"What It Feels Like For A Girl" video premiere - The "What It Feels Like For A Girl" music video premieres on MTV and VH1.
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna, taken from her eighth studio album Music (2000). The song was released as the third single from the album on April 17, 2001 by Maverick Records. The song was written by Madonna, Guy Sigsworth and David Torn, who was credited later, while production was handled by Madonna, Guy Sigsworth and Mark Stent.
The song has two official versions; the single version and the album version. Musically, the album version is a more demure pop and trip hop song, while the single version was remixed by Above and Beyond and leans more towards trance and dance-pop. Lyrically, the song describes the pressure women feel to conform to social norms of politeness and subservience. The song also attracted controversy after the duo Thunderpuss were hired to remix the single, but nearing the track's completion, it was rejected.
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" received positive reviews from music critics, praising Madonna's vocals and production, however some critics did not believe it was a strong single. Commercially, the song was successful in most music charts around the world, peaking in the top ten in countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan and the United Kingdom. Though it was a more low peak on the US Billboard Hot 100, it managed to have good success on component charts in the United States, and topped the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Madonna's then-husband Guy Ritchie had filmed the accompanying music video, which featured Madonna in a blonde bob wig as she was portraying a reckless woman on a crime spree. Critics criticized the music video for its depiction of violence and abuse, which caused MTV to ban it before 9pm. The single was also released on DVD and VHS containing the music video. The song was used as a video interlude and was performed in Spanish on the Drowned World Tour. The song was also covered by the Fox TV series Glee, which was commercially featured on the episode "The Power of Madonna", as well as the following EP.
The song was written by Madonna and Guy Sigsworth and produced by Madonna, Sigsworth, and Mark "Spike" Stent. An additional composer credit is included in the I'm Going To Tell You A Secret CD inner notes, with David Torn being the third composer. The producer had sampled Torn's Cloud About Mercury album and, when Madonna found out, she had Torn added to the credits.[1] The track contains a spoken introduction by actress Charlotte Gainsbourg taken from the 1993 film version of the Ian McEwan novel, The Cement Garden.
A Spanish version of the song was specially recorded for inclusion on the single as the B-side. "Lo Que Siente la Mujer" was released as a promo-only single in Europe. Later it was added to the two-disc Tour Edition of Music and the Mexican edition of the album along with the remix of the same track replacing "American Pie", and was performed live on Madonna's Drowned World Tour in the same summer.
Madonna and the elderly woman she picks up from the Ol Kuntz Guest Home in "What It Feels Like for a Girl" video.
The song attracted attention because of its music video, which premiered on America Online, but was banned from TV broadcasts in many parts of the world. It was directed by Madonna's then-husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie in February 2001 and filmed throughout various parts of Los Angeles,
including one location on W. Olympic Blvd and S. Wooster St. The video
used an alternate remix edit by Above & Beyond which featured only
the chorus of the original song. The remix can be found on the European
single. PopMatters had described the plot off the music video:
The video was banned from most North American and European video stations including MTV[13] and VH1, receiving only early hours play.[14] The decision to ban the video was a source of argument, since it appeared to be no more violent than some television shows that aired at the time. Ironically, the video went into heavy rotation on Oh! Oxygen and was streamed on America Online frequently. It was also later played frequently on VH1 Madonna programs, but in an edited format. According to PopMatters, the reason why the video was possibly ban from MTV was due to the scene where it featured Madonna pointing a gun towards the police, where MTV had previously ban any videos featuring any references of guns.[10]
When aired on MTV and VH1, the video was given a TV-MA rating and when the DVD music video single was submitted to the MPAA, it received an R rating for "violent images". The DVD single received a 12 from the BBFC and a PG from the OFLC.
The TV show Glee performed an all male cover of this song in their episode "The Power of Madonna" on April 20, 2010 (season 1, episode 15).
A remix is also used in the Drowned World Tour as a violent and sexually explicit video interlude, featuring footage from the anime film Perfect Blue.
The song has two official versions; the single version and the album version. Musically, the album version is a more demure pop and trip hop song, while the single version was remixed by Above and Beyond and leans more towards trance and dance-pop. Lyrically, the song describes the pressure women feel to conform to social norms of politeness and subservience. The song also attracted controversy after the duo Thunderpuss were hired to remix the single, but nearing the track's completion, it was rejected.
