There’s an old saying most of us have heard before: you are the company you keep. But in today’s world, where company can come in many forms—professional, personal, digital, and even imaginary—that phrase means more than it ever used to.
“Bad Company” isn’t just about the wrong people hanging around. It’s about the subtle ways we let things into our orbit that drain our integrity, skew our judgment, and chip away at our future without us even noticing.
Let’s start with the obvious. The consultant who fabricates statements to Companies House, trying to unlink themselves from their other failing companies might think they’re being clever. They might even fool a few investors or clients in the short term. But lies like that don’t just stay on paper. They cast shadows on real lives, creating partnerships that start on fraud and end in litigation, wasted time, damaged reputations and sometimes prison. Bad company in this sense is a deliberate act. People who bend the truth to suit their aspirations will eventually expect you to do the same, and when it catches up with them, it won’t matter how far back you stood; they’ll drag anyone down who was in the room.
Then there are the quieter types. The so-called friends, the business contacts, the ones who never support your wins but always want a piece of your effort. They might not break the law, but they’ll happily break your stride. They offer empty enthusiasm for your ideas but behind closed doors they sow doubt or mimic your work without credit. These are the people who drain your energy in the name of connection, keeping you emotionally distracted so you never quite reach escape velocity. It’s hard to spot at first. That’s what makes it dangerous.
Online, it gets even murkier. Bad company can be a constant feed of chaos. Doomscrolling, clickbait, curated outrage, influencer drama, or compulsively adding profiles that serve no real value beyond momentary validation. We think we’re connecting or staying informed, but the reality is more like nutritional poverty for the mind. When your self-worth starts depending on someone else’s curated image or algorithmic approval, you’re not keeping company, you’re keeping cages. And they get tighter the longer you stay inside them.
The science behind all of this isn’t woo-woo. We know from behavioural psychology that we tend to mimic the behaviours, speech patterns, and even risk tolerance of those we spend time with. Mirror neurons mean we’re always learning by osmosis. If you hang around people who lie, you’ll eventually find yourself justifying small deceptions. If you spend your days listening to people who complain, your own motivation quietly erodes. If your feed is full of superficial success and passive-aggressive captions, you’ll start seeing your own life as lacking.
Even legally, your circle can get you into trouble. Ever heard of joint enterprise? In many systems, being present during a crime or associated with certain behaviours can lead to shared accountability. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t swing the punch or sign the false form. The company you keep matters to judges too.
But none of this is about blame. It’s about responsibility. And that starts in the mirror.
Bad company only sticks when we’re not being honest with ourselves. We allow draining people because we want to feel needed. We tolerate shady deals because we want to look successful. We doomscroll and follow digital drama because we don’t want to sit with our own boredom or insecurity. At some point, we have to pause and ask: is this who I want to be? Is this moving me forward, or keeping me stuck?
Correcting course isn’t loud. It doesn’t have to involve dramatic exits or call-out posts. Sometimes it’s just slowly spending less time with people who don’t inspire you. Quietly unfollowing what makes you spiral. Holding your own ethics to the same standard you want from others. Rebuilding your self-trust by stepping out of murky circles and into your own clarity. Bad company isn’t always evil. But it’s always expensive. It costs us time, energy, potential, and peace.
If the title of this track hits something real in you, you’re not alone. Music is often where we admit what our mouths won’t. It’s worth taking a moment: what kind of company do you want to keep from here on?
