| Unlock It | |
| Type: | promo |
| Artist: | Charli XCX featuring Kim Petras and Jay Park |
| Album: | Pop 2 |
| Released: | 2017 |
| Length: | 3:52 |
| Label: | Asylum |
| Producer: |
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"Unlock It" is a 2017 song by Charli XCX featuring Kim Petras and Jay Park from XCX's mixtape Pop 2. It samples A. G. Cook's "Beautiful", and was renamed "Unlock It (Lock It)" in 2021 after going viral on TikTok. In 2022, Piri & Tommy released a cover that Vice rated as the 14th best song of 2022.
The song was released on 11 December 2017,[1] four days before the release of its parent mixtape Pop 2.[2] The song samples "Beautiful" by A. G. Cook, who also produced the album,[3] and features a spoken word chorus.[4] A mashup remix of the song by American DJ/producer Jeff Prior went viral in 2021 after being used in an accompanying dance on TikTok, eventually soundtracking 2,400,000 videos.[5] On 2 May 2021, she updated the song's title to streaming platforms to "Unlock It (Lock It)"; after being criticised for this, she took to Twitter to explain herself.[6] The song was described by Indiependent.co.uk as a "hyperpop classic",[4] while Clash Magazine described it as having "[a] power chorus, pure electronic happiness, bold, computerized melodies, and lyrics that offer cosmic escapism", and offered particular praise for the line "cosmic kiss, tastes like cherry maraschino", calling it "sweetly satisfying".[7]
Piri & Tommy released a cover version of the song in 2022 to streaming platforms on 11 November 2022 under the lowercase title "unlock it".[8] They had previously released the song as an Apple Music exclusive on 13 September 2022, five days after opening for Charli XCX at a Brighton concert,[9] accompanied by an acoustic version of "on & on".[10] Their version of the song was described by Indiependent.co.uk as a "blend [of] bubblegum pop and drum & bass",[11] while Clash Magazine described the song as "reminiscent of the original [but] deliver[ing] a more laidback edge", piri's vocals as "silky smooth, laced in AutoTune, [and] bathed in reverb and delay", the song's drums as having "a low fidelity edge" and Tommy's production as "clean and polished, opting for a less-is-more approach with a batch of gloss synthesisers and a deep sub bass".[12] In addition, their version of the song was rated as the fourteenth best song of 2022 by Vice.[13]