Songfacts®:

• Asia Whiteacre, who was one of the writers on this track, explained to Songwriter Universe that while it's a "girl power" song, it doesn't attack men or get preachy. "I wanted something that would help empower women, but also help change minds and people don't tend to react well when being attacked," she said.
• The video, directed by Hannah Lux Davis, shows Steinfeld in an array of looks: casual, glamorous, athletic, artistic. All are smart and strong and beautiful.
  
  At the beginning of the clip, Steinfeld is getting chatted up by a guy who says the wrong thing: "You're not like most girls."
• Along with Whiteacre, writing credits on this song go to Steinfeld, Ryan Tedder, Zach Skelton, Jeremy Dussolliet and Tim Sommers (Whiteacre also co-wrote Steinfeld's hit "Starving"). Tedder and Skelton also produced the track.
• The song was written in November 2017, the day after Donald Trump was elected president. "I just really needed to write it and the guys I was working with were totally on board," Whiteacre explained. "Once I explained the way it feels to be compared to the rest of your gender as if its a good thing you're not like them, I kinda saw the shock and acknowledgment in their faces like, 'Oh wow I never thought about that, thats f--ked up.' Which is why I wanted the song to not be angry. It sucks that men compliment us by putting down our entire gender, but I don't think that that's the intent; that they realize what their words actually mean when they say that.
  
  I'm really proud of the song. I think it was very important for it to come out with the way the world is and everything thats happening right now."
• Hailee Steinfeld celebrated women's self-love on her debut single "Love Myself." This slice of feminist trop-pop is another anthem for girls everywhere.
  
  Most girls are smart and strong and beautiful
  Most girls work hard, go far, we are unstoppable
  No two are the same
  I wanna be like, I wanna be like most girls
  
  Many missed the message when the video came out. "Here I am singing this song about how most girls are beautiful, strong, independent, have so much to offer. And the headlines out of that were: 'Hailee tries on a bunch of wigs, shows off her midriff,' or whatever," Steinfeld complained to The Guardian. "That's not what I'm trying to say."
• Steinfeld explained why she wants "to be like most girls."
  
  "I felt that we've been accepting the compliment 'You're not like most girls' for a very long time. I have," she said. "I feel like there's been this golden standard or rule that in order to be special you have to be different to other women."