Boys Will Be Boys (Dua Lipa song)

[5] The singer felt compelled to write the song as it stems from personal experiences and growing pains she faced and after talking about them with her friends and seeing posts on social media, she realized they were universal.

[6][7][8] These experiences revolved around her feeling powerless or intimidated in public spaces and doing things to avoid sexual harassment, catcalling and confrontation from men.

[9] The singer described that girls are made to feel uncomfortable at a young age with being taught that the way boys treat them is normal and playing a school game such as "Kiss Chase".

[13] She continued by explaining that it is difficult to change once one has a fixed mindset, so if young listeners could ask questions about these issues or if they are talked about in school, it would make a great impact on society.

The mixing was handled by Jay Reynolds at Long Island Studios[note 4] and the mastering was done by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.

[19] The production features layered choral arrangements,[20] orchestral strings, a disco beat,[21] marching band drums[22] and a melodramatic show-tune melody.

It features a Latin-inflected groove that helps amp up the track alongside a production consisting of frantic drums, whistles, horns, cowbells, and a distorted chanted chorus.

[30][31][32] The original version of the remix does not include the verses; however, the Blessed Madonna added them in on the album's DJ Mix edition as well as a sample of "Think (About It)" (1972) by Lyn Collins as a break.

[30][note 5] Rupert Christie is credited as a lead producer alongside Koz for the remix, and it was mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios in London.

[34][35] Themes of feminism and empowerment are portrayed in the song,[36][37] while the lyrics see Lipa mourn how girls need to grow up faster than males,[38][37] while also praising strong women.

[39] She denounces gender inequality,[40] sexist double standards,[41] the damage that patriarchy causes,[42] male violence,[15][29] misogyny,[43] sexual harassment,[37] toxic masculinity,[36] gender stereotypes,[44] men not taking responsibility for their actions,[45] male privilege,[46] the unbalanced expectations society places on girls in comparison to men[47] and how women brush sexist remarks towards them.

[25] Kitty Empire of The Observer dubbed the song an "acerbic outro" while The Jakarta Post's Fajar Zakhri regarded it as "a feminist manifesto that closes the album on a high note".

[43] Writing for The Guardian, Laura Snapes viewed it as the "only predictable 2020 pop move" on Future Nostalgia, while also naming it a "grandiose closer" that could've used more "spoken-word camp".

[29] In a negative review from Rolling Stone, Brittany Spanos perceived that the song failed because "it sounds too tied to the pop trends of 2020" and that it lacks "the rest of the album's warmth and oomph".

[49] PopMatters' Nick Malone gave the song a negative review, calling it a "true disappointment" that is "painfully out of place" and a "too-timely sentiment for an album that hinges on nostalgia and escapism".