Bad Ideas is a 2019 album by American musician Tessa Violet. It was released on October 25, 2019 by T∆G Music on yellow vinyl.
Background
Bad Ideas was released in October 25, 2019. Bad Ideas is Tessa Violet's second album. It was originally set to be released August 3, 2018. She announced the album in October 4, 2019; and released the track list on October 7, 2019. "Bad Ideas" is the title track. Previously, four singles were released. "Crush" was released June 2018. "I Like You" was released on MTVMay 2, 2019. "Games" was released September 27, 2019. "Words Ain't Enough" was released October 24, 2019. Seth Earnest, who has worked with Tessa Violet since 2013, produced the album.
Writing
Tessa Violet admitted she went through a breakup during the writing of the album. "Bad Ideas is a reflection of that snapshot of my life and reconciling ‘why do I keep doing things that make my life worse when I know they make my life worse?" Violet wrote the songs—aside from "Crush"—in her bedroom.
Production
Production for Bad Ideas began in late spring 2017 while Tessa Violet was an independent artist. Violet said the album did not coaslesce until she brought "Bad Ideas" to her producer. The Artist Group assisted in planning the album's release strategy. Originally, there were plans to release three separate Bad Ideas EPs. However, Violet was reluctant with the plan: "Man, I didn't really write three EPs though, I wrote an album and I think it should be experienced together." Nevertheless, Bad Ideas was released in July 26, 2019. It features remixes by Le Youth and Viceroy; as well as a music download.
Tours
In 2019, her first music festival performance, at Lollapalooza was among the tour stops to promote Bad Ideass upcoming release. Her tour, "I Like You", took place across venues in Europe and the United States. The UK and Europe legs were opened by Leadley.
Alternate versions
Tessa Violet performed live acoustic versions of Bad Ideas for WGBH-TV in Boston.
Reception
Upon its release, Bad Ideas was met with positive reviews from the public and music critics. Flood Magazines Jesse Cline noted Bad Ideas is "all about the hardships of romance." NYU Locals Sophie Grieser recommended the album. Scot Scoops Zachary Khouri remarked it "encapsulates a wide variety of themes that I would say make it one of the best albums of the year." Cherwells Maya Little compared it with Mitski's Be the Cowboy stating "Violet refuses conventional love narratives in an album in which the whole point is to talk aboutromantic feelings as messy, brief, foolish, even funny." Billboards Hannah Malach said Bad Ideas "details all of the complexities of falling in love." Monocle received the music favourably with "There is something fascinating about pop that achieves a lot with very little. Tessa Violet's secret is in almost minimal but enthralling background beats."
