A group of young people has filmed a version of Charli XCX’s Boys music video to showcase the diversity of the word ‘boy.’

XCX’s original music video includes a remarkable 60 male celebrities, YouTubers and models.

The video sees big names like Joe Jonas, Charlie Puth, Mark Ronson and even Tiny Tempah. The sexy shoot sees many with their tops off and in super cheeky slow-mo – biting into some damn tasty cakes.

There is even LGBTI representation from Tom Daley, MNEK and Conor Franta.

But a group of young people formed the Queer Collective and wanted to step up the representation even further.

So they put a call out for anyone who identifies with the word ‘boy’ – and made their own version of the video.

‘My main drive for this project was my frustration in the lack of LGBTQ+ representation that I can relate to’ Harry Adams explains to GSN. ‘I want to showcase non-binary and transgender people, because they aren’t represented enough.

‘When people watch the video, I want them to see these cute, unrepresented people having a good time.

‘I want people to feel the fun and positive energy we had on set, and I want people to feel and see a sense of community.’

The idea for the project came a couple weeks after Charli XCX’s original video got released.

‘I was messing around on Instagram and posted a video of androgynous people to the song ‘Boys’ and an Instagram friend send me a message saying “Make it a real video!”’

So Adam’s did and got an awesome array of humans into the video to challenge what it looks like to be a ‘real boy.’

Watch it now:

Going beyond the binary with the definition of ‘boys’

Umber Ghari the queer Muslim who recently spoke out about her hidden disability also took part.

She tells GSN: ‘I thought it was important to represent brown boyhood and semi femme boyhood. I loved the original video and liked the idea of including more queer and trans people in it.’

And that’s excatly what the director Adams wanted to do too:

‘The video is about breaking down the stereotypes and traditional ideas around the word ‘boy’. There are boys everywhere who don’t fit the conventional ‘boy’ box. I wanted to showcase as many of these people as possible.’

Adams says the shoot day was a lot of fun and full of positivity:

‘Everyone was so up for it and energetic, and I enjoyed directing them and we collaborated on a lot of ideas, and I enjoy how that energy comes across in the final video.’

And people are loving it.

‘The response so far for the video has been amazing too, it has really inspired me as a filmmaker and creator. In fact now I am currently in pre-production for a short film I am directing early next year. And I have a couple of other projects still in the ideas phase!’

Read more from Gay Star Students:

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/queer-muslim-makeup-artist-hidden-disability-message/

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/national-student-pride-homeless-theme/