Every Famous Dude Ever Flips The Gender Script In Charli XCX’s New Video
Flume, Diplo, Riz Ahmed, Jack Antonoff, Mark Ronson... and that ain't half of them.
Charli XCX has pulled out the phonebook and enlisted just about every male musician on the planet for her subversive new music video, ‘Boys.’
The three-minute clip sees cameos from the likes of Riz Ahmed, Diplo, Joe Jonas, Mark Ronson, Stormzy, Mac DeMarco, Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign, Charlie Puth, Kaytranada, Chromeo, Jack Antonoff, G-Eazy and Will.I.Am. There’s even a couple of local mates flying the flag, with Flume and Vance Joy both featuring in the video.
Between them, they dance half naked with champagne, have pillow fights, cuddle puppies, gaze longingly at the camera — basically do everything that women are usually tasked with doing in music videos. Which was Charli XCX’s intention.
“The whole idea behind the video was to avert the male gaze,” Charli told Music Junkee. “I made a conscious decision to not be in the video and to have all the guys doing the sexy things that girls are normally doing — which I think they enjoyed.”
If you think getting all those people in to shoot sounds like a logistical nightmare, you’d be right. “I basically just harassed them for months and hit them up and and said, ‘Please do this video,'” Charli says. “It took quite a long time. We started shooting it in April and we finished it only about a week ago.”
She also told Music Junkee that she linked up with some of the guys in the clip via “a funny dating app” (probably Raya, which is basically Tinder for celebs).
Watch ‘Boys’ below, and read our interview with Charli XCX here.