Overview
"Boyfriend" is a song recorded by American singer Ashlee Simpson for her second studio album, I Am Me (2005). It was written by Simpson, Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks, who also produced the song. The song was released as the lead single from the album on September 6, 2005, by Geffen Records.
Song information
The lyrics of the song consist of Simpson insisting to another girl that "You really got it wrong: I didn't steal your boyfriend." Simpson initially denied rumors that the song refers to an alleged relationship with Wilmer Valderrama, ex-boyfriend of Lindsay Lohan, saying "It's not about one person in particular, it's just something every girl can relate to...It's a song about [how] every girl out there sometimes thinks you stole her boyfriend. It's just making fun of that."
Simpson has, however, said that the song was her way of making fun of something she went through, and has said that she leaves the question of who the song is about up to the imagination; in one interview, Ryan Seacrest observed that she grinned every time she denied that it was about "anyone in particular". During a 2018 taping of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, host Andy Cohen asked Simpson about the song in a game of 'Plead the Fifth' to which she confirmed that the song is about Lohan and Valderrama.
The song has been described as "a punky love triangle jam". One review noted its rock guitar positively while saying that the song lacked "distinctiveness". Originally, "L.O.V.E." had been planned to be released as the first single from I Am Me, but "Boyfriend" soon replaced it ("L.O.V.E." did, however, become the album's second single). Months after it was promoted in the U.S., "Boyfriend" began to be promoted in the UK; Simpson went to the UK and performed the song on television shows there in January and February 2006. It was the only song from I Am Me released in the UK due to the commitments Simpson had in the U.S.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).