B-Side Guys

The bridge of Barely Relevant’s “Bad Habits” catalogs the damage with brutal efficiency: “Broken records we can’t help but play / Vices that we can’t seem to break / Empty promises we can’t erase / The insanity we entertain.” It reads like an itemized list of relationship dysfunction, each line another reason to leave that somehow becomes another reason to stay.

The Nashville alt-rock band opens with “I found my heart at the bottom of / Those empty promises and stitched it up / From all the cuts you made with your sharp tongue,” establishing early that this narrator has already done the recovery work. The declaration “now you’re nothing to me” should be the end of the story. Instead, the chorus asks “Why do we hold on to bad habits,” turning what looked like a resolution into the actual question the song can’t answer.

Sharp guitars and haunting vocals build tension throughout, the post-hardcore sound mirroring the chaos described in the lyrics. The Autumn leaves metaphor—”we wilt and fade / There’s no reviving of this grave”—acknowledges death while the outro’s eight repetitions of “Waste away with me here” suggests the narrator still needs company for the decay. It’s the kind of invitation that sounds romantic until you realize it’s just codependency with better lighting.

The most cutting accusation arrives casually: “You always were the arson of our fights.” Not participant, arson—the one who set the fires while claiming innocence about the smoke. For fans of Paramore and My Chemical Romance who appreciate their emo with self-awareness, Barely Relevant understands that recognizing the toxicity doesn’t automatically grant you the strength to walk away. Sometimes you just keep pressing play on the broken record, knowing exactly how the song ends.