G.R.L.’s ‘Like I Do’: The Leak Mistaken for a Comeback Single

The song the official discography does not contain

“G.R.L. Like I Do” refers to a low-quality recording that leaked online in June 2016, almost simultaneously with reports that the American-British-Canadian girl group was preparing to return. It was widely treated by pop blogs and forum users as evidence of a comeback. The surviving documentary record, however, does not support calling it an official G.R.L. single.

A contemporary independent pop blog reported the leak on June 17 and explicitly described the circulating audio as low quality. That report linked “Like I Do” to a terse management announcement that G.R.L. were back, but supplied no label release date, writers, producer, catalogue number or official store listing. Its embedded audio was not a rights-holder publication and should not be treated as one.

The contrast with G.R.L.’s documented catalogue is decisive. MusicBrainz’s official release overview lists “Kiss Myself” and “Are We Good” as the group’s 2016 releases; “Like I Do” is absent. Apple Music dates the “Kiss Myself” single to September 27, 2016 and attributes it to G.R.L. LLC. Amazon’s corresponding listing supplies the same date and three-minute runtime. These are the characteristics of an authorized release. “Like I Do” has no equivalent record.

The responsible conclusion is that “Like I Do” was an unreleased or leaked G.R.L.-associated recording whose precise session history remains publicly undocumented. It may have been a demo, an abandoned master or material made by some configuration of the group. Available evidence does not establish which members sing on it, when it was recorded, or whether it was ever approved for release.

Why the comeback rumor carried such weight

The leak cannot be understood apart from G.R.L.’s painful history. Choreographer and Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin assembled the five-member group: Lauren Bennett, Natasha Slayton, Emmalyn Estrada, Paula Van Oppen and Simone Battle. After an appearance on Pitbull’s “Wild Wild Love,” they found an international audience with the ukulele-accented pop single “Ugly Heart.”

The record’s measurable success was substantial. It peaked at No. 11 in Britain and remained in the UK Top 100 for 25 weeks, according to the Official Charts Company. ARIA ranked it as Australia’s tenth-biggest single of 2014. Those figures explain why listeners still expected a major album campaign.

Battle died in September 2014 at age 25; her death was ruled a suicide. The surviving members subsequently released “Lighthouse” in her memory. The Official Charts Company reported that its video incorporated footage of Battle and was introduced with a dedication; its contemporary article also noted the group’s earlier UK Top 20 successes.

G.R.L. disbanded in June 2015. A joint statement from Kemosabe Records, RCA Records, manager Larry Rudolph and Antin confirmed the decision nine months after Battle’s death, as reported by The Washington Post. Against that background, even a vague 2016 message carried unusual emotional and commercial significance. Fans were not merely anticipating another track; they were asking whether the group could exist after loss, grief and a formal breakup.

Announcement first, confirmed lineup later

June reporting said G.R.L. were returning, but the eventual lineup had not yet been publicly settled when “Like I Do” appeared. This timing is essential. A leaked recording attached to the name G.R.L. did not necessarily represent the act that would officially re-form later in the summer.

On August 5, E! News confirmed that original members Lauren Bennett and Natasha Slayton had reunited with newcomer Jazzy Mejia. Emmalyn Estrada and Paula Van Oppen were not part of that configuration. E!’s report included the trio’s statement about resilience and identified Australia’s Nickelodeon Slimefest as their first major performance back.

That announcement was more specific than the June comeback tease: it supplied names, a public statement and a booked performance. It also arrived seven weeks after the “Like I Do” report. Without verified session credits, there is no sound basis for assigning the leaked vocals to Bennett, Slayton and Mejia, or to any earlier combination of G.R.L. members.

The later official music sharpens the distinction. “Kiss Myself,” a self-affirming club-pop track, became the re-formed trio’s first promotional release. The group’s authorized channel posted an official audio, and commercial services identify G.R.L. LLC as the phonographic rights holder. “Are We Good” followed in December 2016, with a video campaign extending into January 2017. The discography record contains both titles but offers no retrospective release for “Like I Do.”

What can—and cannot—be said about the music

The degraded file circulated as bright, assertive dance-pop, the kind of precision-built material readily associated with G.R.L.’s pre-breakup identity. Its hook and production suggested commercial intent to the bloggers who heard it. That is musical interpretation, not proof that the recording was selected as a single. Demo culture is full of polished songs that never reached an approved master stage.

No dependable public source provides complete credits for “Like I Do.” Writers and producers should therefore be listed as unverified rather than inferred from style or copied from user-generated lyric pages. Likewise, the leak’s June appearance should not be called a release date. June 17, 2016 is best used as its defining public-report date—the point at which the recording became part of the comeback narrative.

There is also no directly relevant official video. Uploads bearing G.R.L.’s name may be fan-posted or unauthorized, and an official channel’s existence does not authenticate every copy elsewhere. Linking to the group’s later “Kiss Myself” audio as if it represented “Like I Do” would create a different error, so the correct media field for this subject is null.

The reunion’s later turns

The 2016 trio performed and released music, but G.R.L.’s lineup continued to change. By 2020, Mejia was no longer participating, while social posts involving Slayton, Bennett, Estrada and briefly Van Oppen prompted another cycle of reunion discussion. These developments underline how unstable the group name could be across different periods. They do not clarify the personnel on “Like I Do.”

In July 2026, later reporting announced Lauren Bennett’s death at 37. LOS40’s retrospective account revisited both her role in G.R.L. and the group’s international success. That event belongs to the act’s later history, not to the provenance of the 2016 leak, and it should not be used to impose false closure on a recording whose credits remain unresolved.

“Like I Do” survives as a revealing artifact of anticipation. It appeared during the gap between a vague declaration of return and the announcement of an actual lineup, when fans and smaller outlets were eager to turn any audio into evidence. The documented comeback ultimately had a different starting point: Bennett, Slayton and Mejia were formally introduced in August, and “Kiss Myself” arrived through authorized stores in September.

That chronology is more informative than promoting the leak into a lost single. “Like I Do” may indeed have passed through the G.R.L. project, but it never acquired the public documentation of an official release. Its honest place in the group’s story is therefore at the margins: a tantalizing, unauthorized recording that captured the uncertainty of June 2016, not the confirmed first chapter of G.R.L.’s reformation.