"Girlfriend" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. The song was written by Lavigne and Dr. Luke; the latter is also the producer. "Girlfriend" was released as the lead single from her third studio album, The Best Damn Thing (2007) on February 27, 2007 by Columbia and RCA Records. Lyrically, the song revolves around its protagonist having a crush on someone who is in a relationship, proclaiming she should be his girlfriend. The song has been noted to have similarities to Toni Basil's 1982 single "Mickey", and The Rubinoos' 1979 single "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". The songwriters of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" sued Lavigne and Dr. Luke for copyright infringement; the suit was later settled.
"Girlfriend" received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complimented its catchiness. The song was a worldwide success, peaking at the top spot of the charts in eight countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and was Lavigne's first number-one song in the United States, reaching the top on Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Top 40 Mainstream. It additionally charted in the top ten of most other countries. The song's accompanying music video, directed by The Malloys, sees Lavigne portraying three alter-egos, with all of them fighting over the same guy. In June 2007, the song's official remix, featuring American rapper Lil Mama, was released. Lavigne performed the song a number of times, including at the 2007 MuchMusic Video Awards, the 2007 Teen Choice Awards, and the 2008 Juno Awards.
The song's success made it a mainstay of pop music in the late 2000s. "Girlfriend" was certified multi-platinum in Australia and the United States. It was among the top-selling songs of 2007, with over 7.3 million worldwide sales. In 2008, the song became the most viewed video on YouTube, and was the first video on the site to reach 100 million views. Rolling Stone ranked the song number thirty-five on their "Top 100 Songs of 2007" list. Several versions of the song were released with the chorus sung in multiple languages. In 2010, the song was named the ninety-fourth most successful song on the Hot 100 in the 2000s decade. Allmusic highlighted the song as one of the most significant pop punk songs of all time. The song also received several awards, including Most Addictive Track at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Song of the Year at Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica, Choice Music: Single at Teen Choice Awards, the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Song and was nominated for Single of the Year at the Juno Awards.
Background and composition
Following the release of her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004), Lavigne wanted to record more "fun and upbeat" music. "Girlfriend" was written by Lavigne and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, with Dr. Luke also producing the track. The song was written while Lavigne was intoxicated, with Lavigne commenting that the chorus only took two minutes to write. Lavigne was initially hesitant to release "Girlfriend" as the lead single from The Best Damn Thing, referring to the song's conception as "just a joke." The song was not based on a personal experience, with Lavigne opting to write about general topics to appeal to a wider audience. In December 2006, Lavigne announced the song as the lead single from her then-upcoming album:
Hey guys! I keep getting asked about my record and what it is called [...] so I wanted to give u guys all the info directly [...] I'm calling the record The Best Dam Thing, and the first single is called "Girlfriend", the single comes out February and the record in April. I promise you guys will love this record, it is my favorite one!!! And I can't wait! It is really fast, fun, young, bratty, aggressive, confident, cocky in a playful way [...] all the good stuff.
In an effort to appeal to non-English markets, Lavigne recorded the song's chorus in seven different languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and Mandarin. Lavigne spent hours studying these different languages in order to ensure a correct pronunciation with her various deliveries. A Hindi version of the song was recorded twice, although it was scrapped due to issues with the diction and meter when converting the song's chorus from its Western rhythms to Hindi. "Girlfriend" is a moderately fast pop punk, and power pop song. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing, the song is written in the key of D major and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 164 beats per minute. Lavigne's vocal range spans two octaves, from A3 to D5. Lyrically, the song is about wanting to steal someone's boyfriend. PopMatters compared the song with "Mickey" by Tony Basil.