Music Review: Ashlee Simpson "Boyfriend"

Boyfriend
Album: I Am Me
Year: 2005

Ashlee Simpson clashes with a former friend who's been talking behind her back in the unapologetic "Boyfriend."

Pert guitars and springy "ha ha ha ha ha ha's" start the single. Simpson asks her friend what's she been up to. They haven't hung out for a while. She digs a bit deeper to find out if she did anything for the friendship to dissolve unexpectedly. Her friend's temper flares then. She starts calling her names.

"Whatcha been doin'? Whatcha been doin?/Whoa, Whoa/Haven't seen ya 'round/How you been feelin'? How you been feelin'?/Whoa, whoa/Don't you bring me down."

In the pre-chorus, the friend accuses Simpson of taking her boyfriend. Simpson calls out her friend on the rumors she heard. Her friend smeared Simpson to save face after being dumped. Simpson responds she wasn't a true friend anyway and she isn't going to stoop to gossip.

"All that s*** about me/Being with him/Can't believe/All the lies that you told/Just to ease your own soul/But I'm bigger than that/No, you don't have my back/No, No, ha."

In the chorus, Simpson tells her friend to stop assuming things and to quit listening to everybody else. She tells her to deal with her break-up with her ex-boyfriend. Simpson says nothing happened with the friend's ex-boyfriend and her.

"Hey, how long till the music drowns you out?/Don't put words up in my mouth/I didn't steal your boyfriend/Hey, how long till you face what's goin' on/'Cause you really got it wrong/I didn't steal your boyfriend."

Simpson scoffs at a telephone call she had with the guy. She said her ex-boyfriend wanted to talk to her and not the other way around. She says she's not a threat to her. She's interested in having fun and hanging out with her real friends than dating. She just got back home from her tour and all she wants to do is unwind. She takes a jab at the former friend, saying she's not a flash in the pan and won't waste her talent by hanging out with Hollywood's resident party girls.

"Well I'm sorry/That he called me/And that I answered the telephone/Don't be worried/I'm not with him/And when I go out tonight/I'm going home alone/Just got back from my tour/I'm a mess girl for sure/All I want is some fun/Guess that I'd better run/
Hollywood sucks you in/But it won't spit me out/Whoa Whoa, ha."

In the second chorus, Simpson tells her to figure herself out and she's becoming pathetic by starting fights with her. She also says to quit bothering her and the name-calling is tiresome.

"Hey, how long till the music drowns you out?....Hey, how long till you look at your own life/Instead of looking into mine/I didn't steal your boyfriend/Hey, how long till you're leaving me alone/Don't you got somewhere to go?/I didn't steal your boyfriend."

Simpson "whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, ha's" which segues into the bridge. Simpson yips that her friend needs to stop having her clique intimidating her.

"Please stop telling all your friends/I'm getting sick of them/Always staring at me like I took him from ya'"

The second chorus is sung once.

Simpson "whoa, whoa, whoa, ha's" and alternates it with "I didn't steal your boyfriend" twice to end the end the single.

"Boyfriend" is as though someone went to the nearest high school and recorded a fight two girls had over a guy. It has the right amount of drama and immaturity that makes it authentic. The Hollywood and pop star references could've been left out, however. It turns the single into "Us Weekly: The Musical" for a split second, causing it to stray from its universality a tad. Despite it being an Ashlee Simpson single, it's an unabashedly entertaining song.

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