"Girls Like You" is a song recorded by American band Maroon 5 from their sixth studio album Red Pill Blues (2017). The track was written by lead singer Adam Levine, Starrah, Gian Stone, Cirkut, and Jason Evigan, with the latter two serving as producers. A second version featuring and co-written by American rapper Cardi B, was released on May 31, 2018, as the album's fifth and final single.[1] The single version was included on the re-release edition of the album.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by David Dobkin, which features the band and Levine performing the song in the center of a room and a number of women making their appearances. The single achieved commercial success, spending seven weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it Maroon 5's fourth and Cardi B's third chart-topper, who extended her record for most number-ones among female rappers.[2] It also spent 33 weeks in the top 10, tying both Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" for the longest top 10 run in the chart's archives at the time[3][4] and a record-setting 36 weeks at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. Additionally, it reached number one in eleven other countries, including Canada and New Zealand.
"Girls Like You" was released as the ninth track on Red Pill Blues via Apple Music.[8] On May 30, 2018, Maroon 5 announced a new version of the song with rapper Cardi B, as the fifth and final single from the album,[9] following the song "Wait", which was later released on iTunes, the next day.[1] The band released four remix versions of "Girls Like You" on August 2, 2018, featuring St. Vincent, Tokimonsta, Cray and WondaGurl.[10] In an interview with Variety, Levine stated he told Cardi before she wrote her verse, "I want you to put something down that shows your fierceness as a woman and say it however you want."[11]
Composition
"Girls Like You" is a pop and pop rock song.[12][13] It has a length of three minutes and 35 seconds in the original version, while the extended single version is 20 seconds longer. It was written by Adam Levine, Cirkut, Cardi B, Starrah, Jason Evigan and Gian Stone and was produced by Cirkut and Evigan.
The song is written in the key of C major with a tempo of 125 beats per minute.[14] It moves in common time, with Levine's vocals spanning from C3 to C5.[15]
Critical reception
“Girls Like You” received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Shaad D'Souza of Vice wrote, "Maroon 5, please don't ruin Cardi B," described the song as an example of "God awful, horrid, weird, marshmallow-soft songs sung by dudes pining after a ‘good girl’ who will finally fix all of their problems through the power of love", and deemed Cardi B's verse the best and only interesting part of the song, which considered "basically the antithesis of Adam Levine's whole weird muscular robot thing."[16]
Time staff called it "more headache than hit" but acknowledged "Cardi B's verse as the only saving grace" of the song.[17]
Spin staff described it as "profoundly shallow" as well as a "snoozefest, which trafficks [sic] in sentimental and borderline meaningless platitudes" and stated "[the song] dominated the charts thanks in no small part to walking charisma factory Cardi B."[18]
Commercial performance
"Girls Like You" debuted at number 94 on the US Billboard Hot 100,[19] and ascended to number four following its first full week of tracking after the music video's arrival. The single made the fourth-biggest jump (90 positions) in the Hot 100's history, and became Maroon 5's 14th and Cardi B's sixth top-ten single overall.[20] After spending six weeks at number two behind Drake's "In My Feelings",[21] the single reached number one on its 17th charting week, becoming Maroon 5's fourth chart topper–their first since 2012's "One More Night"–and Cardi B's third. Cardi extended her record for most number ones among female rappers.[2] Maroon 5 became the duo or group with the most Hot 100 number ones in the 21st century.
