get him back!

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The song was inspired by the compulsion Rodrigo felt to conform to people's expectations, which led her to make questionable decisions and date people she should not have. In a studio session for Guts at Electric Lady Studios, Nigro wanted to create a track using just two chords after his father said that the best songs generally possessed three chords. Rodrigo and Nigro wrote a song she was dissatisfied with, which made her doubt her songwriting abilities. After taking a brief recess, they ended up creating "Get Him Back!". Though they used more than two chords in it, Nigro believed that "we failed [...] But we ended up writing something that we really liked with three chords." Rodrigo stated that "Get Him Back!" was very enjoyable to write and became one of her favorite songs. She felt its chorus was catchy and suitable for a crowd to sing along to.

In Their Own Story

The lyrics of "Get Him Back!" explore Rodrigo's desire to exact revenge towards her ex-partner while simultaneously wanting to reconcile with him; the titular phrase conveys this through its double meaning. In the first verse, she declares it commenced during summertime and concluded by spring. Rodrigo derides the ex-partner, describing him as egotistical and short-tempered, and she claims he lied about being six feet and two inches tall. She recalls both the positive and negative experiences they had together: calling him "so much fun" and reminiscing about parties and trips to France, while also noting his habit of making sexual advances toward her friends. In the chorus, Rodrigo repeats the titular lyric: "I wanna get him back", articulating her desire to make him envious and being unhappy because she misses him in the alternate lines. She confesses to writing letters for him and not sending them, and missing his kisses and humor, in the second verse. In the bridge, Rodrigo sings about her conflicting thoughts, wanting to damage his car, hurt him emotionally, and then heal the pain she caused all at the same time. In its final line, Rodrigo states she wants to meet his mother to say that "her son sucks".

Reader's Guide

Jack Begert directed the music video for "Get Him Back!" entirely on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. It depicts clones of Rodrigo as they destroy her ex-partner's house, throwing around knives and household objects. She performed the song on The Today Show and at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards; the latter was positively received. Rodrigo included it as the last song on the set list of her 2024–2025 concert tour, the Guts World Tour, as part of an encore. The song reached the top 10 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom as well as the top 20 in Canada, Greece, Norway, Singapore, and the United States. It received double platinum certifications in Australia and Canada and platinum certifications in Brazil and New Zealand. "Get Him Back!" was featured in the first trailer for the 2024 film adaptation of the 2017 musical Mean Girls, and was also included in the video game Fortnite Festival.

Did You Know?

• The music video for "Get Him Back!" was directed entirely on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
• The song was inspired by a failed attempt to write a song using only two chords, after Dan Nigro's father said the best songs generally possessed three chords.
• Rodrigo included the line 'I am my father's daughter, so maybe I can fix him?' as a reference to her father being a therapist.
• The song was featured in the first trailer for the 2024 film adaptation of the 2017 musical Mean Girls.
• Rodrigo performed "Get Him Back!" as the last song on the set list of her 2024–2025 Guts World Tour, as part of an encore.