Songfacts®:

• This song was written by Jean-Benoît Dunkel and Nicolas Godin, the two-man team behind the French electronica duo Air. It originated when someone lent Dunkel a 1960s Höfner bass, the same model Paul McCartney played in The Beatles.
  
  "I put it through my guitar amp, which gave this amazing sound: very cool and dry," Godin recalled to The Guardian.
  
  One day, Godin played a riff for Dunckel, and in response, Dunckel exclaimed out of the blue, "sexy boy."
• The artistic video for "Sexy Boy" features black-and-white footage of the band on the street together with a stuffed monkey in a T-shirt. This is cut in with minimalist animations of the monkey growing to Godzilla-size and towering over the city, while people point and comment worshipfully.
• The verse lyrics are in French. Here's the translation:
  
  Ou sont tes heros
  Au corps d'athlete?
  Ou sont tes idoles
  Mal rases, bien habilles?
  
  Where are your heroes
  With bodies like athletes?
  Where are your idols?
  Poorly shaved, well dressed
  
  Dans leurs yeux des dollars
  Dans leurs sourires des diamants
  Moi aussi, un jour
  Je serai beau comme un Dieu
  
  Money in their eyes
  Diamonds in their smiles
  I too, one day
  Will be as beautiful as a god
  
  Apollon 2000
  Zero defauts, vingt-et-un ans
  C'est l'homme ideal
  Charme au masculin
  
  Apollo 2000
  No loss, 21 years
  It's the ideal man
  Of charm and masculinity
• While the original Moon Safari album was released in 1998, Virgin Records has since re-released it to mark the album's tenth anniversary. Released in 2008, this special edition came with a booklet, DVD, and second CD with live and remix performances.
• Along with albums and concerts, Air also has a film career. Amongst other film credits, they composed the score to 1999's The Virgin Suicides, which was the first film project of director Sofia Coppola (yes, of those Coppolas!).
• The lyrics reflected Dunkel and Godin's lack of confidence with women. "If we'd sung 'sexy girl,' it would have been a disaster," Godin reflected in 2016. "'Sexy Boy' felt different. The song was about who we wanted to be; we weren't handsome when we were younger; our friends always had more success with girls."
• While the name "Air" might seem to allude to the band's being "light as air," it is actually an acronym which stands for the French words "Amour, Imagination, Rêve" that translates to "love, imagination, dream."