Arguably the biggest music news from 2013 was Beyoncé’s eponymous album being conceived, produced and released without even the barest of hints. It’s quite the departure from her latest works, standing as a post-baby bump ’n’ grind affair. As we’re all collectively reeling from “Drunk in Love” and surfboart-gate, “XO” has been slowly making the rounds, and The Plastics, a British boy band, have taken Beyoncé by the weave and produced their own cover and video for the single.
The boys have given Bey’s song a gay twist: a lot of the video features them nearly naked, wandering about at night, with top-knots and scruffy beards. It (almost) plays out like an episode of Girls, if all the girls in question were cute dudes playing video games in their underwear and having sex with each other. At least, it looks like they’re having sex with each other. It’s hard to tell.
If you’re already sick to death of listening to Beyoncés, give The Plastics’ version a listen with the video above. It doesn’t completely reinvent the wheel, but it’s a fresh take on a song that is sure to be played for a solid year.