Boys (Charli XCX song)

"Boys" is a single by English singer Charli XCX, released on 26 July 2017 by Asylum Records and Atlantic Records UK. The song was originally intended to be the second single of her then-untitled third studio album Charli, but due to the leak of the album, it was not included.[4]

"Boys"
Single by Charli XCX
Released	26 July 2017 (2017-07-26)
Genre	Electropop[1] minimal pop[2] bubblegum pop[3]
Length	2:42
Label	Asylum Atlantic UK
Songwriter(s)	Cass Lowe Jerker Hansson Ari Leff Emily Warren Ingrid Andress Michael Pollack
Producer(s)	Jerker Olov Hansson Cass Lowe (add.)
Charli XCX singles chronology
"Love Gang" (2017) "Boys" (2017) "Dirty Sexy Money" (2017)
Music video
"Boys" on YouTube

Critical reception

“Boys” received critical acclaim. Pitchfork named the song the 'Best New Track', and in a review contributor Eve Barlow wrote that "Boys" is "deceptively simple-sounding and unfussy," and "a reminder that [Charli XCX is] one of the best at knowing how to have fun; her convivial bop sounds as effortless as something dreamed up between lunch and dinner."[5] The song was placed on several critics' lists for best of the year.

Year-end lists

Publication	Year	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Billboard	2017	Best Songs of 2017	35	[6]
Complex		The Best Songs of 2017	42	[7]
Entertainment Weekly		Best Songs of 2017	19	[8]
Esquire		50 Best Songs of 2017	data-sort-value="" style="background: #ececec; color: #2C2C2C; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" | N/A	[9]
The Fader		The 101 Best Songs of 2017	54	[10]
The Guardian		The Top 100 Tracks of 2017	2	[11]
The Line of Best Fit		The Best Fifty Songs of 2017	2	[12]
NME		Best Songs of the Year 2017	2	[13]
Noisey		The 100 Best Songs of 2017	23	[14]
Pitchfork		The 100 Best Songs of 2017	10	[3]
Pretty Much Amazing		The Best Songs of 2017	18	[15]
Rolling Stone		50 Best Songs of 2017	23	[16]

Music video

The music video for "Boys" was released on 26 July 2017. It was directed by Charli XCX, with additional direction from Sarah McColgan, and began production in April 2017.

The video features a multitude of different celebrity cameos from figures within the music, fashion and social media industries.[1] It was filmed in London and Los Angeles. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Charli XCX said that the intention of the music video was to "flip the male gaze on its head".[17]

List of men in order of appearance

#	Man/Men	Occupation
1	Joe Jonas	Musician (Jonas Brothers, DNCE)
2	Josh Ostrovsky	Instagram celebrity
3	Max Hershenow	Musician (MS MR)
4	Charlie Puth	Musician
5	Joey Bada$	Rapper
6	Oli Sykes	Musician (Bring Me the Horizon)
7	Cameron Dallas	Internet personality
8	Sage the Gemini	Rapper
9–10	Dave-1 & P-Thugg	Musicians (Chromeo)
11	Brendon Urie	Musician (Panic! at the Disco)
12	Caspar Lee	YouTuber
13	G-Eazy	Rapper
14	Stormzy	Rapper
15	Denzel Curry	Rapper
16	Aminé	Rapper
17–18	Ezra Koenig & Mark Ronson	Musician (Vampire Weekend) & record producer
19	MNEK	Singer-songwriter
20	Rostam Batmanglij	Musician (formerly of Vampire Weekend)
21	Unidentified boy with football	N/A
22	Dan Smith	Musician (Bastille)
23–24	Flume & A. G. Cook	Musicians
25–26	Wiz Khalifa & Ty Dolla $ign	Rappers
27	Tinie Tempah	Rapper
28–30	Swet Shop Boys (Riz MC, Redinho & Heems)	Hip hop group
31–33	WSTRN (Akelle Charles, Haile & Louis Rei)	Hip hop group
34	Takahiro Moriuchi	Musician (ONE OK ROCK)
35	Carl Barât	Musician (The Libertines)
36	Barns Courtney	Singer-songwriter
37	Connor Franta	YouTuber
38	Shaun Ross	Model
39	Fai Khadra	Singer
40	Mac DeMarco	Singer-songwriter
41	will.i.am	Musician (Black Eyed Peas)
42	TOMM¥ €A$H	Rapper
43	Jack Guinness	Model
44	Diplo	DJ & record producer
45	Laurie Vincent	Musician (Slaves)
46	Jack Antonoff	Musician (Bleachers)
47–48	Tristan Evans & James McVey	Musicians (The Vamps)
49	Tom Daley	Diver
50	Frank Carter	Musician (Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes)
51	The Cobrasnake (Mark Hunter)	Photographer
52	Fred Macpherson	Musician (Spector)
53–57	MiC LOWRY (Delleile Ankrah, Akia Jones, Kaine Ofoeme, Ben Sharples & Michael Welch)	Vocal harmony boy band
58–59	THEY. (Dante Jones & Drew Love)	R&B duo
60	Theo Hutchcraft	Musician (Hurts)
61	Buddy	Rapper
62	John Gourley	Musician (Portugal. The Man)
63	Shokichi	Singer (Exile & The Second)
64	Liam Fray	Musician (The Courteeners)
65	Jay Park	Singer & rapper (2PM), breakdancer (Art of Movement)
66–67	Prince Chenoa & Jacob Dekat	Founders, creative directors & photographers for Galore
68	DRAM	Rapper
69	Shamari Maurice	Instagram celebrity
70	Tom Grennan	Singer-songwriter
71	Jay Prince	Singer
72	Khalid	Singer
73	Poet	Presenter, podcaster & rapper
74	Vance Joy	Singer-songwriter
75	Kaytranada	DJ & record producer

