{{short description|1999 song by TLC}} {{use mdy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox song | name = I'm Good at Being Bad | cover = TLCigabb.jpg | alt = The three women are posing in front of a space background filled with stars. The band logo and song title are displayed on top in pink. | type = [[Promotional single]] | artist = [[TLC (group)|TLC]] | album = [[FanMail]] | released = January 23, 1999 | recorded = 1998 | studio = Flyte Tyme, [[Edina, Minnesota]] | venue = | genre = * [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]]<!--Genre sourced in composition section. Please add source with genre before adding.--> | length = * 5:25 (original clean version) * 5:39 (original explicit version) * 4:39 (re-edited album version) | label = [[LaFace]] | writer = * James Harris III * Terry Lewis * [[Lo-Key?|Tony "Prof-T" Tolbert]] * [[Tionne Watkins]] * [[Lisa Lopes]] * Marshall L. Martin * [[Giorgio Moroder]] * [[Pete Belotte]] * [[Donna Summer]] * Morris Dickerson * [[Charles Miller (musician)|Charles Miller]] * Sylvester Allen * [[Harold Ray Brown|Harold Brown]] * [[Howard E. Scott|Howard Scott]] * [[Lee Oskar]] * [[Lonnie Jordan|Leroy Jordan]] | producer = [[Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis]] }}
"'''I'm Good at Being Bad'''" is a song recorded by American [[girl group]] [[TLC (group)|TLC]] for their third album ''[[FanMail]]''. It was released as a [[promotional single]] when "[[No Scrubs]]" was distributed to radio. Despite not being commercially released, the track peaked within the top 40 on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs]] chart. The song is characterized by its contrasting alternation of soft romantic melody and [[Rapping|hard rap]] with explicit lyrics, as performed by [[Tionne Watkins|Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins]] and others of the group.
==Background and composition== "I'm Good at Being Bad" is an [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]] song containing a [[Rapping|rap]] [[Verse (music)|verse]].<ref name="FanMail20">{{cite magazine|last=Gracie|first=Bianca|date=February 22, 2019|title=TLC's 'FanMail' Turns 20: A Track-By-Track Retrospective With the Girl Group and Behind-the-Scenes Collaborators|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/tlc-fanmail-interview-20th-anniversary-dallas-austin-8499567/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223013401/https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8499567/tlc-fanmail-interview-20th-anniversary-dallas-austin|archive-date=February 23, 2019|access-date=February 29, 2020|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref> The song's original title was "'''Bitch Like Me'''" (a phrase also in the lyrics), which was described to "crank up the raunch level". The [[Parental Advisory|lyrics refer graphically]] to "[[Human penis size|Ten-inch or bigger]] / A [[Sex position#Cunnilingus|lick-it-from-the-back]]-type [[nigga]]{{sic}}."<ref name="DeCurtis">{{cite magazine|last=DeCurtis|first=Anthony|date=May 1999|title=There The Hard Way|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tygEAAAAMBAJ&q=Silly%20Ho%20tlc&pg=PA84|format=Google Books|publisher=[[SpinMedia]]|volume=7|issue=4|page=84|issn=1070-4701|access-date=November 28, 2016|journal=[[Vibe (magazine)|Vibe]]}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
It was recorded at Flyte Tyme Studios in [[Edina, Minnesota]], with producers [[Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis]] in 1998. While writing the song, member [[Tionne Watkins|Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins]] was inspired by [[grunge]] band [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s use of loud and soft dynamic shifts in their discography, which she wanted the group to incorporate.<ref name="FanMail20"/>
Jimmy Jam encouraged Watkins to hum the melody while playing the beat in the recording booth, which was different from her routine of listening to the beat and writing out the lyrics. Watkins admitted that the technique influenced her as a songwriter. She also attempted to convince [[Lisa Lopes|Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes]] to rap the pre-chorus herself, but Lopes insisted that Watkins' thicker voice was better suited for the track.<ref name="FanMail20"/>
The original album version interpolates the [[Donna Summer]] song "[[Love to Love You Baby (song)|Love to Love You Baby]]". Later pressings of the explicit version of album removed the interpolation, shortening the song's length by a minute, though the interpolation remained on the edited versions of the album.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} The song also used a sample by American [[Funk music|funk]] band [[War (American band)|War's]] 1972 song "[[Slippin' Into Darkness]]".{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} Lopes' rap verse was included in the uncut version of the "[[Unpretty]]" music video.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
==Commercial performance== The song was distributed to radio stations as a [[promotional single]] during the release of their first single "[[No Scrubs]]" on January 23, 1999.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} On the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs]] chart dated July 3, 1999, "I'm Good at Being Bad" peaked at number 38, where it spent 18 weeks on the chart.<ref name="R&B"/>
==Track listing== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}} '''Promotional US [[CD single#Mini CD|mini CD single]] and [[maxi single]]'''{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} # "I'm Good at Being Bad" (Radio Mix with rap) – 4:33 # "I'm Good at Being Bad" (Radio Mix without rap) – 4:33 # "I'm Good at Being Bad" (Instrumental) – 4:36 # "I'm Good at Being Bad" (Call Out Research Hook) – 0:10 {{col-2}} '''Promotional US [[Twelve-inch single|12-inch single]]'''{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} # "I'm Good at Being Bad" (dirty version) – 4:39 # "I'm Good at Being Bad" (clean version) – 4:42 # "I'm Good at Being Bad" (instrumental) – 4:35 {{col-end}}
==Charts== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |- ! scope="col"| Chart (1999) ! scope="col"| Peak<br/>position |- {{singlechart|Billboardrandbhiphop|38|artist=TLC|song=I'm Good at Being Bad|rowheader=true|refname=R&B}} |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{TLC songs}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:1999 singles]] [[Category:TLC (group) songs]] [[Category:Songs written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis]] [[Category:Songs written by Lisa Lopes]] [[Category:Songs written by Tionne Watkins]] [[Category:Songs written by Giorgio Moroder]] [[Category:Song recordings produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis]] [[Category:LaFace Records singles]] [[Category:Arista Records singles]] [[Category:Songs written by Donna Summer]] [[Category:1998 songs]] [[Category:Trip hop songs]]