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Music

Every 90s Reference in Charli XCX and Troye Sivan's "1999," Ranked

2018 has been wild, can you blame them?
KC
Queens, US
Screenshot from "1999"

Nostalgia can be a tricky concept to nail down. You run the risk of looking like a second-rate version of the era you're paying homage to, mainly because those obsessed weren't old to enjoy it in the first place. But, that's not the case for Charli XCX and Troye Sivan's latest collaboration, "1999." Last week, Charli told Noisey she was keeping the concept for "1999" a secret, but made sure we knew it was "really good." Well, Charli was right and for a song donning as many 90s references as "1999," are you shocked that the entire video is a montage of its best moments? Charli, who would've been 7 in 1999, and Sivan, who would've only been 4, are reminding us that life was truly better before the omnipresence of the internet. She and Sivan cosplay some of the most important moments of the 90s and Noisey is here to rank them all.

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American Beauty

Given the sexual assault allegations that surfaced last year against American Beauty star Kevin Spacey, we're going to say Charli could've passed on this one.

Marilyn Manson and Rose McGowan

It's been 20 years since Rose McGowan shut down the VMAs with this look. Manson didn't look bad himself.

The Blair Witch Project

It's almost Halloween. Duh.

90s Fashion Staples

The good old days when people wore Baby-G watches to actually tell time, and Hanes had the undie game on lock before Victoria Secret created Pink. Oh yeah, Sketchers were the Triple S sneaker before Balenciaga. Sorry, not sorry.

90s Tech

Humanity was so easily amused. What has happened to us? The Dancing Baby was one of our first tastes of virality. Technically, the first edition of The Sims was released in 2000, but we'll let Charli and Troye slide on this one. These were the reality shows of our day. We watched their every move. Without the Dancing Baby and Sims,the robot Sophia wouldn't even exist. That's probably a bad thing, huh?

The Matrix

Can we get an update on Keanu Reeves? Shoutout to The Matrix for giving birth to 90% of Ciara's dance moves.

The Titanic

This one still hurts because Rose had enough room on that piece of wood and that's really not up for discussion.

Boy Bands

If you missed out on bleach blonde Justin, shame on you. Now, he's just running around in the wilderness.

Nothing to see here. Just Backstreet Boys, the inferior (but widely popular ) boy band of the 90s.

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TLC's "Waterfalls"

Left Eye would be proud.

Slim Shady

Before Eminem was beingan angry elder and giving shitty handshakes, he was actually pretty cool.

The Spice Girls

Charli gets major props for playing ALL five members: Ginger, Posh, Baby, Sporty, and Scary. That's commitment.

Steve Jobs

Without Steve Jobs we'd still be playing Snake on our Nokia phones.

AOL Instant Messenger

This is for everyone who remembers when the internet came on a disk. For everyone who remembers having to ask if your parents needed the phone before you logged on. But most importantly, this is for everyone who remembers what it was like to log off. Bring back away messages. Kristin Corry is a staff writer for Noisey. Follow her on Twitter.