"Unlock It" is a song by English singer

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...

featuring German singer

Kim Petras Kim Petras (, ; born 27 August 1992) is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Between 2016 and 2020, she released music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records, before signing with Amigo and Republic Reco ...

and American rapper

Jay Park Jay Park (born April 25, 1987), Korean name Park Jae-beom (), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based breakdancing, b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM), and founder and former ...

. It was released on 11 December 2017 as the first promotional single from XCX's fourth mixtape '' Pop 2'' (2017). The track samples A. G. Cook's "Beautiful" and premiered on

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

's ''

Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

'' show on the day of release. Reviewers praised "Unlock It", especially its lyrics. A mashup of the song with

Tinashe Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe ( ; born February 6, 1993), known mononymously as Tinashe, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Tinashe moved to Pasadena, California, as a child, where she pursued w ...

's " Superlove" went viral on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

in 2021, shortly after which XCX renamed the track "Unlock It (Lock It)". In 2022, Piri & Tommy released a cover that ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'' rated as the 14th best song of 2022.

Background and release

XCX scrapped her planned third studio album, christened ''XCX World'' by fans, after it was leaked. She first mentioned the idea of making ''Pop 2'' to A. G. Cook in late September 2017 while he was in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The pair started work once Cook was back in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and recorded the body of it at Oven Studios, with the whole mixtape taking two months. After implying that she had recorded a mixtape with Kim Petras, Jay Park,

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

, Tove Lo,

Dorian Electra Dorian Electra Fridkin Gomberg (born June 25, 1992) is an American singer and songwriter. Electra is known for their non-conforming fashion, queer aesthetics, and experimental pop sound. Their debut studio album, ''Flamboyant'', was released in ...

, Alma, Mykki Blanco, Cupcakke,

Tommy Cash Tommy Cash (April 5, 1940 – September 13, 2024) was an American Country music, country musician. His elder brother was Johnny Cash. Background and career Cash was born in Dyess, Arkansas, on April 5, 1940, the youngest of four sons and thre ...

, Brooke Candy,

Caroline Polachek Caroline Elizabeth Polachek (born June 20, 1985) is an American singer, producer, and songwriter. Raised in Connecticut, Polachek cofounded the indie pop band Chairlift while studying at the University of Colorado. The duo emerged from the late- ...

, Pabllo Vittar, MØ, and A. G. Cook, she announced the mixtape on 8 December 2017 and released its lead single, " Out of My Head" featuring Tove Lo and Alma. On 11 December, XCX followed this with "Unlock It", which premiered on Zane Lowe's ''Beats 1'' show that day. The song featured Petras, who XCX had met at a

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

concert, and Park, who had previously featured in the music video for her earlier track " Boys". XCX used her ''Beats 1'' interview to state that she had hired Park on the basis of how well he had gone down when the "Boys" video was published. XCX wrote her contribution about her experiences of driving in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

around the time she was supporting Halsey on her Hopeless Fountain Kingdom Tour and its lyrics invite the listener to fall in love. Produced by Cook and Life Sim, the song features a spoken word chorus that contains the phrase "Unlock It" 18 times and samples Cook's earlier track "Beautiful" as he felt the song was missing something. The song's title on streaming platforms was changed to "Unlock It (Lock It)" on 2 May 2021.

Reception

Megan Burger of ''Pitchfork'' described the track as "

art-pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre draws on pop art's ...

at its finest, just shy of parody but hyper-aware of contemporary trends", and its lyrics as "over-the-top and blissfully artificial". Ross McNeilage of ''

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

'' wrote that "If you want my love / Twerk to unlock it!" was one of the best lyrics of 2017. The song was released two days before "I Got It" featuring Cupcakke, Brooke Candy, and Pabllo Vittar and four days before the release of its parent mixtape ''Pop 2''. A mashup of the song with

's " Superlove" by Jeff Prior, a resident DJ at queer dance party Ctrl, went viral on

in 2021 after being used in an accompanying dance on TikTok, eventually soundtracking 2,400,000 videos. By 6 April, the track had been streamed 20,000,000 times and had been added to

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

's Viral Hits playlist. The song's 2021 rename was criticised by fans, following which XCX took to

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

to discuss the relationship between artists and fans. The following year, ''Clash'' described the song as one of XCX's best 17 songs, wrote that the song had a "power chorus, pure electronic happiness, bold, computerized melodies, and lyrics that offer cosmic escapism", and offered particular praise for the line "cosmic kiss, tastes like cherry maraschino", calling it "sweetly satisfying". In 2024, Adam Graham of ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...

'' described the song as "an annoyingly catchy earworm that latches onto your brain and refuses to let go".

Personnel

Musicians *

– lead vocals *

– lead vocals * A. G. Cook – programming * Aaron Aguilar – composer * Life Sim – synthesizer Production * A. G. Cook – producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Life Sim – producer * Stuart Hawkes –

mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

* Geoff Swan – mixer * Brendan Morawski – engineer

Release history

Piri & Tommy version

Piri & Tommy, who had previously opened for

at a

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

concert, released a cover version of the song on 11 November 2022. The track had been recorded and previously released for an Apple Home Music Session, in which artists make music at home. Aisha Sembhi of Indiependent.co.uk described the track as a "blend f

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...

and

drum & bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre ...

". ''Clash'' described the song as "reminiscent of the original utdeliver nga more laidback edge" and described Piri's vocals as "silky smooth, laced in AutoTune, ndbathed in reverb and delay" and the track's production as "clean and polished" with

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

drums. In addition, their version of the song was rated as the fourteenth best song of 2022 by ''

''.

Track listing

Apple Home Music Session # " On & On" (acoustic version) – 2:24 # "Unlock It" – 3:13 Single version # "Unlock It" – 3:13

Personnel

* Piri – lead vocals * Tommy Villiers – mastering, producer

Release history

References

{{Piri 2017 songs 2022 singles Charli XCX songs Kim Petras songs Jay Park songs Piri & Tommy songs Songs written by Charli XCX Songs written by A. G. Cook Songs written by Kim Petras