Meghan Trainor says she wrote "Bad for Me" after her therapist asked her to write a letter. Soon, she composed a new song about needing to establish a healthy distance from a toxic family member.
Speaking with Billboard, she and song collaborator Teddy Swims explained why this song is indicative of a shift in how the younger generations discuss mental health.
"I think this generation is the first people that are really starting to dissect and understand that there are issues, mentally, that people are facing and that it's okay to discuss and deal with those things," said Teddy as Meghan nodded in agreement.
He continued, "I'm sure that all our parents and parents' parents had just as bad trauma and issues as we do and it just wasn't normalized to speak about it."
Meghan also revealed why Teddy was the perfect person to join her on this vulnerable track. "I was a super fan of Teddy’s and I didn’t know him at the time, so when I wrote the song, I was listening to it with my husband Daryl [Sabara] in bed... And he sat up and was like, 'This is your Teddy Swims song.' And I was like, 'This is my Teddy Swims song!'" she explained.
The Grammy winner got in touch with the singer, and as Teddy revealed, they were in the studio "two or three days later" to work on "Bad for Me."
The song has debuted on Billboard's Adult Pop Airplay chart and has currently entered the top 40 -- an accomplishment both happily celebrated.