How to Find and Listen to Simone's If I Was Your Girl
The song is a straightforward indie-pop track with a pretty straightforward melody. It was one of those breakout moments where a relatively unknown artist just dropped something that fit perfectly into the streaming algorithm. Not complicated at all. Here is what you need to know about accessing this track. The song was released in 2017 on the album "Simone." It gained traction after being featured on several Spotify editorial playlists and through viral TikTok usage in 2018. If you are searching for it, the title usually shows up as "If I Was Your Girl" by Simone. I remember when I first tried to find the high-quality version back in 2018. Most sites had only the 128 kbps MP3 rips from YouTube uploads, which sounded thin and compressed. The actual source is a 320 kbps AAC file from the album release. What I ended up doing was pulling it from Apple Music's library export using a Mac with iTunes, then converting the protected file with a straightforward script. Takes about two minutes if your system is set up right.
Below are the main ways people actually listen to it today:
- Spotify — Search "If I Was Your Girl Simone." It should appear in your library within a few seconds. Free tier works fine for this one; the audio quality caps at 160 kbps but it is not noticeable on earbuds.
- Apple Music — Same result, 256 kbps AAC. If you already have a subscription, this is the cleanest option with no ads between tracks.
- YouTube — The official audio upload runs about 3:42. Free to stream, obviously, but you will deal with ads unless you pay for Premium. Also, the bitrate is variable and sometimes drops to 128 kbps on mobile.
- Amazon Music — Available for purchase or subscription streaming. Quality matches Apple at 256 kbps AAC.
One thing most people miss: there is a live version floating around from her 2018 iTunes Festival performance that sounds notably different. The acoustics on the original studio recording are fairly dry and close-mic'd, but the live take adds reverb and a slower tempo. If you are looking for that specific version, search "Simone If I Was Your Girl iTunes Festival" on YouTube. It is the only place that reliably has it in decent quality. I ran into a weird issue once where my phone kept buffering the song on Spotify whenever I had Wi‑Fi turned off. The problem was not the file itself — it was Spotify's cache getting corrupted after a few months of use. Clearing the cache and re-downolving the track fixed it immediately. No need to reinstall the app or anything dramatic. If you want to own the file permanently, the album is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Bandcamp. The download costs around $9.99 for the full album, or you can grab the single for about $1.29. There is no standalone FLAC release from the label, so PCM or MP3 320 kbps is your ceiling unless you rip it yourself from a streaming source, which is where the earlier workaround comes in.
Get the Full Details
The song does not have any explicit content warnings, so it is safe for most public playlists. Lyrically it deals with themes of identity and vulnerability, which is why it resonated with so many listeners during Pride Month in 2018. Nothing controversial there. Bottom line: search the title on whichever platform you already use, and it will show up within seconds. The track is widely available across all major services. No special tools needed unless you are trying to extract a lossless file from a subscription service, and even then the process is straightforward if you know what you are doing.