Track listing

• Digital download[18]

1. "Boys" – 2:42

• Digital download[19]

1. "Boys" (Acoustic) – 2:55

• Digital download[20]

1. "Boys" (Coldabank Remix) – 3:56

• Digital download[21]

1. "Boys" (Droeloe Remix) – 3:36

• Digital download[22]

1. "Boys" (Nevada Remix) – 3:08

• Digital Download — Remix EP[23]

1. "Boys" (Droeloe Remix) – 3:36
2. "Boys" (Nevada Remix) – 3:08
3. "Boys" (Acoustic) – 2:55
4. "Boys" (Coldabank Remix) – 3:56

Credits and personnel

Taken from Tidal.[24]

• Charli XCX – lead vocals
• Jerker Hansson – songwriting, production
• Cass Lowe – songwriting, production
• Emily Warren – songwriting
• Ingrid Andress – songwriting
• Michael Pollack – songwriting
• Ari Leff – songwriting

Charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[25]	60
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[26]	16
Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[27]	4
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[28]	60
Czech Republic (Rádio Top 100)[29]	41
France (SNEP)[30]	159
Ireland (IRMA)[31]	55
Netherlands (Single Tip)[32]	24
New Zealand Heatseekers (RMNZ)[33]	1
Philippines (Philippine Hot 100)[34]	41
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[35]	26
Slovakia (Rádio Top 100)[36]	60
Sweden Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan)[37]	17
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[38]	31
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[39]	10

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[40]	Silver	200,000
United States (RIAA)[41]	Gold	500,000^^
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

References

1. Reed, Ryan (26 July 2017). "Charli XCX Recruits Joe Jonas, Wiz Khalifa, Caspar Richard Lee in Celeb-Packed 'Boys' Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
2. "Charli XCX Talks 'Boys' And Life After 'Number 1 Angel'". The Interns. 27 July 2017.
3. Geffen, Sasha. "The 100 Best Songs of 2017". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
4. "Charli XCX's Delayed Album: Who Is Really to Blame?". Highsnobiety. 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
5. Barlow, Eve (26 July 2017). ""Boys" Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
6. Billboard Staff (13 December 2017). "Billboard's 100 Best Songs of 2017: Critics' Picks". Billboard.
7. Klinkenberg, Brendan. "The Best Songs of 2017 - Charli XCX, "Boys"". Complex. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
8. Nolan Feeney (13 December 2017). "Best Songs of 2017: EW picks the 30 greatest". Entertainment Weekly.
9. Matt Miller (4 December 2017). "The 50 Best Songs of 2017". Esquire.
10. "The 101 best songs of 2017". The Fader. 3 December 2017.
11. Ben Beaumont-Thomas (4 December 2017). "The top 100 tracks of 2017". The Guardian.
12. "The Best Fifty Songs of 2017 Ranked". The Line of Best Fit. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
13. "Best Songs of the Year 2017". 27 November 2017.
14. "The 100 Best Songs of 2017". 7 December 2017.
15. "The Best Songs of 2017". Pretty Much Amazing. 29 November 2017.
16. Weingarten, Christopher R.; Spanos, Brittany; Aaron, Charles; Vozick-Levinson, Simon; Johnston, Maura; Hermes, Will; Sheffield, Rob (29 November 2017). "50 Best Songs of 2017". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
17. Kile, Meredith B. (July 27, 2017). "Meet All 75 Swoonworthy Guys in Charli XCX's 'Boys' Video -- From Joe Jonas to KAYTRANADA". Entertainment Tonight.
18. "Boys – Single by Charli XCX". iTunes Store (GB). Retrieved 7 December 2017.
19. "Boys (Acoustic) – Single by Charli XCX". iTunes Store (GB).
20. "Boys (Coldabank Remix) – Single by Charli XCX". iTunes Store (GB).
21. "Boys (Droeloe Remix) – Single by Charli XCX". iTunes Store (GB).
22. "Boys (Nevada Remix) – Single by Charli XCX". iTunes Store (GB).
23. "Boys (Remixes) by Charli XCX on Tidal". Tidal. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
24. "Boys / Charli XCX – Tidal". listen.tidal.com. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
25. Ryan, Gavin (14 August 2017). "Australian Charts: Luis Fonsi and Friends Continues To Dominate Singles Chart". Noise11. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
26. "Ultratop.be – Charli XCX – Boys" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
27. "Ultratop.be – Charli XCX – Boys" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
28. "Charli XCX Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
29. "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201748 into search. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
30. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles Téléchargés – SNEP (Week 31, 2017)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
31. "IRMA – Irish Charts". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
32. "Dutchcharts.nl – Dutch Single Tip – 12/08/2017" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
33. "NZ Heatseekers Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
34. "BillboardPH Hot 100". Billboard Philippines. 21 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
35. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
36. "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201738 into search. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
37. "Veckolista Heatseeker – Vecka 31, 4 augusti 2017". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
38. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
39. "Charli XCX Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
40. "British single certifications – Charli Xcx – Boys". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 25 May 2018. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Boys in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
41. "American single certifications – Charli XCX – Break The Rules". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 29 December 2015. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH.