Don’t we all wish for the days where everything seemed easier? When you were just a child about to make waves in the world? Well, Charli XCX and Troye Sivan certainly do. In this new collaboration, the duo is dishing up the ultimate throwback to an era dominated by Friends, Bangles, Pogs, too much garish, and bright colours that dominated everyone’s wardrobe. The song plays on your sense of nostalgia with it’s fun, pop melody that evokes a sense of memory.
The accompanying music video calls upon some of the greatest pop-culture juggernauts of the area, as Charli and Troye suit up for a re-enactment of the iconic scene from Titanic; the song’s Euordance keys play along to visuals of the two taking on the personas of Neo and Trinity from The Matrix while they attempt to avoid bullets. Let’s not forget the homage to 1999’s American Beauty as Charli steps in for Mena Suvari in the film’s bed of rose petal’s scene. There’s even a brief call back to one of the most hotly debated films of the era, The Blair Witch Project.
Charli XCX pulls a Mena Suvari for a throwback to American Beauty.
The clip continues on to honour some of the decade’s most memorable singles and their accompanying music videos, as Charli takes the mantle of Left Eye in her take of TLC’s hit ‘Waterfalls’. Charli and Troye also remember to celebrate everyone’s favourite pop-heavy girl and boy groups of the late-’90s, with shout outs to both Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys. Other pop culture icons of the decade such as Eminem and Justin Timberlake (and his iconic curly hair) receive a Troye Sivan-style make-over, while the two also have a hand in recreating Rose McGowan and Marilyn Manson’s then-controversial 1998 VMA’s red carpet look, of which Rose McGowan has personally described as a silent protest after her Harvey Weinstein assault.
Charli XCX steps into the forefront as her favourite Spice Girl, Baby Spice.
If that wasn’t enough, there’s even a nostalgic look back on some of the most popular technology of the decade, which includes everyone’s tough-as-a-brick Nokia mobile phones, Steve Job’s and Apple’s then-ahead-of-it’s-time iMac G3, which had everyone excited over the range of colours it featured. There’s also my personal favourite, a reference to popular life simulator video game The Sims – a game which I and a lot of people spent many, many hours and days lost in.
Lastly, the video also throws in some quick references to some of the biggest fashion and lifestyle brands of the late ’90s, with neon colours highly prevalent. Brands such as Sketchers, Baby G Watches, Beanie Babies and popular soda Surge, also get a few mentions which is bound to make everyone long for the days where baggy jeans and hair braids were all the rage. Charli XCX has followed up her incredible “Boys” music video with another that’s bound to transport you to the early days. The days this writer wouldn’t mind heading back to.
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan eimulate Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet for a Titanic homage.
