Meaning of “Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max

by SMF· Published October 29, 2018· Updated September 15, 2020

The song “Sweet but Psycho” by American singer and songwriter Ava Max came out in August 2018. Lyrically, the song tells the tale of a rough diamond – a girl who is super sweet yet totally deranged. Hence the interesting title “Sweet but Psycho”.

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In an exclusive interview with CelebMix, Max said of the song as one about a girl who is sweet but “grab-a-cop-gun-kinda-crazy”. She added that the girl is “poison but tasty”.

Some analysts have interpreted parts of the lyrics as containing strong female empowerment elements.

By the way, who’s a psycho?

The English dictionary describes a psycho as a person who is both deranged and scary. And that’s exactly how our character in the song is. The only difference is that she is also sweet, tasty and hot.

“Sweet but Psycho” Facts

Max co-wrote this track along with three others, including the multiple award winning Canadian record producer and songwriter Cirkut. The other writers are: Andreas Haukeland (best known as Tix) and Madison Love.
Cirkut took care of the production duties of “Sweet but Psycho”. According to Max, Cirkut made the song’s “beat in five minutes”.
On August 17, 2018, Atlantic Records released this pop anthem as a single. It was Max’s third single of 2018.
The track was a hit in many places around the world, including in Norway and Sweden where it reached number 1.
The song was Max’s breakthrough hit.
The music video for this hit was directed by filmmaker Shomi Patwary. Patwary was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She’s one of the most famous filmmakers to come from Bangladesh.