"What It Feels like for a Girl" was partially inspired by the movie The Cement Garden, as it opens with a spoken word sample of Charlotte Gainsbourg from the film:
Quote:
“Girls can wear jeans. Cut their hair short. Wear shirts and boots. ‘Cause it’s okay to be a boy. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading. ‘Cause you think that being 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…”
In the song Madonna talks about celebrating the power of womanhood and femininity while simultaneously mocking misogynist expectations of women. Personally I think the music video for WIFLFAG is one of Madonna's very best to date. Ironically, although I suppose it should come as no surprise being that this is M we're talking about, shortly after the video's release it was banned from being aired on MTV and VH1 during daytime hours due to its violent and graphic content. This caused much outrage from viewers and from critics as they saw it as a double standard in comparison to equally aggressive and graphic content by men that was aired regularly in the daytime by these stations.
Get in and celebrate this beautiful anthem, this hymn!
Fun fact: "What It Feels like for a Girl" was released as the third single from Madonna's platinum-selling album Music almost exactly three years ago on April 1st, 2001.
Since Music came out, I don't think I was ever able to choose which version of 'What It Feels Like For A Girl' I like the best.
Album Version:
The spoken word monologue from 'The Cement Garden' always gets me, it fits so perfectly with the song. I've only looked up a synopsis of the book and from what I get is that the line comes from what roles and characteristics people have to take upon themselves in times of need.
Lo Que Siente La Mujer:
As far as I'm aware this is one of the few songs that Madonna has sung fully in another language (let's not even pretend with Spanish Lesson ). It wasn't taken well because it was poorly translated or something, but I think that the performance from the Drowned World Tour is so beautiful. There are no male dancers on the stage, only androgynously dressed females dancing to a salsa/cha-cha theme, which as we know needs someone to 'take the lead' but having two females shows that woman can be leaders as well.
Above & Beyond Remix:
The infamous video that got banned for begin 'too violent'. I am in absolute love with the remix itself and the video is definitely one of Madonna's best that she's ever done. This takes the role reversal to the extreme, and shows Madonna breaking out of how a stereotypical woman is supposed to act. I used this video in my media class and pointed out that even when she's doing all of these things in front of the cops, they aren't phased by her probably because 'she's a woman and women shouldn't be doing this' until they feel threatened by the gun.
Ironically, although I suppose it should come as no surprise being that this is M we're talking about, shortly after the video's release it was banned from being aired on MTV and VH1 during daytime hours due to its violent and graphic content. This caused much outrage from viewers and from critics as they saw it as a double standard in comparison to equally aggressive and graphic content by men that was aired regularly in the daytime by these stations.
but then I recalled that M stans here don't like to participate in Madonna's threads.
). It wasn't taken well because it was poorly translated or something, but I think that the performance from the Drowned World Tour is so beautiful. There are no male dancers on the stage, only androgynously dressed females dancing to a salsa/cha-cha theme, which as we know needs someone to 'take the lead' but having two females shows that woman can be leaders as well.