Woman Like Me


"Woman Like Me" is a song by British girl group Little Mix featuring American rapper Nicki Minaj, released on 12 October 2018 by Syco Music. The song was written by Jess Glynne, Ed Sheeran, Minaj and its producer Steve Mac, and served as the lead single from the album LM5 where it reached number two in the UK and Scotland, and number three in Ireland. The song has also been certified diamond in Brazil, as well as platinum in the UK, Poland, and Australia. The track received the fan-voted award for British Artist Video of the Year at the 2019 Brit Awards, and also won Best Song at the 2019 Global Awards.

Background and release

"Woman Like Me" was written by Jess Glynne, Ed Sheeran, Onika Maraj with help from Steve Mac who also handled the production, and Glynne recorded a solo version of the song for her own future LP which surfaced on the internet in late October. With a change of plan in production, the song was put out of Glynne's new album and later given to Little Mix. Sheeran and the group "went into the studio and tweaked little bits, and made it a little more" as they recall, "more personal to us." Phill Tan mixed the track, with Randy Merrill then mastering the song. It was then released on Spotify at midnight. In October 2018, Bronx native rapper Cardi B claimed during an Instagram post that she had been sent the track beforehand as a request to collaborate and did not accept because she was already working on other songs, so it was then offered to Minaj, after the latter said that she was interfering with her collaborators. Little Mix later claimed that the record label sent the song to both rappers, but they had always wanted to collaborate with Minaj.

Composition

"Woman Like Me" is a pop and reggae fusion song, with an urban groove. British singer Jess Glynne stated she wrote the song for her second album Always In Between with Ed Sheeran and Steve Mac, but that it "didn't fit where the album was going", so she gave the song to Little Mix to record. Glynne's vocals can still be heard in the song.
Sam Damshenas from XXL called the song a "reggae-infused pop song" and calling Minaj's verse similar to her feature in Ariana Grande's single "Side to Side". According to sheet music published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing on Musicnotes.com, "Woman Like Me" is composed in the key of F minor and set in common time at a moderate tempo of 150 beats per minute. Little Mix's voices range from Eb3 to a high Eb5.

Critical reception

Chloe Gilke from Uproxx called the song a "reggae-influenced dance-pop banger" with "tight harmonies". Brooke Bajgrowicz from Billboard said: "the female-empowering lead single asks whether a man could fall in love with a woman who isn't the stereotypical "good girl," suggesting that being your own person is more important", she also mention "Minaj adds a touch of sass to the third verse".

Awards and nominations

Artwork

The artwork for the song was released along with the video, and has been noted for featuring the group looking distinctly more "natural" than their usual look. The group also all wear black polo necks.

Music video

Background

The group reportedly filmed the music video for the track in late September. Pinnock has said about the video "it's personally one of my favourite videos that we’ve shot. The thing I love about it is that most of the video is us all as a group. We’ve hardly got any solos. We’ve never done that before." The video was released on 25 October 2018 on Vevo and was directed by Marc Klasfeld. The filming location was Knebworth House, Hertfordshire.

Synopsis

The music video opens with the group in a police van, as Jesy Nelson sings the opening lines of the song. They are all wearing black leotards. The camera then cuts to them in front of the van in colourful outfits, dancing around as Leigh-Anne Pinnock takes over with her verse. It is revealed that the group is being taken to a finishing school, in a castle-like building, in order to be taught how women should properly behave. One of the first classes we see is of Little Mix going through multiple seemingly robotic physical exercises in unison - all with books on their heads - before each member gets tested individually. Later on, the video cuts to a shot of each of the girls doing something that is stereotypically feminine: Perrie Edwards is ironing, Jade Thirlwall is pouring tea, Nelson is smelling and arranging flowers, and Pinnock is vacuuming.
Little Mix are also seen at a dinner table, politely, yet robotically, eating what seems to be nothing. In between these scenes, we see the girls performing intricate choreography on chairs, wearing the same leotards as in the police van and strutting around the building, clad in all black, lace, aristocratic-inspired outfits. At one point we see them walk across a wooden pathway shaped to look like a massive ruler, which could be a commentary on how the music industry measures women's worth on their looks, hence why the girls are dressed so glamorously. We also see the group in a room with weighing scales, which could be seen as a subtle way of saying how women aren't seen as equals in the music industry.
When Nicki Minaj's rap starts, the video jumps to a Victorian style painting of her that comes alive and changes throughout her verse as she is "a chameleon". As this happens, the video cuts to the girls beginning to find discomfort in the roles they've been confined to. As the final chorus hits, Little Mix, in the dining room - having had enough of being restricted - begin to eat burgers instead, messily but happily. Rebellions occurs in the individual classes as well - Thirlwall deliberately ruins the tea by overflowing it with sugar, Edwards burns a hole in the cloth she's ironing and so throws the ironing board over in protest, Pinnock uses her vacuum cleaner as a means for dancing, while Nelson vandalizes the roses by cutting them up and ripping them apart with her teeth. While this happens, we see the group performing the choreography on top of the police van. The video ends with Little Mix back inside the police van, looking at the camera in defiance, before the screen fades to black.

Live performances

Little Mix performed "Woman Like Me" live for the first time at BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards along with three other singles "Shout Out to My Ex", "Touch" and "Only You" on 21 October 2018. They also performed the song on The X Factor one week later. The first performance to feature Minaj occurred at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards on 4 November in Bilbao, Spain.
Little Mix performed the song at the 2019 Brit Awards on 20 February 2019 alongside rapper Ms Banks.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
UK Singles 98

Certifications

Release history