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 while panning its remix version for "reduc[ing] the song to a mindless trickle of beats without any hints of the verses". Alex Pappademas from "Spin", pointed out that the song "flaunts the sexiest synth shimmer this side of [Aguilera's] 'Genie in a Bottle'". "The Village Voice"s Phil Dellio found the song to be "the perfect answer record to [the novel] "The Virgin Suicides" (where boys indeed stand on the side of the street looking uncomprehendingly towards girls)". While listing "The 100 Greatest Madonna Songs", Louis Virtel from "The Backlot" ranked "What It Feels Like for a Girl" at number 45,