“If I Were a Boy” is a commentary on the double standards that often exist between men and women and a story of role reversal. She explores what it would be like if she did all the things he did to her every day.

The woman in the song has been taken for granted but at the same time she doesn’t want to let go and lose everything that she once had. It’s unclear at the end whether she is final about not taking him back or if there is a note of hope that someday he’ll realize what he’s been doing to her and become a better man.