Charli XCX’s new music video is hoping to smash the music industry’s problem with the male gaze.
The music video for Boys aims to subvert the male gaze and sexualize men the way we sexualize women.
It’s not short of star power either, with cameos from the likes of Diplo, Riz Ahmed, Tom Daley, Joe Jonas, Flume, Mark Ronson, Stormzy, Mac DeMarco, Wiz Khalifa, Brendon Urie, Ty Dolla $ign, Jay Park, Charlie Puth, Connor Franta, Vance Joy, Kaytranada, Chromeo, Jack Antonoff, G-Eazy, Will.I.Am and Khalid.
Speaking to Junkee, Charli said: ‘The whole idea behind my video was to avert the male gaze.
‘All the guys are in this video because they have a sense of humour and because they understood the concept.
‘I told them about the whole idea of averting male gaze and they were all really into it and reacted really positively to it,’ she said.
YouTubeTom Daley in Charli XCX’s music video Boys
She went on: ‘But I just have to be clear, it’s not me digging at any of these particular people.
‘I don’t feel like anyone in the video has done any wrong.
‘But yes, you can read into that deep or as little as you want.
‘Obviously 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,’ she said.
Khalid, in Charli XCX’s music video Boys
Charli XCX: ‘I wanted to avert the male gaze’
On the way the music industry treats women, Charli believes women are starting to speak up.
She said: ‘Feminism has obviously been a hot topic for the past few years, which I think is really great — because it brings awareness of the subject to a much younger audience.
‘Especially when huge artists like Taylor Swift or Beyonce are speaking about that. The more it’s spoken about, the better, obviously.
‘It is frustrating to be asked a question like, “Oh, you have an all female band. What’s that like?”
‘But it’s also equally as frustrating to be asked, “What’s it like to be a woman in the music industry,” because… it just doesn’t matter.
‘I’m just in an industry where there are women and there are men and I’m a musician and that’s how I like to be defined, rather than a female musician,’ she said.
Joe Jonas, for Charli XCX’s music video Boys
The video took a total of four months to film and finalize.