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" received positive reviews from music critics, praising Madonna's vocals and production, however some critics did not believe it was a strong single. Commercially, the song was successful in most music charts around the world, peaking in the top ten in countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan and the United Kingdom. Though it was a more low peak on the US Billboard Hot 100, it managed to have good success on component charts in the United States, and topped the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Madonna's then-husband Guy Ritchie had filmed the accompanying music video, which featured Madonna in a blonde bob wig as she was portraying a reckless woman on a crime spree. Critics criticized the music video for its depiction of violence and abuse, which caused MTV to ban it before 9pm. The single was also released on DVD and VHS containing the music video. The song was used as a video interlude and was performed in Spanish on the Drowned World Tour. The song was also covered by the Fox TV series Glee, which was commercially featured on the episode "The Power of Madonna", as well as the following EP.
Background and release
The song was written by Madonna and Guy Sigsworth and produced by Madonna, Sigsworth, and Mark "Spike" Stent. An additional composer credit is included in the I'm Going To Tell You A Secret CD inner notes, with David Torn being the third composer. The producer had sampled Torn's Cloud About Mercury album and, when Madonna found out, she had Torn added to the credits.[1] The track contains a spoken introduction by actress Charlotte Gainsbourg taken from the 1993 film version of the Ian McEwan novel, The Cement Garden.
A Spanish version of the song was specially recorded for inclusion on the single as the B-side. "Lo Que Siente la Mujer" was released as a promo-only single in Europe. Later it was added to the two-disc Tour Edition of Music and the Mexican edition of the album along with the remix of the same track replacing "American Pie", and was performed live on Madonna's Drowned World Tour in the same summer.
Music video
Background and synopsis
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" opens with Madonna in a motel room, getting ready for a night out, and it all seems simple and pleasant enough. The video takes its first turn when Madonna picks up an old woman to accompany her in her drive around the city, and it quickly changes from there. Madonna rams her Camaro, into a car full of young men who were looking at her suggestively. From here, she tasers a man at an ATM machine and takes his money, pulls a realistic-looking water gun on two police officers and sprays them with water. After mowing down some roller-hockey players in a parking lot, she steals another car and blows up a gas station, all while still accompanied by the old woman. Finally, Madonna slams her stolen car into a cement pole in an apparent act of murder/suicide.[10]
Reception and controversy
Critics criticized the video for being overly violent and graphic. Madonna's spokesperson said that there was a lot of violence because it tells the story of a woman who had probably been abused. Madonna also explained that her character was acting out a "fantasy and doing things that girls are not allowed to do."[11] According to PopMatters, they explained the music video saying "While Madonna is one of MTV's darlings, she's still a woman, and the idea of a woman taking her aggressions out on men is something the network can just not have. That's what is so disturbing [...] And that really is what it feels like for a girl."[10] MSN had listed the song on "Madonna's Most Shocking Moments" and said the song was supporting a "pro-feminist image".[12]The video was banned from most North American and European video stations including MTV[13] and VH1, receiving only early hours play.[14] The decision to ban the video was a source of argument, since it appeared to be no more violent than some television shows that aired at the time. Ironically, the video went into heavy rotation on Oh! Oxygen and was streamed on America Online frequently. It was also later played frequently on VH1 Madonna programs, but in an edited format. According to PopMatters, the reason why the video was possibly ban from MTV was due to the scene where it featured Madonna pointing a gun towards the police, where MTV had previously ban any videos featuring any references of guns.[10]
Release
Madonna released the video as a DVD single on April 17, 2001. It became the biggest-selling DVD single of 2001.[15][16] The U.S. version of the DVD contains only the video, but in other countries, the DVD includes two audio remixes of the song that also appear on the CD single release. The video also was included in the 2001 Special Edition 2-CD release of the album Music.[17]When aired on MTV and VH1, the video was given a TV-MA rating and when the DVD music video single was submitted to the MPAA, it received an R rating for "violent images". The DVD single received a 12 from the BBFC and a PG from the OFLC.
- Director: Guy Ritchie
- Producer: Lynn Zekanis
- Executive producers: David Naylor, Sam Aslanian
- Director of photography: Alex Barber
- Editor: Michael Heldman
- Visual effects producer: Sue Troyan
- Visual effects executive producer: Neysa Horsburgh
- Production company: DNA Inc.
Other versions
See also: List of Madonna tribute albums
The Tracy Young remix contains a sample of the background music used during the Blitzball sequences in the Square-Enix PlayStation 2 video game Final Fantasy X.The TV show Glee performed an all male cover of this song in their episode "The Power of Madonna" on April 20, 2010 (season 1, episode 15).
A remix is also used in the Drowned World Tour as a violent and sexually explicit video interlude, featuring footage from the anime film Perfect Blue.
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