"Boyfriend" is a song by English singer

Mabel Mabel is an English female name derived from the Latin ''amabilis'', "lovable, dear".Reclams Namensbuch, 1987, History Amabilis of Riom (died 475) was a French male saint who logically would have assumed the name Amabilis upon entering the prie ...

, released on 26 February 2020. The song appears as a digital reissue bonus track on Mabel's debut studio album ''

High Expectations ''High Expectations'' is the debut studio album by English singer Mabel. It was released on 2 August 2019 by Polydor UK. Originally scheduled for release on 15 July, the album was pushed back to 2 August to alter several songs. Mabel worked ...

'' (2019). "Boyfriend" samples " Remember Me" (1997) by Blue Boy which in turn sampled "Woman of the Ghetto" (1969) by

Marlena Shaw Marlina Burgess (September 22, 1939 – January 19, 2024), professionally known by her stage name Marlena Shaw, was an American singer. Shaw began her singing career in the 1960s and continued to perform until her death. Her music has often been ...

Background

Mabel announced the song's release on 21 February 2020. She described the song as "wanting someone in your life doesn't mean you can't still be dat bitchh".

Composition

Musically, "Boyfriend" is an empowering upbeat

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

anthem with a bumping production. Lyrically, the song has themes of

female empowerment Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several method, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, equal status in society, ...

where Mabel is wanting a boyfriend, but saying how she doesn't necessarily need one: "I want a boyfriend... Even though a man ain't something I need". This song is written in the key of B minor and has a tempo of 100 beats per minute.

Music video

The song's accompanying music video was directed by Isaac Rentz and was released on 26 February 2020. According to Mabel the video for "Boyfriend" was inspired by late American singer

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( ; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. Known as the " Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop", she is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, p ...

. It sees Mabel make her ideal boyfriend in an underground computer laboratory. It is a gender-reverse flip of the 1985 film ''

Weird Science Weird Science may refer to: * ''Weird Science'' (film), a 1985 film directed by John Hughes ** ''Weird Science'' (TV series), a television series based on the film ** "Weird Science" (song), the theme song to the film and the TV series by Oingo ...

''.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. *

– songwriting, vocals *

Steve Mac Steve McCutcheon (born 15 January 1972), known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British record producer, songwriter and musician. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern Briti ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, songwriting, keyboards *

Camille Purcell Camille Angelina Purcell (born 29 June 1988), known professionally as Kamille, is a British singer-songwriter and record producer. Kamille's co-writing and co-production contributions have accumulated to over 10 billion streams, as well as ove ...

– songwriting, backing vocals *

– songwriting * Richard Evans – songwriting * Robert Miller – songwriting * Chris Laws –

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mu ...

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

, studio personnel * Bill Zimmerman –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, studio personnel *

Phil Tan Phil Tan is a Malaysian-American audio engineer and mixer. He is a three time Grammy Award recipient, having received 14 nominations for the award. Early life and education Tan was born in Malaysia. He attended Full Sail University in Florida in ...

– mixing, studio personnel *

Dann Pursey Globus is a Santa Monica, California-based movie trailer music-inspired band consisting of a mix of producers, musicians, and vocalists. The band is led by composer and producer Yoav Goren. History Foundation Globus was founded as a result ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, recording, studio personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2020 singles 2020 songs Mabel (singer) songs Polydor Records singles Song recordings produced by Steve Mac Songs written by Kamille (musician) Songs written by Steve Mac Songs written by Mabel (singer)