What Makes a Woman

Perry first spoke about "What Makes a Woman" on interview with NRJ Lebanon in June 2020, where she explained the song meaning: "That is a hope I have for my future child, is that she doesn't have any limits on any of her dreams, or what she wants to be, or who she thinks she is. And, you know, she can change whenever she wants. She doesn't have to...she can try everything on if she wants; figure out what fits. And so I think that song is important to me and important for her."[1] She further elaborated on the song in Billboard interview in following month:

"It’s a song about how you are gonna to have a tough time measuring what truly makes a woman because women are so many things. And I like to say not one thing, not just one thing. And such chameleons, and so adaptable, and so malleable and transformative. And can handle the weight of the world on their backs and do it all in heels. And make it look pretty effortless sometimes. I’ve just experienced the feeling, just, I feel very empowered creating a life and being a working woman whilst doing that," she continued. "It’s like, can you create limbs while promoting a record? Hello!...So 'What Makes a Woman' will be a song that will kind of secretly be dedicated to her."[2]

"What Makes a Woman" was written by Perry, Sarah Hudson, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, John Ryan and Johan Carlsson.[3] Carlsson handled the song's main and vocal production, while Peter Karlsson helped producing vocals, and Elvira Anderfjärd provided backing vocals for the track and serves as its co-producer.[1] This is a ballad which talks about celebrating womanhood and was written specifically to Perry's daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom, and it's one of only two songs with vulgar slurs on the album.[4][5][6] The song's production was called "countryish" by some publications.[7][8][9] "What Makes a Woman" was written in D minor key and it's backed-up by electric guitars, while Perry's vocals spans from E3 to B4.[10][11][12]

"What Makes a Woman" was released on August 20, 2020 as the first promotional single of Perry's sixth studio album Smile.[13] It was supported by the release of acoustic video on singer's YouTube channel.[6] It was directed by Tim Sekiguchi and it features pregnant singer in flowy, purple dotted dress performing song live.[4] On September 1 animated video for the track was also released as a part of The Smile Video Series, and it highlights "all kinds of strong, beautiful women" according to Billboard's Rania Aniftos.[14] It was serviced to Australian radio on August 21.[15]

Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt described "What Makes a Woman" as "strummy" and "winsome", adding that it "could be a B side from peak-era Shania Twain."[16] Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine was positive about the track, however according to her "it comes too late [in the album] and ends too soon."[17] Mike Wass from Idolator called the song a "gem",[5] while Jason Brow of Hollywood Life called it "heartfelt ode".[4] Writing for Insider Courtney Larocca praised Perry's vocals, saying that they have "warmth" and "deapth, which are perfectly paired with an absolutely gorgeous guitar riff."[12]

Emily Mackay of The Guardian called the song "the weakest" on the album, describing it as a "cliched, countryish musing on the supposed mystery of femininity."[7] Lindsay Zoladz from The New York Times described the song as "sweet" and "twangy".[18] Pitchfork's Dani Blum found the track's songwriting to be similar to Perry's previous album, Witness (2017), and One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" (2011), without improving on them.[11] Writing for Stereogum, Chris Deville said that the track "brings nothing new or interesting to its subset of inspirational ballads."[19] Helen Brown of The Independednt called the song "one of the low points of album", because of how "uncertain" Perry "toys with gender cliches."[20] Callie Ahlgrim and Courtney Larocca from Insider questioned song's lyrics, with Ahlgrim conclusion being "I understand that Perry's goal is to capture the contradiction and duality of womanhood, but that gets muddied by her spaghetti-against-the-wall execution," while Larocca calles them "vomit-inducing".[12]

Credits adapted from Tidal.[3]