With its cheeky celeb-packed video and instantly infectious hooks, ‘Boys’ has already proven itself to be one of 2017’s most impactful singles, and the lady behind it knew it was going to be big.

“The second I heard it [when] I was finished -- I knew it was one of my favourites I had done,” Charli XCX tells triple j’s Ben & Liam. “I knew that Super Mario inspired coin sound was going to either drive people totally crazy or people were going to be obsessed with it.”

The single has since spawned a lush acoustic version. Ya know, for the people that dislike the best and most iconic part of the production.

The other key ingredient to the song’s success is Charli’s self-directed video, a pink-saturated daydream that, in her own words, “flip[s] the male gaze on its head, for a change, in a pop music video. Have the guys do the stereotypically sexy scenes.”

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Turns out, there was one boy on the wishlist that didn't make the final cut: high-larious funnyman Seth Rogen.

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“He’s one of my dream dudes," Charli admits, "but I don’t move in the same circles as him; I had no idea how to get him so I just couldn’t.”

When she revealed that fact on twitter, Seth responded; “It broke my heart and made my day all at once,” says Charli.

So what sexy activity would Seth have been doing? “There was one scene that no boy wanted to do so I definitely would’ve pitched this to him. I really wanted someone to recreate that famous moment of Britney [Spears] holding the python at the VMAs. I would’ve asked Seth Rogen to do that and I think he would’ve said yes.”

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The original 'Boys' video concept came to Charli while daydreaming about Joe Jonas eating in the most extra of ways. She eventually recruited the poster boy, and 57 more different boys, to lick guitars, eat cereal, rev chainsaws, lift puppies, and generally give everyday activities a steamy edge.

“I basically just wanted to take this opportunity to be behind the camera and purposefully not be in the video and get all the guys to do the work for once.”

The video took two months to put together and Charli confirms it was as much fun making it as it looks, hopping all over the globe to wrangle the various talent. “[We shot] three scenes in my house … We also did shoots in L.A., New York, London, Japan, and Korea as well. We shot Khalid at Coachella and Rostam [Batmanglij].”

Charli also took us further behind the scenes and offered up on-set anecdotes about Stormzy (“He didn’t really like the fruit loops. Definitely wasn’t his favourite cereal brand”); Diplo (“that was the first scene we shot [and] it was honestly very difficult to manage the 10 puppies, they kept peeing everywhere”) and her top picks.

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“Flume and AG Cook’s scene is my favourite in the video and they were honestly so good at posing in a wind machine. They were like two Beyonces. Amazing.”

From Boys to Girls… Charli XCX is headed back to Australia this summer, as part of the all-star, all-female line-up supporting Sia’s homecoming shows in November and December.

“I’m very excited. I love Sia, she’s obviously not only a great artist but a really incredible songwriter, which I respect. MO is one of my really good friends and I’ve only heard really great things about Amy Shark. I think it’s going to be a real badass, girl power moment which I’m definitely down for."

“Hopefully we’ll all be sitting in a bath of champagne or something after the first show. That would be the dream.”