"1999" is a song by English singer and songwriter

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery ...

and Australian singer

Troye Sivan Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter, actor and YouTuber. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and released his thi ...

, released as the lead single from the former's third studio album ''Charli'' on 5 October 2018. The single cover was inspired by the 1999 film ''

The Matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantolia ...

''. It follows several singles released earlier in 2018 by Charli XCX and Sivan's 2018 album ''

Bloom Bloom or blooming may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Bloom, one or more flowers on a flowering plant * Algal bloom, a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system * Jellyfish bloom, a collective n ...

''. The track reached number 13 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

dated 22 November 2018, becoming Charli XCX's tenth top 40 single and first top 15 single since 2015, as well as Sivan's fourth top 40 single and his first top 20 single. A sequel to the track, "

2099 In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 (21st century, 21st to 30th century, 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies se ...

", was released as a promotional single in September 2019. "1999" is playable in ''Just Dance Unlimited'' on ''

Just Dance 2020 ''Just Dance 2020'' is a 2019 dance rhythm game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was unveiled on June 10, 2019, during its E3 press conference as the eleventh main installment of the series, in celebration of the ''Just Dance'' series' te ...

''.

Background and composition

Background

The song contains nostalgic lyrical references to the titular year along with a snare-heavy beat, "fuzzy sawtooth bass and sparking

Eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

keys". Sasha Geffen of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' stated that the track is "more concerned with the act of remembering than with the specifics of the year it calls up itself" and "fits alongside the rest of Charli XCX's sleek, forward-looking pop songs". The song also references

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

' 1998 debut single, " ...Baby One More Time".

Musical composition

The song is written in the key of

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

, with an allegro

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 124 BPM in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

. Sivan's and Charli XCX's voices span between the notes B₃ and F#₅.

Artwork

The cover art references the 1999 film ''

'', with Sivan dressed as Neo, wearing dark sunglasses, a black overcoat, and dyed black hair against a bright green background. Charli XCX, who is dressed as

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, flanks him. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' also noted its similarity to

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton (; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and " ...

in the music video for her 2000 song " Try Again".

Promotion

Charli XCX and Sivan tweeted lyrics from "1999" addressed to each other on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

before both shared the cover art and title of the song.

Music video

The music video was released on 11 October 2018, and features Sivan and Charli XCX in various homages to 1990s pop culture, including the

iMac G3 The iMac G3, originally released as the iMac, is a series of Macintosh personal computers sold by Apple Computer from 1998 to 2003. The iMac was the first major new product release for Apple under Steve Jobs, Apple's interim CEO and cofound ...

and

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...

and

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vict ...

New Radicals New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

, the

Nokia 3310 The Nokia 3310 is a GSM mobile phone announced on 1 September 2000, and released in the fourth quarter of the year, replacing the popular Nokia 3210. It sold very well, being one of the most successful phones, with 126 million units sold world ...

Rose McGowan Rósa Arianna "Rose" McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy ''Encino Man'' (1992), McGowan achieved wider recognition for her performance in the dark comedy ''The Doom Generati ...

and

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

, the films ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'', ''

'', '' American Beauty'', and ''

The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (director), Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Mic ...

'', the Dancing baby, the video game ''

The Sims ''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. The games ...

'', and the music videos for the songs "

Say You'll Be There "Say You'll Be There" is a song recorded by the English girl group Spice Girls for their debut studio album ''Spice (album), Spice'' (1996). The Spice Girls co-wrote the song with Eliot Kennedy after the group left Heart Management in 1995. La ...

", "

Waterfalls A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

", "

Thinking of You (I Drive Myself Crazy) "Thinking of You (I Drive Myself Crazy)" (titled "I Drive Myself Crazy" in the United States), is a song by American boy band NSYNC. It was released on February 22, 1999 as the seventh single in the German market and the fourth single from the ...

", and "

I Want It That Way I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

". For many of the homages in the music video the

deepfake Deepfakes (a portmanteau of "deep learning" and "fake") are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. While the act of creating fake content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerful ...

technology was used.

Track listing

Digital download #"1999" – 3:09 Digital download — Stripped version #"1999" (Stripped) – 3:21 Digital download — The Knocks Remix #"1999" (The Knocks Remix) – 3:41 Digital download – Remixes #"1999" (Alphalove remix) – 3:55 #"1999" (

Easyfun Finn Keane, known professionally as Easyfun (stylised in all caps and formerly as easyFun), is a British songwriter and record producer. He is known for his work with Charli XCX; he has songwriting and production credits on her mixtapes ''Number ...

remix) – 3:12 #"1999" (

Michael Calfan Michael Calfan (born 12 November 1990) is a French DJ and house music producer. Biography Calfan was born in 1990 in Paris, France. In 2008, he was discovered by Bob Sinclar who was also noted as one of the most promising artists of his label Y ...

remix) – 3:03 #"1999" (

R3hab Fadil El Ghoul ( ar, فضيل الغول; born 2 April 1986), performing under the stage name R3hab (stylized in all caps as R3HAB; pronounced "rehab"), is a Dutch-Moroccan disc jockey and music producer. Ranked at number 12 on the DJ Mag Top 1 ...

remix) – 3:18 #"1999" (Carta remix) – 2:52 #"1999" ( Super Cruel remix) – 2:51 #"1999" (

Young Franco Joseph Da Rin de Barbera (born 1994), who performs as Young Franco, is an Australian DJ and record producer from Brisbane, Queensland. He is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Career Barbera has performed at many Australian festivals includin ...

remix) – 3:33 #"1999" (Dipha Barus remix) – 2:28 #"1999" (

The Knocks The Knocks is an American electronic music duo consisting of Ben "B-Roc" Ruttner and James "JPatt" Patterson. They have released 3 full length albums Big Beat Records, Neon Gold">Big Beat Records (American record label)">Big Beat Records, Neon ...

remix) – 3:40

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Vengaboys version

In September 2021,

Vengaboys Vengaboys () are a Dutch Eurodance music group based in Rotterdam. The group was the creation of Dutch producers Wessel van Diepen and Dennis van den Driesschen (known as Danski and Delmundo). It consists of lead vocalist Kim Sasabone, female vo ...

released a cover version of the song, which was retitled "1999 (I Wanna Go Back)" and came with a

-style video which saw the cover stars from various

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...

albums lip-syncing to the song and the band put into the ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

'' title sequence with the sofa and fountain. One of the "deepfakes" is superimposed on the single cover of Vengaboys' own "

We're Going To Ibiza "We're Going to Ibiza!" is a song by Dutch Eurodance group Vengaboys. It was released in March 1999 as the second and final single from their second studio album, '' The Party Album'' (1999). Based on Typically Tropical's 1975 number-one hit "B ...

Notes

References

{{authority control 2018 songs 2018 singles Charli XCX songs Troye Sivan songs Songs about nostalgia Cultural depictions of Britney Spears Songs written by Charli XCX Songs written by Troye Sivan Songs written by Leland (musician) Songs written by Oscar Holter Songs written by Noonie Bao Asylum Records singles Atlantic Records singles Deepfakes Male–female vocal duets Vengaboys songs 2021 singles