I love this song. I can’t help it. The hook is so catchy and upbeat. But I can’t help wondering, how wrong is this song?

Here we have Jesse McCartney, former blond, whose music I tried so hard to avoid because he seemed to be just another pop icon they were trying to force down our throats (and yet I know the chorus to “Beautiful Soul”). Zac Efron has stolen his surfer hair, so he’s cut it, dyed it brown, and decided to sing like he’s black. What makes me say that? Because when I first heard this song and pictured the singer, I pictured a young, suave black guy and I wondered what newcomer had come up with this song. And then I found out it was Jesse McCartney.

“Leavin’” is just like any other overly commercialized song – or any other kind of media – that comes out nowadays. It covers itself up with references to old material and references and really offers nothing new but the hook. In “Leavin’” (lyrics here), McCartney uses terms like “don’t stress” and “shawty.” He even talks about a G5, and, yeah, there’s a G5 plane, but Urban Dictionary offers some other less pleasant definitions. In any case, I can’t help thinking McCartney is trying to sound real ghetto. And how about “to the left”? Straight out of Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.”

Is it right for a white artist to exploit hip-hop culture to make himself marketable? Because that’s what this is. McCartney isn’t offering us anything new with this song, which is why I’m claiming it isn’t “inspired by” or “in the genre of” hip-hop, it’s exploiting it and exploiting our admitted addiction to hooks and already tired phrases. Perhaps the race example is only an added dimension that proves some people in the music industry are starting look at hip-hop as so mainstream it can go white. (And here I would like to point out that not because McCartney is white do I have a problem with this song, but because this song was made just for the money.)

Then there’s the music video, one giant, uncomfortable, awkward mistake. It’s just McCartney and some girl getting up close and personal, although there is really no chemistry and only a sense of “where on earth are they?” and “please, cover up.” Was all the focusing and re-focusing meant to be natural? Like how everything is filmed in shaky camera nowadays? Watching it, you can see that probably the biggest effort made was finding a lace-up bra and teaching McCartney how to undo it. There’s even a scene where the girl’s hair accidentally falls in McCartney’s face. That take should have been trashed but somebody decided it was natural and cute. It just makes the video look more forced and unprofessional to me. And unfortunately it reminds me of the video for the Goo Goo Dolls’ song “Here is Gone,” in which a girl comes out of the swimming pool in her underwear, walks into the kitchen, and kisses her mother’s head. That video had more plot, but that particular scene was also awkward and contrived and had some idealistic vision of what a young woman should be (namely, wet and in her underwear and not afraid to dance on top of a car in mini shorts).

Also, please tell me – who is the target audience for this video? Surely not men. This is Jesse McCartney, after all. But if the target audience is women, why are there so many shots of that girl (the video starts with T&A) and so few of what would interest women about McCartney (possibly his baby boy body, but I’m not sure)?

Sure, “Leavin’” is all over the radio, but at what cost? Why are we always watering down our tastes, to the point that we find it okay for such uninspired, derivative (and racially questionable) songs to make money? I have a copy of “Leavin’,” I admit it. But it got old after about 10 plays and I’m glad I got it for free.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)