What It Feels Like for a Girl double standard toward women, addressing hurtful myths about female inferiority. To emphasize the message, the song opens with a spoken word sample by actress Charlotte Gainsbourg from the 1993 British film, "The Cement Garden". A Spanish version of the track, "Lo Que Siente la Mujer", was translated by Alberto Ferraras and included the Latin American edition of "Music". The song received acclaim from most music critics, who declared it as a highlight from the album, while also remarking it as one of the most mature musical ventures of Madonna's career. Commercially, "What It Feels Like for a Girl" reached the
What It Feels Like for a Girl calling it a "terrific midtempo cut". "Slant"s Sal Cinquemani felt that "Madonna has revealed more of herself than ever [in "Music"]. No longer shrouded with pedantic spirituality, she has become even more human [...] revealing her soul on 'What It Feels Like For A Girl'". However, on his review of "GHV2", Cinquemani felt the track was "largely lost amid the conventional sonics of "Music"s final single" and called it that compilation's least dynamic offering, giving a C– rating. Writing for "Entertainment Weekly", journalist David Browne relegated the track as "an older, wiser 'Into the Groove'", highlighting its "softly padding beat