"2099" is a song by British singer

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 ...

featuring Australian singer-songwriter

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 ...

. It was released on 10 September 2019 as the fourth and final promotional single from Charli XCX's third studio album '' Charli'' (2019). The song was produced by

A. G. Cook Alexander Guy Cook (born 23 August 1990) is an English music producer, singer, songwriter and the head of the UK record label PC Music. Cook released his first solo singles in 2014. He has also collaborated with PC Music artists such as Hannah ...

and Ö.

Background and promotion

The song became the second collaboration between the two artists after the pair have previously collaborated on the track "

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

" in 2018. Charli XCX and Sivan premiered and performed the song live for the first time at their own Pride music festival "Go West Fest" in Los Angeles on 6 June 2019. It was described as a sequel to their first collaboration "1999".

Composition

In an interview with ''

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'', Charli compared the song to a voyage into space. Commenting on the lyrical context, she opined that "it felt kind of poetic, I suppose, to end on "2099" with Troye, going to the future, different year". As for a deeper meaning of the song, however, she suggested that "you can read into it as much as you want, but also if you don't want to, it's fine". She further elaborated on the outro, saying that she felt it to be "so over-the-top and aggressive".

Critical reception

Emily Zemler of ''

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'' described the song as a "futuristic, synth-heavy song" and noted the "pair sharing vocals over a layers of sound". James Rettig at ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' preferred the studio recording to the live version, stating that "its proper recording sounds even better, a futuristic flex that looks forward instead of back". Writing for ''

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'', Craig Jenkins highlighted Sivan's performance on the song, saying how he "doubles down on the natural ghostly wispiness of his voice" and pointing out that "you can almost imagine "2099" as an artifact unearthed in a distant future".

Music video

The music video was released on 17 September 2019 and was directed by Bradley&Pablo. It features the singers riding jet skis and doing several flips. Alex Robert Ross of ''The Fader'' compared the visuals to the likes of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

. Trey Alston of ''

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'' assumed the video to take place in the future and pointed out that both singers visibly "have a lot of fun". Charli XCX herself described the video as "the best video ever".

Track listing

2099 (Montell2099 Remix) #"2099 (Montell2099 Remix)" (feat. Troye Sivan) — 3:03

References

{{authority control 2019 songs Charli XCX songs Troye Sivan songs Songs written by A. G. Cook Songs written by Charli XCX Songs written by Troye Sivan Sequel songs Male–female vocal duets