Wow, so I knew every single reference in Charli XCX and Troye Sivan's club-ready, '90s-packed "1999" video. It's a pop cultural knowledge deeply embedded in my soul, and it's with a mixture of pride and embarrassment that I present to you, for journalism, every Spice Girl, Backstreet Boy and chat window from memory.
- AOL Instant Messenger
- Charli as Steve Jobs and turtleneck posing with an iMac G3
- Charli as Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes in TLC's "Waterfalls" video
- Charli as Rose, Troye as Jack in Titanic
- Charli as all five Spice Girls in the "Say You'll Be There" video
- Charli as New Radicals' Gregg Alexander, complete with Skechers and bucket hat
- Troye as all of the Backstreet Boys in the "I Want It That Way" video
- Troye as Eminem in "The Real Slim Shady" video
- Charli covered in rose petals, a la Angela Hayes in American Beauty
- Charli as Rose McGowan, Troye as Marylin Manson at the 1998 VMAs
- Charli and Troye as Sims characters
- Charli in Aqua's "Barbie Girl" video
- The Ooga Chaka Baby on a Geocities-style homepage
- Charli as Trinity, Troye as Neo in The Matrix
- Troye as frosted, Ramen-curls Justin Timberlake circa N*SYNC
- Charli in The Blair Witch Project
- Hanes Her Way
- Water-proof wrist watches
- Nokia cell phones
- Surge soda
- eBay, Nickelodeon, Bubbalicious gum, Beanie Babies, Netscape logos
- AOL's "goodbye" sign-off
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, or whatever the late '90s version of a TED Talk would have been.
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