What It Feels Like for a Girl
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her eighth studio album Music (2000). It was released as the third and final single from the album on April 16, 2001, by Maverick Records. Madonna and Guy Sigsworth wrote and produced the song with David Torn as co-writer, and Mark "Spike" Stent as a co-producer. "What It Feels Like For a Girl" is a mid-tempo electronic and synth-pop song. Lyrically, it conveys society's double standard toward women, addressing hurtful myths about female inferiority. To emphasize the message, the song opens with a spoken word sample by actress Charlotte Gainsbourg from the 1993 British film The Cement Garden. A Spanish version of the track, "Lo Que Siente la Mujer", was translated by Alberto Ferreras and included in the Latin American edition of Music.
"What It Feels Like for a Girl"
The song received acclaim from most music critics, who declared it as a highlight from the album, while also remarking it as one of the most mature musical ventures of Madonna's career. Commercially, "What It Feels Like for a Girl" reached the top-ten of the record charts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Romania, Spain, Scotland and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-one on the Dance Club Songs chart.
An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Madonna's then-husband Guy Ritchie and premiered on March 22, 2001. It features the singer as a reckless woman on a crime spree. The video was criticized for its depiction of violence and abuse, which caused MTV to ban it before 9:00 pm. The single was also released on DVD and became the highest weekly sales for a DVD release in the United States. Madonna performed the track on the promotional concerts for Music in November 2000 and on her 2001 Drowned World Tour, where a remixed version was used as a video interlude and also performed in Spanish. The song was covered by the actors of television series Glee, during the episode "The Power of Madonna", and was included in the accompanying EP.
Accolades[edit]
While listing "The 100 Greatest Madonna Songs", Louis Virtel from The Backlot ranked "What It Feels Like for a Girl" at number 45, saying that "its tenderness and power resonated like no Madonna ballad since 'Take a Bow'".[52] In 2013, Scott Kearnan of Boston.com included it at number 26 on his list of "30 Ultimate Madonna Singles"; he wrote that "Madonna's covered plenty of ground about how women are treated in the world, but she's rarely this unfiltered".[53] The same year, Edward Cheung from PopMatters ranked it as the sixth best production by Guy Sigsworth, writing that "an excellently placed spoken word sample (delivered by Charlotte Gainsbourg) and a keening synth line immediately set the tone for Madge's track as fashionably lonely".[22] Matthew Jacob's from The Huffington Post ranked the track at number 51 on his list "The Definitive Ranking of Madonna Singles", pointing out its "meaningful lyrical accomplishment".[54]
While ranking Madonna's singles in honor of her 60th birthday, in August 2018, Jude Rogers from The Guardian placed the track at number 37 and wrote that "it sounds like a Saint Etienne song accidentally covered by a superstar".[55] Entertainment Weekly's Chuck Arnold called it "one of Madonna's artistic peaks" and her "most underappreciated" release; he listed it as her 14th best single.[56] In 2019, Samuel R. Murrian from Parade ranked it at number 16 on his list of the singer's 100 greatest songs: "Lyrically barbed but sonically soft, one of Madonna's most radical tracks explores the brutality of being a woman in a man's world. [...] Though it was recorded nearly two decades before the #MeToo movement, this track feels like an anthem for it. Madonna was, and is, ahead of her time".[57]
Chart performance[edit]
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" debuted at number 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart of May 5, 2001, and moved to number 46 the following week, becoming in the biggest leap of that week.[58] The release of the DVD single, CD maxi and 12-inch vinyl prompted the song to debut at number 15 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart with 6,600 copies, majority being from the DVD single becoming the highest one-week sales for a DVD single sales.[59] The song peaked at number 23 on the issue dated May 19, 2001, becoming that week's greatest gainer in sales.[60] The same week, it also reached the top of the Dance Club Songs chart.[61] At the year-end ranking for 2001, the song placed at number 24 on Dance Club Songs.[62] According to Madonna's official website since only a maxi single was released commercially, it hindered the chart placement on Billboard Hot 100.[28] In Canada, the song debuted at number 14 on the Canadian Singles Chart, and reached a peak of number two after two weeks later.[63][64]
In Australia, "What It Feels Like for a Girl" debuted and peaked at number six on the ARIA Charts, on May 6, 2001, and was present in the top-fifty for nine weeks, and was ranked number 84 on the year-end placements.[65][66] The track also reached the top of the Australian dance charts.[67] It was certified Gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 35,000 copies of the single.[68] The song debuted at number 50 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and reached a peak of number 15 after six weeks.[69]
In the United Kingdom, "What It Feels Like for a Girl" managed to become the third song from Music to peak inside the top-ten, reaching number seven on April 28, 2001.[70] According to the Official Charts Company, it has sold 86,771 copies in the country as of August 2008.[71] The song was successful across Europe, reaching the top-ten of the charts in Denmark, Finland, Italy, Netherlands and Spain.[72][73] However, in some countries, "What It Feels Like for a Girl" failed to reach the top-twenty. In Austria and Sweden, the song reached numbers 26 and 22, respectively, becoming her lowest-charting single since "Nothing Really Matters" (1999) in both countries.[74][75] In France, the song debuted and peaked at number 40 on the French Singles Chart, and descended rapidly.[76] The track managed to reach the top-ten of the European Hot 100 Singles chart, reaching number eight on May 5, 2001.[77] It was also the most played song on European radios, holding the top position for five weeks.[78]