 "Juanita" was the first ballad by a woman composer to achieve massive sales, and its original setting (for a soprano) has been seen to be subtly subversive of gender roles (as the woman singing the song is taking the part of the wooing lover), a topic of some significance to Mrs. Norton.As composing was seen as a masculine occupation, it was typical to borrow or adapt the melodies.The opening four-bar phrase of the song is taken from Handel's aria "Lascia ch'io pianga" from the opera "Rinaldo", although the subsequent melody differs from that of the aria.