Just a Girl
by No Doubt
- 108
- BPM
- A major
- Key
- 11B
- Camelot
- 64
- Danceability
- 10
- Acousticness
Gwen Stefani wrote "Just a Girl" after her father reprimanded her for driving home from bandmate Tony Kanal's house late at night. Alone in the car around one in the morning, she thought she would be vulnerable if something happened to her because she was a girl. She later said she never imagined anyone would hear the song.
It was the first song she wrote without her brother Eric, who left No Doubt in early 1995 over creative differences, although its opening riff came from one of his demos. Tom Dumont co-wrote it and Matthew Wilder produced it. It was also the first track mixed with David J. Holman, who then signed the band to Trauma Records. Dumont rejected claims the band had sold out, noting that Gwen was now writing about her experiences.
Released on September 21, 1995, as the lead single from Tragic Kingdom, it became No Doubt's first charting single in the United States, peaking at No. 23 on the Hot 100. It reached the top ten in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and the UK. Mark Kohr directed the video, which puts Stefani in a clean restroom and the men in a filthy one.
Just a Girl runs at 108 BPM, the tempo of mid-tempo pop, dancehall and indie. In classical terms it sits in moderato territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.22 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 556 ms. It is in A major, Camelot 11B, which shares its notes with F# minor and mixes cleanly with D major and E major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.