Three years after the release of her debut single ‘Different Story’ in 2022, singer-songwriter Ruby Dean returns with ‘Leave Me Be’, a tender yet quietly defiant reflection on the messiness of letting go. Having spent the past few years performing across Leeds, London and beyond, Dean’s latest release feels like a significant step forward, pairing intimate songwriting with warm, elevated production that allows the emotion of the track to slowly unfold.
Written when Dean was just 18, ‘Leave Me Be’ is her oldest surviving song, documenting the aftermath of a turbulent first relationship and the difficult process of accepting that something has come to an end. “I’d been involved in this situation with someone which was very on and off throughout my final years of school,” Dean explains. “That final summer I realised it had reached the end, but was having a really hard time accepting it.”
That tension between knowing something is over and emotionally being unable to move on sits at the heart of ‘Leave Me Be’. Rather than presenting heartbreak as a straightforward journey towards closure, Dean captures the frustration, guilt and shame that can accompany taking longer than expected to get there. “The song was an ode to my trying to shake off the heartbreak, but feeling sort-of ashamed at myself for how hard I found it to do so!” she says. “It’s a song about sleepless nights and waiting and hot summer heartache.”
The track’s production beautifully embodies this liminal space. It begins with an aching delicacy, Dean’s soft, yearning vocals sitting alongside gentle strings and acoustic guitar, creating the feeling of being suspended between holding on and finally letting go. There is an almost nostalgic warmth to the instrumentation, particularly in the acoustic guitar that carries a distinctly 70s-inspired quality, while the intimacy of Dean’s vocal delivery keeps the song firmly rooted in the present.
As the song progresses, however, that vulnerability begins to harden into something more defiant. The repeated plea of “leave me be” gradually shifts from heartbreak into rejection, as though Dean is finally beginning to reclaim the space she has spent the song yearning for. “I was hung up on what was supposed to be, rather than what was, which grew into this anger in the second verse, at myself and at them,” she explains.
That anger comes through in some of the song’s most striking lyrics. “You were killing me softly with your love” captures the destructive tenderness at the centre of the relationship, while “But you made up my mind for me / and I hate my secret pawning / at a door that’s locked and bolted” feels particularly evocative. There is something almost physical about the image of continuing to knock at a door that has already been firmly shut, perfectly encapsulating the frustration of knowing that there is nothing left to return to while still wanting to.
Despite the emotional weight of its subject matter, ‘Leave Me Be’ never feels sonically weighed down. Instead, Dean and producer Evan J Martin have created something that feels expansive without losing the acoustic heart of the original song. Dean credits her bandmates Ethan and Evan with developing the lead acoustic melody that appears throughout the chorus, giving the track its warm, 70s-esque character.
“The version we created was not what I imagined but far beyond, and super aligned with the emotion behind the song,” Dean says.
When she eventually entered the studio with Martin, who produced, mixed and mastered the track, preserving the feeling of the song as it had developed through live performances was key. “I wanted to capture the acoustic heart that it had grown from playing live so often, and everything totally fell into place.”
That live quality remains one of ‘Leave Me Be’s greatest strengths. Dean and Martin recorded the guitar and drums simultaneously, with Dean playing guitar from inside a cupboard while Martin performed live on the drum kit. It is an unconventional setup, but one that contributes to the track’s organic character. Rather than smoothing away every imperfection, the production allows the song to retain a sense of human intimacy.
There is something familiar in Dean’s diaristic approach to songwriting, recalling the emotional immediacy of artists such as Gracie Abrams and Annabelle Dinda, but ‘Leave Me Be’ possesses a warmth of its own. Its acoustic instrumentation and gentle 70s influence give the track a glow that offsets its darker subject matter, making the song feel less like a snapshot of heartbreak and more like a memory being revisited years later.
Ultimately, ‘Leave Me Be’ is a song about the uncomfortable space between heartbreak and acceptance. Dean does not pretend that letting go is instantaneous, instead allowing herself to sit within the sleepless nights, the waiting and the summer heartache. By the final chorus, however, “leave me be” sounds less like a plea and more like a decision. After three years away from her debut release, Ruby Dean returns with a song that proves there can be strength in vulnerability, and that sometimes moving on begins with finally asking to be left alone.
Upcoming live dates:
19 October, Guildford, The Boileroom
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