"She Used to Be Mine"

I'm floored by Heather Headley's recent release--"Broadway My Way"--and I especially like her cover of "Waitress"'s "She Used to Be Mine."

If you've been living under a rock: "She Used to Be Mine" is the power ballad from the climax of "Waitress." It has become canonical very quickly: You can find it attached to Shoshana Bean, Ben Platt, Jeremy Jordan, and Lea Salonga, among so many other singers.

The great innovation in this song has to do with its title: You think the speaker is referring to some former lover, but in fact she is referring to herself. She is describing an impetuous youthful version of herself, a version now lost: "She is messy, but she's kind. She is good, but she lies. She is hard on herself. She is reckless and won't ask for help. She is gone--but she used to be mine."

In her current depressed state, the speaker is fighting to get back to some other life--a "messy" but rich life. This is the speaker's "I Miss the Mountains" moment (to borrow from "Next to Normal").

If you have a great idea, then the piece can write itself, and I suspect that's what happened here, for Sara Bareilles. You feel like you're witnessing a life-and-death struggle. The words are simple and clear.

Obsessed! And Headley's version is over-the-top and worth whatever price you must pay for the album.

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