L.A. Boyz

"L.A. Boyz"
Victorious cast featuring Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande
General information
Type:	Promotional single
Album/EP:	Victorious 3.0: Even More Music from the Hit TV Show
Released:	October 16, 2012
Genre(s):	Bubblegum Electro Power pop
Length:	2:59
Label(s):	Nickelodeon Records Columbia Records
Writer(s):	Lindy Robbins Allan P. Grigg Dan Schneider Michael Corcoran
Producer(s):	Kool Kojak
Album/EP tracklist
Previous:	"Here's 2 Us"
Next:	"Bad Boys"

"L.A. Boyz" (also written as "LA Boyz") is a song performed by American actresses and singers Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande, written by Lindy Robbins, Dan Schneider, Michael Corcoran, and its producer Kool Kojak, for the Nickelodeon television series Victorious. It was released on October 16, 2012, as a promotional single from the series' second and final extended play, Victorious 3.0: Even More Music from the Hit TV Show, on which it was included as the second track.

Background and release

On February 12, 2012, Victoria Justice tweeted she was writing music with Kool Kojak and Savan Kotecha. Since the former contributed to "L.A. Boyz", it's possible work on this song had already begun at that time, but it could also refer to another track, "Faster Than Boyz". As of June 9, "L.A. Boyz" appeared to be in the late stages of development, as Justice and Ariana Grande debuted the song by performing it live at Universal Orlando Resort's Summer Concert that day. In September, Justice and Kool Kojak again hinted at the release of new music they had been working on together, and Justice later posted photos on her Instagram account from the recording studio working with Matt Rad, who served as the song's mastering engineer.

On October 16, "L.A. Boyz" had an exclusive premiere on television host Ryan Seacrest's website, but also became officially available for purchase on iTunes the same day, while Victorious 3.0: Even More Music from the Hit TV Show was still available for pre-order, making it the extended play's only promotional single and only track to be released prior to the full record. According to the official credits, Kool Kojak produced the song and co-wrote it with Lindy Robbins, Dan Schneider, and Michael Corcoran.

Appearance in Victorious

"L.A. Boyz" was performed by Tori Vega (portrayed by Victoria Justice) and Cat Valentine (portrayed by Ariana Grande) in the episode "Three Girls and a Moose", that premiered on October 20, 2012. André Harris (portrayed by Leon Thomas III), Robbie Shapiro (portrayed by Matt Bennett), and Beck Oliver (portrayed by Avan Jogia) organized a campaign named Tinkle-Aid at Karaoke Dokie, on which Tori, Cat, and Jade West (portrayed by Elizabeth Gillies) were to help them. However, the boys remove the girls out of the program, because they skipped rehearsals to win the affection of Moose (portrayed by Brandon Jones). After the boys started their event at the karaoke bar, Tori and Cat ran onto the stage to apologize for being "lame" and perform "L.A. Boyz".

Journalistic commentary

"L.A. Boyz" received positive reviews from Michael Murray of Ryan Seacrest's website, Wendy Michaels of Cambio, Alexandra Daluisio of Teen.com, and the staff of the joint website of the magazines Bop and Tiger Beat, all deeming the song "catchy". Retrospectively, the song is included in Israel Olorunnisola's list of "10 Songs You Forgot Were Awesome" from Victorious for MovieWeb, who stated when the singers performed the song on the series, they were "rendering a sweet musical eulogizing their male friends and appreciating their masculinity", and deemed the song itself to be "summer anthem one for the boys".

Additionally, the song is listed on Kristen S. Hé's ranking of all Ariana Grande songs for Billboard; as the list is updated with Grande's later releases, "L.A. Boyz" currently ranks 127th out of 171. Considering the song as a combination of bubblegum, electro, and power pop, Hé wrote "Victoria Justice owns the verses, but Ariana nails the soaring high harmonies in the chorus". Similarly, Justin Curto ranks Grande's collaborations for Vulture, also updating it for new songs to now 57, with "L.A. Boyz" coming in at number 38. While Curto finds Grande as the better performer on the song, he also states it "doesn't stop both of them from having fun on this cheesy, innocent song".

Chart performance

"L.A. Boyz" spent nine weeks and peaked at number six on the now-discontinued Kid Digital Song Sales chart, making it the highest-peaking song from Victorious 3.0: Even More Music from the Hit TV Show.

