APRIL 17, 2001: "What It Feels Like for a Girl" from Madonna''s eighth studio album "Music" was released.

"What It Feels Like for a Girl" is a song by 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, with two other versions being also released: a dance-remix produced by A bove & Beyond and a Spanish version titled "Lo Que Siente La Mujer".

"What It Feels Like For a Girl" was written by Madonna and Guy Sigsworth, while production was done by Madonna, Sigsworth, and Mark "Spike" Stent. David Torn was included as an additional composer to the track, after Madonna found out Sigsworth had sampled Torn's Cloud About Mercury album. The song is set in the key of Eb major, with Madonna's vocals spanning from the lower octave of G3 to the higher note of Bb4 note. Jose F. Promis considers the song a "semi-ballad". Lyrically, "What It Feels Like for a Girl" condemns male chauvinism by addressing hurtful myths about female inferiority, with Madonna commenting on female role-playing in society. The beginning of the song opens with a dialogue from the 1993 British film, The Cement Garden, directed by Andrew Birkin and starring his niece, Charlotte Gainsbourg. In the dialogue, Gainsbourg says:

"Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots. 'Cause it's OK to be a boy. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading. 'Cause you think thatbeing a girl is degrading. But secretly you'd love to know what it's like... Wouldn't you? What it feels like for a girl."

Later, the song builds from a groovy verse section, driven by a "cool beat" and filtered bass licks, towards a dreamy chorus washed over by tidal keys and pads, as noted by Edward Cheung from PopMatters. "Strong inside but you don't know it / Good little girls they never show it / When you open up your mouth to speak / Could you be a little weak?", she sings. The Village Voice's Phil Dellio found the song "the perfect answer record to The Virgin Suicides (where boys indeed stand on the side of the street looking uncomprehendingly on girls), thanks in no small part to the gossamer-like synthesizer percolating in the background.

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