Bad Karma

## Singles

1. "Worst Thing I've Ever Done"
Released: August 30, 2024
2. "Vilify It"
Released: October 18, 2024
3. "Talking Shit"
Released: February 10, 2025
4. "Picturesque"
Released: May 11, 2025
5. "Fading Away"
Released: June 24, 2024

## Promotional Singles

1. "Petrichor"
Released: November 1, 2024

***Bad Karma*** is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on November 9, 2024, marking Swift's first new body of work since her 2023 re-recorded albums, *Speak Now (Taylor's Version)* and *1989 (Taylor's Version)*. Swift recorded *Bad Karma* from September 2023 to August 2024, during her 2022 tour, The Eras Tour.

Sonically, the soft-rock and electronic pop album veers through string elements and trap beats. Similar to the dark nature of her 2017 album *Reputation, Bad Karma* traverses the topic of anger and revenge, and a mix of heartache, remorse and resilience. Swift worked with Phoebe Bridgers and Danielle Haim to produce the album, along with Aaron Dessner and her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. To support the album, Swift embarked on the Bad Karma World Tour in 2025.

## Background

Taylor Swift released her fifth album *1989* (2014), in which, her public image suffered greatly from tabloid scrutiny; she hence went on a public hiatus. In 2017, Swift returned to the public and released *Reputation,* where its lead single, "Look What You Made Me Do", contained the lyrics of karma. She released her seventh album, *Lover* (2019) where its fourth single's music video, "The Man", appears a graffiti spelling out "KARMA".

Swift later on announced her tenth album, *Midnights* (2022), and on her short video series, *Midnights Mayhem With Me*, she announced that one of the track names would be named "Karma"; where Swift sings about "good karma" brought to her, as opposed to her enemies. It was eventually released as the third single for the album and performed at the Eras tour. Fans have been speculating until then that there was a lost album named "Karma" that would've been released during 2016.

## Music and lyrics

The standard edition of *Bad Karma* consists of 14 tracks, with an additional four bonus tracks, two of which are acoustic versions, added on the deluxe edition. *Bad Karma: The Defamer Edition*, only available digitally, consists of four new songs and one remix. Bridgers and Hayley Williams are featured on two tracks of the album, while Ariana Grande was featured on the remix of "Talking Shit".

### Composition

*Bad Karma* has been compared to Swift's preceding studio albums. It adopts an electropop, rock and house music with trap beats, ambient elements and strings. The album is split between a heavy, dance and loud music and soft-rock, slow ballad music. The album is sonically maximalist industrial production compared to *Midnights*' minimalist production, it consists of synthesizers, bass drops, and vocal manipulations such as low pitching and vocoders.

### Theme and lyrics

Swift described the imagery of *Bad Karma* as "a view of the sunset inside a warm, dark and neon bedroom." Karma has been referenced several times in Swift's music, usually about revenge, consequences of actions, and its effect on her life. On the contrary, the album tells the bad things that have happened in her life. Bad Karma's themes also include heartbreak, scrutiny, remorse, and recovery.

The opening track, "Petrichor" is a rock song driven in drum beats, and features a sound of rainfall throughout the song. It is a hardcore track about the recall of a past romance that ended in the middle of the rain. "Evangel" is a gospel rock comprised of choir vocals and a pipe organ. "Fading Away" is a guitar-led folk song about a frangible life of a teenager. "Talking Shit" differs vastly from the first three tracks as it is an upbeat electropop trap song about being gossiped. The electro-rock song, "Vilify It" is about two ex-lovers celebrating their breakup. Its outro interpolates Swift's own 2017 single "Delicate". The sixth track, "Worst Thing I've Ever Done", mixes rock with EDM and house elements; It describes an unapologetic reaction to alleged rumors about Swift. The guitar riffed ballad "What Could Have Been" involves Swift's breathy vocals as she wonders on how a past romance could have gone. "Better Alone" is a tropical house rock music that discusses a departure from a failing relationship. "Picturesque" is an 80s disco music satirizing society's view of a perfect woman. The song "Constellations" consists of double bass elements tells about having a life crisis. "Silver Linings" is a ballad song that progressively gets louder with the influence of power rock elements is about finding inner peace at one's worst times. The piano-led song "Open Window" is an elegiac ode to a breakup from a conflict. The ballad "Brittle", featuring a sound of shattering glass, is about straining to stay in a relationship that's on the verge of breaking down. The final track on the standard edition, "Didn't We?" sees Swift's grieve about the loss of a love and herself. The song starts with the sound of a heartbeat monitor and ends in the stationary sound of a flatline.

The deluxe tracks — "Without You" and "Yours" forms a fictional breakup connection of the two partner's point of view, similar to the Folklore love triangle. The bass ballad "Without You", tells the perspective of the girl in the relationship. Meanwhile, the dark dream pop song "Yours" tells the boy's perspective in the relationship. The four bonus tracks, TBA TBA TBA

## Singles

"Worst Thing I've Ever Done" was released as the album's lead single on August 30, 2024.

"Vilify It" was released as the second single on October 18, 2024.

"Talking Shit" was released on contemporary hit radio as the third single on February 10, 2025. A remix featuring Ariana Grande was released on February 28, 2025.

"Picturesque" was released on adult contemporary radio as the fourth single on May 11, 2025.

"Fading Away" was released on Triple A radio as the fifth and final single for the album on June 24, 2025.

### Promotional singles

"Petrichor" was released as a digital promotional single on November 1, 2024.