It wasn’t long after announcing a return to the studio that news of Jessica Simpson’s separation from her husband of ten years, Eric Johnson, came to light. And, of course, most people know by now that separation is just a stone’s throw from divorce. Which is probably why Simpson had no trouble getting as candid as possible on “Leave,” the second single from the forthcoming Nashville Canyon, Part 1. An album (even if “only” an EP) that will mark her first in fifteen years (the last one being 2010’s Christmas record, Happy Christmas).
And if the first single, “Use My Heart Against Me,” wasn’t already an indication of Simpson’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” state of mind (and yes, Simpson [in]famously covered that song in 2005 for The Dukes of Hazzard, which she starred in as Daisy Duke), “Leave” thoroughly confirms it.
While some (especially those familiar with Simpson’s era of music) might automatically associate the title with JoJo’s 2004 hit, “Leave (Get Out),” the more accurate tonal comparisons are to Alanis Morissette’s “embittered” (read: totally warranted) “You Oughta Know”—still among the ultimate post-breakup karaoke anthems—and Britney Spears’ (a.k.a. Simpson’s long-lost twin) “Stronger.” And, in commenting of her return to the music scene after a prolonged absence (even longer than Rihanna’s, which is really saying something), Simpson felt obliged to remark, “This comeback is personal. It’s an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve.”
So it is that the listener is given some insight into the context behind “Leave,” which heavily alludes to Johnson’s infidelity in the very first verse: “What we had was magic/Now you made it tragic/Givin’ her what you gave to me/Now the well that you drank from’s empty.” Yes, one imagines that at the top of the list of things Simpson feels she “did not deserve”/“put up with” for too long is being cheated on.
Thus, backed by a mid-tempo, twangin’ rhythm produced by JD McPherson, Simpson continues to broach Morissette territory when she accusingly asks her ex, “Did you do to her what you did to me/Was she on her knees?” It’s not quite as graphic as, “Is she perverted like me?/Would she go down on you in a theater?” or “It was a slap in the face/How quickly I was replaced/And are you thinking of me when you fuck her?” Even so, Simpson gets her level of vitriol and resentment across. All without even dropping the F-bomb.
Besides, in Simpson’s scenario, the greater concern is that he’s thinking of the other woman while he fucks his wife. Not, as Morissette gloated, being thought of when he had already cheated on her and moved on with that erstwhile other woman. Hence, Simpson’s demand, “I want you to leave/I don’t even wanna breathe the air you breathe/Oh I I’d rather die/Then let you be inside me with her on your mind.”
It’s a far cry from the more obsequious iteration of Simpson that audiences came to know with frothier hits like “I Think I’m in Love With You,” “Irresistible” and “With You.” The latter being inspired by none other than Simpson’s first husband, Nick Lachey (who illustriously shared one of the first reality shows on MTV with Simpson, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica).
Indeed, Lachey even appeared in the video with her to help further drive home the point that the concept was meant to mirror some of the “buzzier” moments from the show (among the least buzzy being their marriage itself)—e.g., how Simpson asked whether Chicken of the Sea tuna is really chicken or if buffalo wings really came from buffalos (let’s just say/hope she was playing up her own dumb blonde shtick à la Paris Hilton).
Needless to say, Johnson doesn’t get the same luxury of appearing in the video for “Leave,” which instead favors the “let’s film the recording of the song and make it into a video” approach. As such, there are plenty of “tasteful” moments of Simpson recording that are shot in black and white—this interspersed with other “recording studio vignettes,” like Simpson singing with a circle of candles around her, presumably for “ambience.”
In another part of the chorus, Simpson channels her inner Britney on 2000’s “Stronger” by assuring her ex, “I am stronger on my own/So hold on I’m letting you go.” But she’s quick to switch back to a more “You Oughta Know” route with the damning verse, “How’d this even happen/I can just imagine/I wanna know, then again/I don’t/She get you off dressing up in my clothes?/Don’t say you love me/Don’t even try to touch me/If you were me, you’d fall to pieces/I make heartbreak look damn easy/Oh oh oh/We’re not doing this again.” In other words, Simpson is paraphrasing another country-loving-but-frequently-pop-oriented songstress when she said, “We are never, ever, ever, ever getting back together/Like, ever.”
A conclusion that, sadly, belies the eternal romantic/optimist that Simpson started out as with such gushing sentiments as, “But with you/I can let my hair down/I can say anything crazy/I know you’ll catch me right before I hit the ground/With nothin’ but a t-shirt on/I never felt so beautiful/Baby, as I do now/Now that I’m with you.” In the decades since 2003, such warm and fuzzy feelings have curdled into the ideal fodder for the “he done me wrong” country genre. A boon for her still underrated singing cachet, but an undeniable bane for her personal life.
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