EMELINE BREAKS FREE FROM TOXIC MEN ON ECSTATIC NEW SINGLE “99 BOYS”
DANCE-READY TRACK REINTERPRETS NENA’S NEW-WAVE SMASH
“99 LUFTBALLONS”
April 12, 2024 — (Hollywood, CA) — Today, singer/songwriter EMELINE shares her new single “99 boys” — a sublimely catchy track that interpolates Nena’s new-wave smash “99 Luftballons.” Released via Capitol Records, “99 boys” updates the 1983 classic for the modern era and delivers a brutally fun takedown of toxic male behavior. Go HERE to listen to “99 boys” and view the lyric video HERE.
The follow-up to EMELINE’s recent single “Iconique” — a March release that scored a massive sync with Hulu’s much-buzzed-about Vanderpump Villa — “99 boys” lifts the timeless melody from Nena’s synth-pop confection while dreaming up a dance-ready anthem all her own. With her signature mix of raw emotion and spellbinding self-possession, the 25-year-old artist turns the track into a thrilling kiss-off to all the thoughtless boys she views as interchangeable (from the chorus: “At any bar on any night/I meet all of your lookalikes/Same tattoos and pickup lines/Vintage t-shirt, hazel eyes/You’re not special, you’re just a guy/Who I’ll replace in zero time”).
Says EMELINE, “99 boys” feels like the moment you realize the ick has overpowered any feelings that once were there. We all get screwed over and blinded by love sometimes, but I hope this song can feel like the moment you laugh about the guy with your friends instead of having to cry about him. I also definitely unintentionally described all of my male exes in this hook, but it’s all love to the ones who didn’t do me dirty… I still love hazel eyes.”
Co-written by EMELINE and Robert Reznick, and co-produced by Mike Wise and Robert Reznik, “99 boys” brings her strong-minded storytelling to a gorgeous collision of feel-good grooves and shimmering beats. Like “99 Luftballons,” the track opens on a hypnotically stripped-back intro before bursting into a cascade of hard-hitting rhythms — then boldly spins off into its own exquisite atmosphere. Centered on her ever-captivating vocal work, “99 boys” ultimately serves as a perfect showcase for the fiercely outspoken point-of-view that’s propelled EMELINE to over 925 million global streams to date.
“99 boys” is the latest release to reveal the Rhode Island-born rising star’s more lighthearted side. To that end, “Iconique” found her working with Charli XCX collaborator Mike Wise to create a quirked-up, French-pop-inspired stunner she described as “made for anyone who is ready to embrace their multiplicity.” Prior to the premiere of “Iconique” and its accompanying lyric video, EMELINE earned raves for singles like “makeout with a stranger” (an exhilarating 2023 track that began as a “broken-hearted punk song” written on her guitar), “cinderella’s dead” (an early-2022 release that cracked the Top 20 on the Spotify Daily Viral chart, amassing over 680 million combined global streams to date), “this is how i learn to say no” (an iTunes top 10 hit that also climbed to #7 on the US Spotify Viral 50 chart), and “strut” (featured on coveted playlists like Pop Sauce, New Pop Picks, and SALT).
A multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar and piano, EMELINE first broke through with her hit single “flowers & sex” — a 2021 release that reached #4 on Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 chart, surpassed 10 million global streams within just eight weeks, and earned praise from outlets like Earmilk and Paper, who noted that the “blunt pop anthem…arrives at a time when people are craving a little self-love and a lot of sexual pleasure after a year of endless isolation.” An essential new voice for all those navigating the minefield of sex and love in the modern world, she’s now at work on more new music driven by her mission of uplifting and supporting women everywhere.