What It Feels Like for a Girl

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"What It Feels Like for a Girl"
Single by Madonna
from the album Music
Released	April 17, 2001
Format	DVD single CD single CD maxi single Video single Cassette single 12" single
Recorded	2000
Genre	Trance
Length	4:24
Label	Maverick Records Warner Bros. Records WEA International
Writer(s)	Madonna Guy Sigsworth David Torn
Producer(s)	Madonna Sigsworth Mark Stent
Madonna singles chronology
"Don't Tell Me" (2000/2001)	"What It Feels Like for a Girl" (2001)	"Die Another Day" (2002)
Music track listing
"Don't Tell Me" (7)	"What It Feels Like for a Girl" (8)	"Paradise (Not for Me)" (9)
GHV2 track listing
"Don't Tell Me" (album version) (12)	"What It Feels Like for a Girl" (album version) (13)	"Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (album version) (14)

"What It Feels Like for a Girl" is a song by American singer Madonna from her 2000 album Music. The song was released as a single in April 2001. The song was written by Madonna and Guy Sigsworth. It was 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 track contains an excerpt from "The Cement Garden".

[edit] Song information

A Spanish version of the song was especially 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.

A maxi-single containing the Above & Beyond and Paul Oakenfold trance remix of the song was also released alongside the conventional single version. This remix was very popular in nightclubs, and was later shown on the Drowned World tour as a video interlude.

[edit] Music video

Madonna and the elderly woman she picks up from the Ol Kuntz Guest Home in her music video for the single "What It Feels Like for a Girl".

The song attracted attention because of its music video, which premiered on America Online, but was banned from TV broadcast in many parts of the world. The video features a blonde Madonna (later revealed to be a major felon and con artist) leaving her apartment and hotwiring a car to pick up an elderly woman from the Ol Kuntz Guest Home. Madonna then causes various degrees of mischief, including tasering a man withdrawing cash from an ATM, firing a silver water pistol at police officers and blowing up a gas station, before finally crashing her car at full speed into a concrete pole. It was directed by Madonna's husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, and used an alternate remix edit by Above & Beyond which featured almost no vocals from the original song. This edit can be found on the European single.

Critics railed the video for being overly violent and graphic; Madonna defended the video, stating that male artists get away with the same, if not worse, in their own music videos. The video was nevertheless banned from most North American and European video stations including MTV and VH1, receiving only late-night play, if at all. 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 the Oxygen channel and was streamed on America Online frequently. It was also later played frequently on VH1 Madonna programs, but in an edited format. Madonna released the video as a DVD single (like "Music") and ended up becoming the best selling DVD single of all-time.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

• The track was originally scheduled to be the second single from the album instead of "Don't Tell Me".
• The intro of the song is spoken by actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. It is a quotation from the critically acclaimed novel The Cement Garden, filmed starring Gainsbourg.
• They sampled Donna Summer's I Feel Love for the interlude remix of the track for the Drowned World Tour with animé scenes splashed on the TV screens.

[edit] Official versions

• Album Version (4:45)
• Radio Edit (4:24)
• Lo Que Siente La Mujer/Spanish Version (4:45)
• Instrumental (4:45)
• Stephane Pompougnac Remix (4:36)
• Paul Oakenfold Perfecto Mix (7:20)
• Above & Beyond 12" Club Mix (7:26)
• Above & Beyond Radio Edit (3:44)
• Above & Beyond Video Version (4:21)
• Tracy Young Club Mix (8:58)
• Tracy Young Club Mix Instrumental (8:58) Unreleased
• Tracy Young Cool Out Radio Mix (4:46)
• Richard Vission Velvet Masta Mix (8:09)
• Richard Vission Velvet Masta Edit (3:41)
• Calderone & Quayle Dark Side Mix (6:44)
• That Kid Chris Caliguila 2001 Mix (9:48) Promo Only
• Saturday Night Mix (5:22) Promo Only
• Manny Lehman Remix (11:15) Unreleased
• Thunderpuss Unreleased Mix (15:22) Unreleased
• Thunderpuss Club Mix (11:44) Unreleased
• Thunderdub (11:06) Unreleased
• Thunderpuss Tribe-A-Pella (8:04) Unreleased

[edit] Chart performance

[edit] Certifications