"Girls Like You" became the first pop song to lead the chart after the record run of 34 consecutive weeks that rap songs had ruled the Hot 100, from January to September 2018.[2] The single spent seven weeks atop the Hot 100, making Cardi the female rapper with the most cumulative weeks atop the chart, with eleven weeks.[22] With 33 weeks in the top 10, it tied Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" for the longest top 10 run in the chart's archives.[3] Also tied by Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" in 2019,[4] with the record was later broken by Malone's "Circles" in 2020, and The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" in 2021.[23][24] "Girls Like You" also spent 36 consecutive weeks at number one on the Adult Contemporary, breaking the record of the longest-running number one, previous held by Uncle Kracker's 2003 version of "Drift Away" for 28 weeks.[a][26][27]
With "Girls Like You" following "I Like It" at the top of Radio Songs, Cardi B became the first female rapper to ever replace herself at number one on that chart.[28] With 16 weeks on top, it tied Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" and No Doubt's "Don't Speak" for the second longest-leading number one on the Radio Songs chart, while matching Carey for the longest leading this century.[29] With the single, the band scored its record-extending 13th number one on the Adult Top 40 radio airplay chart.[30]
Music video
A screenshot of the music video showing part of the cast of women featured. An article of Billboard noted "the female-empowerment message of the video is loud and clear."[31]
The music video premiered on YouTube, on May 31, 2018, at midnight 12AM (EDT)[32] and was directed by David Dobkin.[33] It follows Adam Levine, alone with a microphone in the center of a room, where the band playing instruments in the background, then a rotating assortment of women doing lip-syncing and dancing to the song around with Levine. The video featured appearances from Maroon 5's band members: guitarist James Valentine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, bassist Mickey Madden, drummer Matt Flynn, keyboardist PJ Morton and multi-instrumentalist Sam Farrar, with the song's featured artist Cardi B.
The clothing worn by the guests of the music video features several messages that represent various social justice and identity movements. Immigrant rights activist Angy Rivera of New York State Youth Leadership Council wears her organization's T-shirt with the phrase "Undocumented Unafraid Unapologetic".[36] Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman wore a T-shirt with the phrase "Always Speak Your Truth". Jackie Fielder, founder of indigenous-led San Francisco Defund DAPL Coalition, wore a T-shirt with the words "Divest, Water is Life".[37]
"Girls Like You" topped YouTube's 2018 Songs of the Summer list globally, and ranked third in the United States.[38] It is also Vevo's most viewed video of 2018.[39] The video was named the 23rd-most iconic pop music video of the 2010s by PopSugar.[40]
Alternative videos
Two alternate versions of the video were released, both directed by Dobkin. The first version is a vertical video which was released exclusively on Spotify, on August 27, 2018.[41] Similar to the original video, it focuses on the same women singing and dancing in rotation, with the exception of Cabello. The second version, simply titled Volume 2, was released on October 16, 2018, on YouTube.[42] This version includes additional footage and Cabello. The video ends with the voice of Dobkin saying "cut" and the sound of people clapping. In the second half of Volume 2, Levine briefly wears a t-shirt with the words "Liberation Not Deportation", created by the organization, NYSYLC.[43]
Lyric video
The band released a lyric video of the original song on February 14, 2019 (Valentine's Day).[44] The animated video follows Adam Levine's journey growing up, becoming a musician, forming the band now known as Maroon 5 and performing a sold-out concert. Levine is shown driving with various women in his car then spending time alone and focusing on his music. Finally, he meets and falls in love with Behati Prinsloo. They date, get married, and start a family at the end.
In March 2019, Maroon 5 playing it for the Indian couple Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta from their wedding ceremony at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, India.[48] On June 8, 2019, they also performed for the music festival concert, Capital's Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium, London.[49] The band performed the song for their residency titled Maroon 5: The Las Vegas Residency.[50]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201835 into search. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201825 into search. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
^"Media Forest charts". Retrieved July 15, 2018. Select "2018" in the upper-left drop-down, then "29 15-07-2018 21-07-2018" in the second drop-down. Choose the 2nd menu above the listings, "שירים מובילים - רדיו - בינלאומי" "(Top Songs – Radio – International)".
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201842 into search. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201825 into search. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
^"Tónlistinn – Lög – 2018" [The Music – Songs – 2018] (in Icelandic). Plötutíóindi. Archived from the original on March 29, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
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