Released December 16, 2003 Genre Pop, show tunes Label Decca Broadway | Recorded November 10, 2003 Length 2:58 Writer(s) Stephen Schwartz | |
"I'm Not that Girl" is a song from the musical Wicked, based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, composed by Stephen Schwartz, originally recorded by Idina Menzel (original song) and Kristin Chenoweth (reprise) on November 10, 2003, and released on December 16, 2003. It is a solo sung by the main character of the show, Elphaba Thropp (the future Wicked Witch of the West in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) in the first act and Glinda in the reprise in the second act.
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Context in Wicked
The song is performed midway through the first act. During the song, Elphaba expresses her love for the Winkie prince Fiyero, the most popular boy at Shiz and Glinda's boyfriend. She accepts that she knows that nothing can ever happen between them, as she 'wasn't born for the rose and the pearl', and is an unpopular girl with green skin. She also mentions that Fiyero has feelings for her, though this was unconfirmed. In act two Glinda reprised it about Elphaba when Fiyero leaves with her.
Kerry Ellis version
Kerry Ellis, who played Elphaba in the West End and the Broadway productions of Wicked, recorded a version of this song in 2008. In this version, the verses are rearranged and extra lyrics are added. It was also produced by Brian May with him on guitar; fitting more into to the rock genre. The song was originally released on her extended play Wicked in Rock but was also featured on her debut album Anthems. It was released as a single on September 6, 2010, accompanied by track "Dangerland" as its B-side.
Use in exams
In the 2010 Edexcel Music GCSE examinations, this song was used for one of the questions. The candidates had to answer a series of short questions on a sample of the song (e.g. 'How does the song change with the lyric "Every so often, we long to steal"?')