Song You Need to Know: LVL1, ‘FVN!’
LVL1’s “FVN!” is a gleeful, galloping combination of house and hip-hop, a hedonistic and bilingual track that romps at more than 130 beats per minute. The instrumental is all stabbing synths and kick-hiss drums, with LVL1 rapping at breakneck speed: “Girls just wanna have fun/I just wanna have sex in a car.” Later LVL1 switches to Spanish to declare, “I got a mission for you, and it’s pure dynamite!”
“FVN!” has become a fast-moving hit on the cat-centric wing of TikTok. That’s because LVL1 raps in Spanish, “If I show you my nails, I can scratch you,” followed by a joyful eruption of “cat-kitty-cat-cat-kitty-cat-cat!” Cat lovers around the globe have made videos of their pets doing crazy things while LVL1 raps in the background — “FVN!” has now been used in more than 330,000 TikTok clips. (The official video for “FVN!” actually involves a cute dog in an orange sweater.)
In an email, LVL1 says the song was inspired by their interest in the vogue and ballroom scenes. “I would play that style of music all the time, since I was also learning how to DJ,” LVL1 explains. “I didn’t know about anyone that made that kind of music in Spanish so I decided to do it myself. The lyrics were a way for me to introduce myself as an artist and let the listener know about my attitude and my main goal: to have fun and be yourself.”
LVL1 jokes that they are now contemplating adopting a cat.
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