"Boys and Girls" is a song by English recording artist Pixie Lott, released as the second single from her debut album, Turn It Up. It was released digitally in the United Kingdom on 5 September 2009 by Mercury Records as an iTunes EP, followed by an iTunes single on 6 September and a physical release on 7 September. Similarly to "Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)", the track was also strongly supported by BBC Radio 1, becoming Lott's second consecutive single to feature on the station's A-list. "Boys and Girls" became Lott's second consecutive number-one single, topping the UK Singles Chart in September 2009. The song also served as Lott's debut single in the United States, where it was released on 24 August 2010 through the iTunes Store.
Background and composition
"Boys and Girls" is an uptempo electropop song that follows a combination of a retro-styled beat produced by various brass instruments which are most prominent in the song's intro, as well as synthetic rhythms put together as a dance-sounding finished product through many synthesizers, drum machine, and keyboards. Lott employs a low note throughout the chorus, whilst experimenting with other notes in the song's verses and as a backing toward the end of the song. Lott's voice is heavily vocoded in the song's bridge to build the song up from upbeat pop to upbeat electropop, The song samples Rihanna's Shut Up & Drive with less of its usual pop punk sound and more to an electropop sound.
The song's lyrics follow a simple concept of having fun with people and friends in a party-like atmosphere. The song is one of nine tracks co-written by Lott on her debut album, Turn It Up. Lott co-wrote the song with producers Mads Hauge and Phil Thornalley. The original track demo was leaked in 2008 but the song received a re-working for its single release in 2009. A&R at Mercury, Joe Kentish, felt the production needed "more drive and urgency and needed to work on the dance floor as well as the radio." Producer and songwriter Fraser T Smith was brought in to work on the track. According to Smith in an interview with HitQuarters, "When I received the parts, I thought the production was great but felt very retro. I wanted to make it a little more current and more urgent - I wanted to make the drums hit a little bit harder, and I wanted to make Pixie's voice sound a little bit fuller." The song's original riffs were removed and replaced with attention-grabbing brass and trumpet instrumentation, described as typical to the Mark Ronson-type song production.
Release and promotion
For the CD single release, the song was accompanied by a B-side entitled "If I Changed", which was co-written by Lott and is one of the slower songs she has recorded. "If I Changed" dons a R&B and soul style in the form of a ballad. "If I Changed" was included as an iTunes bonus track on the album, Turn It Up. As part of the promotion for "Boys and Girls", Lott performed the single on various television shows and at various major gigs which included performances on: GMTV, Loose Women, The National Lottery, The 5:19 Show, Alan Carr: Chatty Man and as an opening act on The Work Tour by the British girl group The Saturdays. On 15 August 2009, Lott performed the single alongside the likes of Hoobastank, The All-American Rejects, Kasabian, Cobra Starship, Dizzee Rascal, Boys Like Girls, Estranged and Raygun as one of the live acts at Asia's very first MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia concert that was held in Malaysia. The song became Lott's second song to be featured on EA Games game The Sims. English electronic music duo Moto Blanco have also created various club-styled remixes of the song, which are featured on the single's digital remix bundle. The single is also featured on disc 1, track 14 of Now 74.