By now, you’ve surely heard about just how absurd M3GAN—the movie about a malicious robot doll who sings, dances, and rips off little boys’ ears—is. There’s been lots of talk about Allison Williams’ stellar performance (with plenty of fantastic profiles of the Girls star), as well as the “Penny Nickel Dime” girl (Jenna Davis), who voices M3GAN herself. But in the film, M3GAN does something completely wild that deserves to own the conversation. And it’s via a lullaby she sings to her “best friend” Cady (Violet McGraw).
Before you ask, no, it’s not the “penny nickel dime, penny penny nickel dime” song, for which Davis earned internet virality. It’s also not a song by another M3GAN, like “Made You Look” by Meghan Trainor or “Body” by Megan Thee Stallion, though either of those would’ve been equally chaotic needle drops.
No, any of those songs would be far too obvious. Instead, as Cady faces nightmares in bed, M3GAN lulls her to sleep with lyrics that could only be sung by an indestructible robot girl: “I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose/ Fire away, fire away /Ricochet, you take your aim /Fire away, fire away /You shoot me down, but I won’t fall /I am titanium.” Recognize that tune?
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M3GAN is singing the hit single “Titanium” by David Guetta and featuring Sia. (Both Guetta and Sia declined to comment on this story.) It’s been a while since I’ve heard this early 2010s bop—possibly since the last time I watched Pitch Perfect, in which Anna Kendrick belts the song in the shower, outing herself as a fantastic singer to a freaky Barden Bella a cappella member in the shower next to hers.
There are a number of reasons why this needle drop is so outlandish. The first, and most blatant, is that M3GAN is using a goofy pop song as a lullaby. Not only is “Titanium” a pop song—it’s a pop song from 2011, a year in which “Stereo Hearts” by Gym Class Heroes, “Tonight Tonight” by Hot Chelle Rae, and “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO dominated the Billboard Hot 100. Why, over a decade later, are we recirculating “Titanium” of all things? M3GAN wasn’t even around when “Titanium” was released!
Well, it does fit perfectly—M3GAN is a kitschy movie made for a Gen Z audience, though this joke may fly above the heads of younger teenagers and older adults. If you’re in middle school and going to see M3GAN, just know that “Titanium” was really popular when I (a 23-year-old) was your age. Maybe, with the success of M3GAN, we can make “Titanium” trend on TikTok. It’s not like David Guetta or Sia have other huge TikTok hits. (We’re kidding.)
After M3GAN opened on Thursday night, moviegoers posted about how they would “never be able to listen to Titanium (feat. Sia) by David Guetta the same way ever again.” Me neither—I’ll be listening to M3GAN’s version on Spotify.
Let’s start early predictions on what M3GAN might sing in a potential sequel, M3G2N. “Bulletproof” by La Roux—which is strikingly similar to “Titanium”—is certainly an option. Anything by Meghan Trainor or Megan Thee Stallion would be a strong, obvious, funny pick. If we’re tapping into hits from the same era as “Titanium,” M3GAN could go with something like “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People, “Domino” by Jessie J, or “TiK ToK” by Kesha. When it comes to the M3GAN universe, the opportunities are endless.
M3GAN is now playing only in theaters.
