# How Bad Do U Want Me

"How Bad Do U Want Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga released on her eighth studio album Mayhem, through Interscope Records on March 7, 2025. Described as a synth-pop track, it was produced by Lady Gaga, Andrew Watt, and Cirkut, with Michael Polansky contributing additional writing.

## Background and release

In an interview for Las Culturistas with Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, Lady Gaga admitted that she started to write "How Bad Do U Want Me" on her own in home, before being joined by her fiancé Michael Polansky. Polansky was interested in the song's lyrical content, asking whether she is singing about him, which she denied. The two finished the track with Andrew Watt and Cirkut, who also served as its producers alongside Gaga. Paul Lamalfa recorded the track at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California and Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles; Marco Sonzini provided additional engineering, while Tyler Harris and Tommy Turner worked as assistant engineers. The song was mixed by Serban Ghenea at Mixstar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound Studios in Edgewater, New Jersey. Gaga additionally played keyboards; Watt played drums, electric guitar, and keyboards; and Cirkut played synthesizer and keyboards and provided drum and bass programming. Bryce Bordone worked as the assistant mixing engineer, and Marc VanGool served as the studio technician.
Lady Gaga announced her eighth studio album on January 27, 2025, by revealing its title and cover art, setting its release date on March 7. Next month, she unveiled the track listing, including "How Bad Do U Want Me" as the project's ninth track. Following the album's release, the singer admitted that she almost scrapped "How Bad Do U Want Me" from the track listing. Gaga said that when she creates "super pop" songs, she gets anxious about them, pointing out that she almost removed "Just Dance" from The Fame (2008) for the same reason.

## Composition

"How Bad Do U Want Me" is a 1980s-inspired "dreamy" synth-pop song.

## Reception

Following Mayhem's release, various fans and music critics noted strong resemblance between "How Bad Do U Want Me" and Taylor Swift's input, with some fans theorizing that the latter recorded backing vocals to the track. Comparisons were made mainly to Swift's fifth studio album 1989 (2014) and "Gorgeous" from the following album, Reputation (2017). Some listeners also drew the parallels to Midnights (2022) tracks "Snow on the Beach" and "Hits Different"–the former gathered comparisions due to similarly distant backing vocals, which Lana Del Rey provided to "Snow on the Beach", while RTL likened "How Bad Do U Want Me" sonicscape to the latter one's. Her Campus writer Makalah Wright, said that "How Bad Do U Want Me" and "Gorgeous" sound alike, however lyrically they are completely different. Stephen Daw, writing for Billboard found it to be the worst song of the album, and compared its lyrics and instrumental to those from Taylor Swift's discography, elaborating that the song "feels like one of the only songs that doesn't fit her vision".

## Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Mayhem.
* Lady Gaga – songwriter, producer, lead vocals, background vocals, keyboards
* Andrew Watt – songwriter, producer, drums, electric guitar, keyboards
* Cirkut – songwriter, producer, synthesizer, keyboards, drum programming, bass programming
* Michael Polansky – songwriter
* Paul Lamalfa – recording engineer
* Serban Ghenea – mixing engineer
* Randy Merrill – mastering engineer
* Marco Sonzini – additional engineer
* Tyler Harris – assistant engineer
* Tommy Turner – assistant engineer
* Bryce Bordone – assistant mixing engineer
* Marc VanGool – studio technician

## Charts

Chart performance for "How Bad Do U Want Me" :
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100) | 55 |
| France (SNEP) | 153 |
| Global 200 (Billboard) | 52 |
| New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ) | 6 |
| UK Singles Downloads (OCC) | 31 |
| UK Singles Sales (OCC) | 32 |
| UK Streaming (OCC) | 64 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 69 |