Boys World aren’t just the latest poptastic girl band on ‘the block’ - they’re also the most now. Words: Abigail Firth.

It takes a lot to break Dork. We’re rarely out-nonsensed, but on a regular Monday evening, new It girl group Boys World give it a good go. “We just had the most chaotic interview of all time,” youngest member Makhyli tweets shortly after our chat ends, which is quite the honour to bestow upon us.

Maybe the most Gen Z group yet, the five girls – Elana Caceres, Olivia Ruby, Queenie Mae, Lillian Kay and Makhyli – were scouted online and recruited via Instagram DM before being whisked off to Los Angeles to live together. From there, they climbed the ranks of the for you page in 2020, amassing 30.5 MILLION TikTok likes and eventually making their debut as a girl group in October.

Obviously, when we sit down on Zoom, the five-piece have just finished up filming TikToks, and are sitting together at the coffee table of their shared house in LA, where they’ve been living for two years, building relationships with one another and releasing content online while secretly working on music.

“The first year was just all development, and the second year was kind of getting into the music and growing the fan base on TikTok and stuff like that,” says Queenie.

For all their Gen Z-ness, it’s their 90s flavour that’s put them in the spotlight. Drawing comparisons to groups like the Spice Girls and TLC, who hit their peak before Boys World were even born, they merge 90s and early 00s quirkiness with modern pop beats and very 2021 lyricism. Debut single ‘Girlfriends’ mirrors ‘Wannabe’ with a new twist (“You know girls stan girlfriends over boyfriends,” goes the chorus), while ‘Wingman’ embraces independence and latest ‘Tip Toe’ describes a cheating other half who gets caught out.