Madonna knows what it feels like for a girl

2000 was a mammoth year for Madonna, and 2001 was turning out to be yet another one. In June 2001, tickets went on sale worldwide for Madonna's first world tour in eight years, since 1993's The Girlie Show. Tickets were like gold-dust, and millions were snapped up worldwide in days. Some front-row tickets sold for up to £6,000 online in the UK. Earlier in 2001, Madonna released the final single from the Music album. The song was What It Feels Like For A Girl, and it peaked at No.7 in the UK in April 2001. The song spent 7 weeks on the chart, and later re-entered the chart for 2 weeks in July, probably because of the news of Madonna's tour.

What It Feels Like For A Girl starts off slow and melodic, with a sweet female voice asking, "Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short. Wear shirts any boots. Because it's okay to be a boy, but for a boy to look like a girl is degrading. Because 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." The beat then kicks in, and after a short while Madonna sing the first verse, "Silky smooth, lips as sweet as candy. Baby tight blue jeans, skin that shows in patches." Madonna then sings the wonderfully melodic bridge, "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?" Madonna then sings the chorus, "Do you know what it feels like for a girl? Do you know what it feels like in this world for a girl?" Madonna then sings the second verse, after a short dip, "Hair that twirls on fingertips so gently. Baby, hands that rest on gutting hips, repenting." Madonna then sings the second bridge, "Hurt that's not supposed to show and tears that fall when no one knows. When you're trying hard to be your best, could you be a little less?" Madonna then sings the chorus twice, before a sleepy and cute instrumental kicks in. Madonna then sings the first bridge again, before repeating the chorus a few more times until the song ends.

The video to What It Feels Like For A Girl is quite different to the song. When I heard that this song was to be the final song released from the Music album, I was kind of disappointed because I wanted Impressive Instant to be released instead. I faced the facts, and imagined what a video would be like. I imagined a mellow and cute fairy-pink kind of video. Nothing prepared me when I actually saw the video. The song had been remixed into some hardcore dance version, and Madonna expressed all kinds of anger and rage at the world and the prejudice against femininity. She's covered in bruises, and goes to pick her 'mother' up from an old people's home, before driving around crazy, smashing up the car and doing a lot of damage. It's all fantastic stuff, and Madonna then speeds up the car and wraps it around a lamp post, killing herself and the woman inside. Not surprisingly, the video was banned from MTV before 10:00 pm, but was released on VHS and DVD, no doubt making Madonna more cash! Yet more clever-thinking from the mastermind of Madonna. Fantastic song, equally fantastic video.