Songfacts®:

• Born in Compton, California, to an African-American mother and Filipino father, Steve Lacy first started playing the guitar at 7. He initially gained recognition as the guitarist and co-producer of the neo-soul group The Internet's third studio album, Ego Death. Lacy garnered further accolades for his work for the likes of Kendrick Lamar ("PRIDE."), J. Cole ("Foldin Clothes"), Tyler, the Creator ("911/Mr. Lonely"), and Brent Faiyaz ("Gravity"). He released "Bad Habit" as the second single from his second solo album, Gemini Rights, on June 16, 2022.
• Throughout much of "Bad Habit," Lacy regrets not making a move for someone who likes him. Towards the end of the song, this person gives him a second chance, and by the outro they get to explore their mutual attraction.
  
  "That's literally how conversations with me go," he told Rolling Stone. "It's like, a thought here and something profound there, and then a joke right after that."
• Lacy takes the title from the first line of the chorus.
  
  I bite my tongue, it's a bad habit
  Kinda mad that I didn't take a stab at it
  
  The phrase "bite your tongue" means to refrain from saying something. Lacy's bad habit of not speaking out kept him from acting on his feelings for this person.
• Lacy co-wrote "Bad Habit" with Foushee, Diana Gordon, John Kirby, and Matthew Castellanos. New York alt-soul artist Foushée also duets with Lacy on another of his Gemini Rights tracks, "Sunshine."
• The song originated in a June 2021 session. "The drums were different, the chorus was different," Lacy recalled to Billboard.
  
  Later, he played Fousheé his demo and the two wrote the melody for the chorus and the verses. Over the next year, Lacy continued to tweak the track, including adjusting a lyric in the chorus thanks to Tyler, the Creator's feedback. It was originally:
  
  I wish I knew you
  I wish I knew you wanted me
  
  Then Tyler told him it would be more memorable if he cut the first "you" out.
• This multi-format hit became the first song to concurrently top Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot R&B Songs, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts.
• In its 13th week on the Billboard Hot 100 - four of which it spent at #2 – "Bad Habit" dethroned Harry Styles' long running chart-topper "As It Was" to reach the summit.
• Steve Lacy made his Saturday Night Live debut on November 5, 2022. He performed "Bad Habit" and another Gemini Rights track, "Helmet."
• Billboard magazine writers named "Bad Habit" their favorite song of 2022. They wrote: "Kicking in partway through its opening chorus, 'Bad Habit' has a casualness to its liquid grooves and ping-ponging vocals that almost makes it feel tossed off, spontaneous. But the craft on display here is actually impossibly high-level."
• "Bad Habit" was one of the first songs Lacy and Fousheé wrote together. "I had just made this beat and recycled some drums that I used before," he recalled to The Guardian. "She came up with the first couple of lines and then I had the melody. We freestyled over the beat for 15, 20 minutes, and we found the structure through the freestyle. Fousheé and I came up with "Whatcha-ooo" and then up until 'I bite my tongue, it's a bad habit.' And then I came up with the chorus and wrote the verses."
  
  Later, he played it to Diana Gordon. "I was, like, I think the song is good as it is, but let's see what she's got."
  
  Gordon came up with the end part that starts with "You can't surprise a Gemini," which Lacy loved.
  
  All in all the song took Lacy a year to write. He didn't finish it until a week before he turned in Gemini Rights.
• Lyrically, Lacy is writing to the feeling of being a shy person. "It's kind of a play on confidence – by the end, it flips and it's, like: 'Oh, you coming back to me now," he explained to The Guardian. "I'm kind of flexing, giving it back and being, like: 'You were too good for me,' and then in the end, I'm almost too good for them but I'm still down. To me, that was just a really fun story that I'm sure everybody has experienced before."
• Steve Lacy performed this song with Thundercat at the Grammy Awards in 2023, where it was nominated for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year. It didn't win either, but Gemini Rights got the trophy for Best Progressive R&B Album.