Girls Like You

The harmony of 'Girls Like You' is deliberately accessible — the I-V-vi-IV loop in C major is pop's most familiar progression. What distinguishes the song is not harmonic novelty but the interplay between Levine's soaring two-octave tenor (C3–C5) and the polished, warm production at 125 BPM. The rhythmic contrast of Cardi B's rap verse introduces hip-hop energy over the same unchanging chord sequence, demonstrating how texture and performance can transform identical harmony into a different emotional register.

The original version of 'Girls Like You' was written for Maroon 5's sixth studio album Red Pill Blues (2017) by frontman Adam Levine alongside Starrah, Gian Stone, Cirkut, and Jason Evigan. In early 2018, the band decided to release a reworked version featuring rapper Cardi B as the album's fifth and final single, with Cardi B co-writing her own verse. In an interview with Variety, Levine described telling Cardi B he wanted her to express her fierceness as a woman in her own words.

Released as the fifth and final single from Red Pill Blues in May 2018, 'Girls Like You' paired Adam Levine's melodic vocals with Cardi B's dynamic rap to create a crossover smash that spent seven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Its record-setting 36-week run at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and RIAA Diamond certification for over 10 million US units cement its place among the defining pop anthems of the decade. The music video has surpassed 4 billion views on YouTube.