Charli XCX's 'Boys' music video was inspired by Joe Jonas.

The 25-year-old singer released the second single from her upcoming as-yet-untitled third studio album back in July, and has now said when she first thought of the accompanying music video - which she self-directed and which features a group of men ''being really sexy'' - the scene in which the DNCE singer is seen eating piles of pancakes was the first thing she imagined.

She said: ''This idea popped into my head of all these guys being really sexy. I think the first person who popped into my head was Joe Jonas. Just, eating really sexily, which is a weird thought for me to be thinking - sorry, Joe.

''Joe eating had set me on a train of thought of all of these guys doing different sexy, kind of, things. I basically wanted to hit up as many people as possible.''

And Charli loved having the chance to work with ''stereotypically sexy scenes'' which she believes women are often cast in for music videos or movies, and ''flip the male gaze on its head'' by placing males in those scenes instead.

Speaking to Billboard's 'How It Went Down' series, she said: ''I guess the idea was to take these stereotypically sexy scenes that women are often stereotyped to be doing in music videos or movies, and then having the guys act them out. I basically wanted to flip the male gaze on its head. You know, that obviously wasn't the total main focus of the video, but it's definitely something I wanted to tap into.

''I also just wanted to make a next level pop video that would be really fun.''

Meanwhile, 27-year-old Joe previously said he enjoyed being objectified as part of the video.

He said: ''Charli reached out to me and came up with this idea. I was like, 'Yes! The roles should be reversed. It's about time. Let's just make this like, over the top!'''