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In her new song, “Leave,” Simpson sings about a partner’s “weakness,” singing in the chorus: “I’d rather die / Than let you be inside me with her on your mind.”
Jessica Simpson is opening up about pain and heartbreak in her latest single … following her real-life separation from Eric Johnson.
On Friday, the singer released a new song, “Leave,” the second single off her upcoming EP, Nashville Canyon, Part 1, which she described as her “most vulnerable track yet.”
In the song, Simpson, 45, sings about needing to get out of an “unholy matrimony,” and alludes that her partner has been unfaithful by describing his relationship with another woman.
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“What we had was magic / Now you made it tragic / Giving her what you gave to me / Now the well that you drank from’s empty,” she begins in the sultry track.
“Your weakness made me lonely, unholy matrimony,” Simpson continues. “Did you do to her what you did to me? / Was she on her knees? / Oh, she’s everything but me.”
In the song’s chorus, she sings about telling a partner she wants them to “leave,” saying she’s “stronger” on her own.
“I want you to leave / I don’t even want to breathe the air you breathe / I’d rather die / Than let you be inside me with her on your mind / I am stronger on my own / So I’m letting you go,” she sings.
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In the next verse, Simpson suggests that her man’s new woman wore her clothes.
“How did this even happen? / I can just imagine / I want to know, then again I don’t / Did she get you off dressing up in my clothes?” she sings.
At another point in the song, she reflects on her heartbreak, singing, “If you were me you’d fall to pieces / I make heartbreak look damn easy.”
On Friday, Simpson shared a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube, in which she opened up about recording “Leave.”
“Leave is a hard lyric for me to write,” she said at one point. “It was tapping into some stuff that was scary to tap into. But I needed to get it out.”
“After writing all the lyrics and the melodies I realized like ‘Why would I want to show off,'” she shared. “There’s so much power in being able to be subtle. And that’s probably the best lesson I’ve had in this whole process. Is that, music is about communicating, not yelling at people.”
Last month, Simpson made her return to music, releasing her first song in over 15 years. On February 21, she dropped her single, “Use My Heart Against Me.”
In Friday’s YouTube video, she said “Leave” was “one of the last songs” she recorded for the EP.
Simpson’s new music comes after she announced she and Johnson, 45, had split after 10 years of marriage in January. “Eric and I have been living separately navigating a painful situation in our marriage,” she shared in a statement at the time.
Simpson did not elaborate on the “painful situation” that led to the split.
“Our children come first, and we are focusing on what is best for them,” she added. “We are grateful for all of the love and support that has been coming our way, and appreciate privacy right now as we work through this as a family.”
The two, who have been married since July 2014, share three children together: daughters Maxwell Drew, 12, and Birdie Mae, 5, and son Ace Knute, 11.
Prior to announcing the split, Simpson hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring for some time in her social media posts. Johnson was also spotted without his ring on back in November.
Listen to “Leave” below. Nashville Canyon, Part 1 drops in full on March 21.
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