Weekly chart positions

Chart	Week of	Week number	Position
Kid Digital Song Sales	November 3, 2012	1	7
	November 10, 2012	2	6
	November 17, 2012	3	Unknown
	November 24, 2012	4
	December 1, 2012	5
	December 8, 2012	6
	December 15, 2012	7
	January 5, 2013	8
	January 12, 2013	9

Music video

The music video premiered on October 18, 2012. It consists of scenes from the episode "Three Girls and a Moose" and its production. A similar video was previously made for "Take a Hint".

Credits

Personnel

• Michael Corcoran – Engineer, programmer, writer
• Ariana Grande – Lead vocals
• Allan P. "Kool Kojak" Grigg – Engineer, producer, programmer, writer
• Victoria Justice – Lead vocals
• Stephen Marcussen – Mastering engineer
• Matt Rad – Mixing engineer
• Lindy Robbins – Writer
• Dan Schneider – Writer

Management

• Published by Prescription Songs (ASCAP); Mmm Assetco LP (BMI); Hipgnosis SFH I Limited; KMR Music Royalties II SCSP

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Driving down sunset on a Saturday night
It's getting kinda crazy under the lights
But we don't care we're passing the time
Watching those L.A. boys roll by
In their drop tops, Harleys, Escalades too
A hundred different flavors to vary your view
There's one for me and there's one for you
Watching them L.A. boys roll through

[Chorus]
Looking so hot down in Hollywood
You know they got, got the goods
So lets give it up for those
L.A. boys
Riding the waves up in Malibu
They really get, get to you
So lets give it up for those
L.A. boys

[Post-chorus]
Give it up, give it up
You don't have no choice
Give it up, give it up
For the L.A. boys

[Verse 2]
West side, east side, everywhere between
Rock stars jam in the promenade for free
Flipping their skateboards on Venice beach
L.A. boys, come play with me
Turn it up, turn it up
And come play with me

[Chorus]
Looking so hot down in Hollywood
You know they got, got the goods
So lets give it up for those
L.A. boys
Riding the waves up in Malibu
They really get, get to you
So lets give it up for those
L.A. boys

[Bridge]
I put your number in my phone
Maybe I'll call you
Maybe no-o-ot
Whatchu you doing all alone
Come show me what you got boy
Show me what you got, got boy
What you got boy
Show me what you got

[Chorus]
Looking so hot down in Hollywood
You know they got, got the goods
So lets give it up for those
L.A. boys
Riding the waves up in Malibu
They really get, get to you
So lets give it up for those
L.A. boys

[Outro]
Give it up for the L.A. boys
Give it up for the L.A. boys
Give it up for the L.A. boys
Give it up for the L.A. boys
Give it up for the L.A. boys
Give it up for the L.A. boys
Lets give it up for those
L.A. boys

Trivia

• "L.A. Boyz" is one of three songs from Victorious 3.0: Even More Music from the Hit TV Show that have "Boys" in the title. The others are "Bad Boys" and "Faster Than Boyz". As in the latter, this word is stylized as "Boyz".
• This track is Victoria Justice's only duet with Ariana Grande. Though Grande provided background vocals in many other songs by Justice, she isn't credited as the artist on any but this one.
• This is the first time Justice's song was released as a promotional single by becoming available when the record was on pre-order on music platforms, without a completely separate release. The same thing happened later in 2016 with "Toucha, Toucha, Toucha, Touch Me" and "Over at the Frankenstein Place".
• References in the lyrics of "L.A. Boyz":
  • There are many references to Los Angeles; its neighborhoods Hollywood and Venice are mentioned, along with another Los Angeles County city, Malibu.
  • The first line—"Driving down Sunset on a Saturday night"—may be a reference to the Earl Carroll Theater, known as Nickelodeon on Sunset between 1997 and 2017, where Victorious was produced; the studio was also located in Los Angeles.
  • The Cadillac Escalade car and motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson are mentioned.
  • The phrase "Give it up" in the chorus could be a reference to one of the tracks from Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show, "Give It Up", also performed by Grande.
• It's Justice's most streamed song from Victorious 3.0: Even More Music from the Hit TV Show on Spotify, with over 15 million streams. It's the second most streamed song from the EP, after "You Don't Know Me", performed by Elizabeth Gillies solo.
• "L.A. Boyz" was included on the WonderLand 3: Forever Pop compilation album on May 7, 2014.
• It appears in TeenNick's the Best of Victorious playlist on Spotify, along with other 12 songs by Justice.
• Matt Bennett played "L.A. Boyz" on his DJ concerts.

Audio

Victorious Cast - L.A. Boyz (Audio) ft. Victoria Justice, Ariana Grande