Why Can't I?

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"Why Can't I?"
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Single by Liz Phair
from the album Liz Phair
B-side
  • "Jeremy Engle"
  • "Fine Again"
ReleasedMay 5, 2003 (2003-05-05)
StudioDecoy (Studio City)
GenrePop rock
Length3:28
LabelCapitol
Songwriters
ProducerThe Matrix
Liz Phair singles chronology
"Whip-Smart"
(1995) 		"Why Can't I?"
(2003) 		"Extraordinary"
(2004)
Music video
"Why Can't I?" on YouTube

"Why Can't I?" is a song by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair. It was released on May 5, 2003, as the lead single from her self-titled fourth album. It reached number 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Phair's highest-charting single and only top-40 single. The song was certified gold in the US, having sold 500,000 copies there.

Writing and inspiration

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"Why Can't I?" was written by Liz Phair and The Matrix. Phair released "Why Can't I?" in hopes that she would expand her audience and attract more listeners to its parent record, Liz Phair (2003). In an interview with Vice, Phair explained: "My hope was that someone would hear the song in the gym and buy the record and then start buying my albums and sort of have an awakening."[1]

Composition

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"Why Can't I?" is written in the key of B major and has a tempo of 81 beats per minute.[2] It follows a chord progression of B–B/A♯–G♯m7–E(add 2).[3]

Critical reception

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File:Avril Lavigne playing guitar, St. Petersburg (crop).jpg
File:Michelle Branch Centennial Concert.jpg
"Why Can't I?" was compared to songs by Avril Lavigne (left) and Michelle Branch (right).

Chuck Taylor of Billboard called the song a "melodic adult pop/rocker" and a "knock-out, stand-out, break-out record that adult top 40 should take right home."[4] Matt LeMay of Pitchfork said that with the "cookie-cutter rock/pop background" it could easily pass for Michelle Branch."[5] Mary Huhn of the New York Post called the song "a breathless romantic confection, and very un-Phair-like".[6] Mim Udovitch of Slate called the song an "almost parodically basic power ballad" but stated that the chorus is "hooky".[7]

Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club criticized the song, referring to it as "an embarrassingly awkward marriage of dumbed-down Phair songwriting and every tired production trick of the last year". Adrien Begrand of PopMatters compared the song to Avril Lavigne, referring to it as "a note-for-note retread of Lavigne's "Complicated".[8]

Music video

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The video was directed by Phil Harder and was released in June 2003. It features a jukebox where an unknown man puts a coin in the jukebox where Liz Phair appears on every record cover on the jukebox indicating the song's lyrics.

Track listing

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  1. "Why Can't I?"  – 3:28
  2. "Jeremy Engle"  – 3:10
  3. "Fine Again"  – 2:47
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The song was featured in the films How to Deal (2003), 13 Going on 30 (2004), and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004). On television, it was featured on The O.C. season 1 episode "The Debut" (2003), the Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County episode "18 Candles" (2004), the Tru Calling episode "Past Tense" (2003), the October Road episode "Let's Get Owen" (2007), and the Everwood episode "Just Like in the Movies" (2003).

Credits and personnel

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Credits and personnel are adapted from the Liz Phair album liner notes.[10]

Charts

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Certifications and sales

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[21] Gold 500,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Release history

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Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United States May 5, 2003
Capitol [22]
July 14, 2003 Contemporary hit radio [23]

References

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  4. ^ Billboard - June 7, 2003, page 42
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  11. ^ "Liz Phair – Why Can't I?" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  12. ^ "Liz Phair – Why Can't I?". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  13. ^ "Liz Phair Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  14. ^ "Liz Phair Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
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