About Boys

"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-upcoming third studio album XCX World, but due to the leak of the album, its release was ultimately cancelled. The song makes use of a sample from the Nintendo video game Super Mario Bros. A cover of the song by one of its writers, Ingrid Andress, is included on the deluxe edition reissue of Andress' debut studio album, Lady Like (2020), with a mandolin being used to replicate the video game sample.

"Boys" received positive reviews. 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." The track was placed on several magazines' best songs of the year lists.