circle, both sharing the same title as this song.

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