"Être une femme" (''English: "Being a Woman"'') is the first single from the third French album, ''

Luminescence Luminescence is a spontaneous emission of radiation from an electronically or vibrationally excited species not in thermal equilibrium with its environment. A luminescent object emits ''cold light'' in contrast to incandescence, where an obje ...

'' by

Anggun Anggun Cipta Sasmi (; (born 29 April 1974), known mononymously as Anggun, is an Indonesian-French singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born in Jakarta, she began performing at the age of seven and recorded a children's album two yea ...

. This single was released in late 2004, earlier than the album which was released in 2005. This single peaked at #16 at France Singles Top 100, making her second Top 20 hits in France. According to Bureau Export (french-music.org) the song peaked at #2 in 2005 Airplay Chart and became one of the biggest hits in 2005. This single was also chosen as "The most popular single 2004" by

Radio France International Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

and has sold around 55,000 copies there. The English version of the song, "In Your Mind", was popular in Asia as well and has since remained as one of Anggun's famous songs.

Song information

"Être une femme" was composed by Jean Pierre Taïeb in 2004. The song relies heavily on

Arabic music Arabic music () is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse List of music styles, music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic Varieties of Arabic, dialects, with each countr ...

, with R&B influence. The French version of the song has a guest rap from

Diam's Mélanie Georgiades (; born 25 July 1980, in Nicosia), better known by her stage name Diam's (), is a retired French rapper of Greek-speaking Cypriot origin. Biography Mélanie Marie Georgiades was born on 25 July 1980, in Nicosia, capital ...

titled "Juste Être une femme" and a solo version. The song Ye Ishq Hai, from the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n movie,

Jab We Met ''Jab We Met'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali and produced by Dhilin Mehta under his banner Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor with Ta ...

uses a similar tune to Anggun's song. Also, beats of both song are similar to a 1994 song "Roop Suhana Lagta Hai", whose music has been given by A.R. Rahman. The song was for female-empowerment as a man is intimidated by a woman's looks and intelligence.

Track listing

;CD Single #"Être une femme" (Solo Version) #"Être une femme" (Fbcool Extended Club Mix) #"Voir l'envers" (Générique de Flat Mania) ;Remixes CD Single #"Être Une Femme" (Solo Version) — 3:23 #"Être Une Femme" (FbCool Extended Club Mix) — 6:08 #"Être Une Femme" (FbCool Extended Dub Mix) — 5:49 #"Être Une Femme" (Instrumental Version) — 3:22 #"Être Une Femme" (A Capella Mix)— 3:20

Chart performance

The song debuted on France Singles Top 100 at number 23, on issue date of February 5, 2005. Weeks later, the song descended to number 26 and then 28, before the song reached a new peak position at 17. The song reached number 16 in its sixth week on the chart (issue date: March 12, 2005), making Anggun's highest charting French single since "

La neige au Sahara "Snow on the Sahara" is a song by Indonesian singer Anggun from her first international studio album '' Snow on the Sahara''. Written originally in French by Erick Benzi titled "La neige au Sahara", the song was adapted to English by Nikki Matheso ...

" debut in 1997. "Être une femme" stayed on Top 40 for 12 weeks and on Top 100 for 17 weeks. The song also debuted in Switzerland, debuted at number 73 on February 13, 2005, and reached its peak position at number 58 in its fourth week. "Être une femme" stayed on the Top 100 for 13 weeks.

Charts

References

{{authority control 2005 singles Anggun songs 2005 songs Songs written by Anggun Heben Music singles