Boyz (M.I.A. song)
"Boyz" | ||||
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Single by M.I.A. | ||||
from the album Kala | ||||
Released | 11 June 2007 | |||
Recorded | c. 2006 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:26 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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M.I.A. singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Boyz" on YouTube |
"Boyz" is a song recorded by artist
An uptempo dance song, "Boyz" draws from
The single's accompanying music video was directed by Jay Will Williams and M.I.A., presenting the singer-rapper dancing with several male dancers from Jamaican dance crews surrounded by colourful lo-fi computer-animated graphics, garnering critical acclaim for its subversive nature and triggering a new dance and graphic design revolution in music and videos.
"Boyz" was nominated for the "Viral Woodie" at the 2007
Background
"So when I started this album, I really thought, "I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't know who I'm doing it for. I don't know anything. I'm out of this relationship, Timbaland, that dream and hope, is not gonna happen, and I probably don't even wanna make music." I was exhausted, and then this album just came out from that weird place. I just didn't care what anyone was going to think. And it just ended up being what it is because it came out from a time of just trying to survive, in music, as a woman"
– M.I.A. talking to the magazine The List about the background to the recording of her second album Kala.[1]
Written and produced by
The songwriter was unable to gain a long-term work visa to enter the US in 2006 and access the
M.I.A. initially travelled to
Composition
"Boyz" is an
Tom Breihan of the
The lyrics of "Boyz" display M.I.A.'s response to men following issues being a female in the music industry she faces and expectations in her personal life from her then boyfriend to give up making music and start a family. "Boyz" acknowledges the artist's time in Jamaica, and the singer has described the song as partly a tribute to the country. The song references Jamaican dance moves.[5][8] As Michael Hubbard of MusicOMH notes, "Boyz" is ostensibly a ditty by a woman about the opposite sex, where the lyrics ask "how many boys are crazy and how many start a war"[17] while Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times said that the punch line of this "call-out to "no money boys" is that they go from being "crazy" and "raw" to starting a war," concluding that "Macho posturing plus poverty equals violence: There's a Third World reality that M.I.A.'s song renders anything but abstract."[18]
Release and live performances
The song was premiered on
During the performance of "Boyz" during the Kala Tour and the /\/\ /\ Y /\ Tour, the songwriter brought male concertgoers onstage to dance with her.[24][25][26]
Critical reception
The song has received acclaim from a wide variety of publications, and has been viewed as a highlight of
Accolades
The Guardian Guide named "Boyz" their Single of the Week, calling it "a riotous blitz of jerky military riddims." The song ranked on several publications end of year lists for the best song of 2007. "Boyz" placed at number 9 on the Rolling Stone "100 Best Songs of 2007" list.
Song use in media and influence
The song has been covered, sampled and remixed by various artists as well as being used by a range of media. "Boyz" was featured in the episode "
On 9 October 2008, two remixes of "Boyz" were leaked onto the internet with one featuring rapper Wale and the other, Jay-Z.[37][38] The remix featuring Jay-Z appears on the How Many Votes Fix Mix EP. The song is sampled by Swizz Beatz in the song "I'm Supposed to Ball" and by the Very Best in a cover version on the mixtape Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best.
Wale would go on to record and release the song "Chillin" featuring Lady Gaga in 2009, in which M.I.A. and her song lyrics are referenced, and Gaga emulates the artist by employing a similar vocal style. The song received a mixed response.[39] The video for Rihanna's 2010 hit "Rude Boy" was heavily influenced by the video for "Boyz".[40] The singer Nicole Scherzinger has cited the song as a further draw for her towards M.I.A.'s innovative guerilla style of music.[41]
"Boyz" was featured in the
Music video
The music video for the single was directed by Jason "Jay Will" Williams and M.I.A., and shot in Jamaica towards the end of April 2007. On the day of her arrival, Williams took M.I.A. to Dutty Fridays, a well known club in the country, where she met some dancers.[15] The musician Beenie Man had the song played by the DJ in the club continuously for 45 minutes that night. It eventually created a dance revolution in the country, attracting so much attention that the island's dance crews arrived en masse for the video shoot.[43] Photographs from the set of the video appeared on the internet in early May, prompting speculation about her outfits and hair in the video.[44][45] The video features M.I.A. singing and dancing in serene surroundings with vibrant, neon colours and animation graphics, accompanied by several male dancers of the different dance crews in Jamaica. One scene sees M.I.A. dancing around a defunct car.[44] The video premiered on M.I.A.'s official website and MySpace page on 10 June 2007. In the "Making of 'Boyz' video" feature, Arulpragasam stated she "wanted the frame to end up looking just like ripped-off flyer posters."[46] She took the video to England, before completing graphics for it in New York.[43]
Talking about the making of the video in Jamaica, which she described as the high point during the making of her album, she said "I had so much cooperation and dedication from the dancers. As soon as I played it one time and they totally got it. Nobody questioned nothing. Nobody cares, you know? It was just like, "Has it got a good beat? Does it make me wanna dance? That's enough for us.".[43] She continued "I hoped the Jamaicans would get it. They meant so much to me at the time I was writing ["Boyz"]. I went there to shoot the video, and they loved it! When I took it back there and played it to those people and showed them, 'This is what I wrote when I thought about you,' they got it. And that makes me feel like I don't really care what happens with this album, and I don't care if Interscope loves or hates me."[47] The subversive nature of the video has also been noted by M.I.A., who aimed to be the only female in the video, with 100 male dancers singing the lyrics to the song in the video, to "treat men the way they treat us". Given issues of homophobia in the country, M.I.A. explained "It's interesting that they are dancing and singing along to "How many, how many boys there?" and singing about boys. So... You know what I mean? So we were kind of subverting things and making them say something or accept something that they wouldn't otherwise. So I felt like I'd achieved something with that. They don't know that. [Laughs.] If you print it, they're gonna find out!" [Laughs.] They'll be like "whaaaaaat???" But I think that was kind of funny... I was telling my friend, "No one else could get 100 Jamaican boys to be dancing and saying 'How many boys there?' you know?" They just wouldn't do that. So, yeah... I've done it!"[8]
A writer in
Track listings and formats
Promo CD
12" vinyl
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US CD single (Enhanced EP)/USB wristband
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Credits and personnel
- Maya "M.I.A" Arulpragasam – songwriting, producer, artwork
- Dave "Switch" Taylor– songwriting, producer
- Mark "Spike" Stent– mixing
Credits adapted from album liner notes:[51]
Charts
Weekly charts
Chart (2007) | Peak |
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US Billboard Hot Singles Sales[52]
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7 |
US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales[53]
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13 |
US Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales
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3 |
Chart (2008) | Peak |
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US Billboard Pop 100[54] | 99 |
References
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- M.I.A. XL Recordings. 2007.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ^ "Billboard – Hot Singles Sales". Billboard. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2007.
- ^ "Billboard – Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales". Billboard. 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
- ^ "Billboard – Pop 100". Billboard. 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2008.