"She Used to Be Mine" is a song written by American singer-songwriter

Sara Bareilles Sara Beth Bareilles ( ; born December 7, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. She has sold over three million albums and over 15 million singles in the United States. Bareilles has earned various accolades, including ...

for ''

Waitress Waiting staff ( BrE), waiters () / waitresses (), or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food and drink as requested. Waiting staff ...

'', her musical adaptation of the 2007 film. It was recorded by Bareilles for her fifth studio album, '' What's Inside: Songs from Waitress'' (2015), and was released to digital retailers as its

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

on September 25, 2015. The song was recorded by

Jessie Mueller Jessica Ruth Mueller (born February 20, 1983) is an American actress and singer. She started her acting career in Chicago and won two Joseph Jefferson Awards in 2008 and 2011 for her roles as Carrie Pipperidge in ''Carousel'' and Amalia Balash i ...

for the

cast recording A cast recording is a recording of a stage Musical theatre, musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the ...

of the Broadway production of ''Waitress'' in 2016, and performed by Mueller and Bareilles at the 70th Tony Awards. The song was also featured as a bonus track on country singer

Jennifer Nettles Jennifer Odessa Nettles (born September 12, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer. Nettles is the lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush, and prior to this she fronted the Atlanta-based bands ...

' Broadway album ''

Always Like New ''Always Like New'' is the fourth solo studio album by American singer Jennifer Nettles. It was released on June 25, 2021, and is her first release under Concord Records. Taking inspiration from Broadway, the album consists of cover songs from Bro ...

'' ahead of her taking over the role of Jenna from Bareilles in October 2021.

Composition

"She Used to Be Mine" is a

sentimental ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

written and composed by Bareilles with a duration of four minutes and ten seconds (4:10). The song is instrumented primarily by the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and also features

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. Bareilles' vocal performance has been described as "powerful", with a vocal range of F₃ to D₅. According to the digital sheet music published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the song is composed in the key of

F major F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat.Music Theory'. (1950). United States: Standards and Curriculum Division, Training, Bureau of Naval Personnel. 28. Its relati ...

with a "moderately slow" tempo. Lyrically, the song discusses losing one's sense of self and struggling with changes in circumstances, sung from the perspective of the musical's

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

, Jenna.

Critical reception

Madison Vain of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' called the song "delicate, nostalgic, and wonderfully theatrical," in the magazine's "7 Tracks We Loved This Week" feature and praised the song as "a beautiful introduction" to the musical's story. Charles Isherwood of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said it is a “gentle but wrenching song, featuring a melody that soars and then recedes in waves, is the high point of the show—and for that matter a high point of the Broadway season. Suddenly, a pleasant and polished but weightless musical comedy rises to transporting heights, and sweeps up your heart along with it.”

Context within the musical

This number takes place in Act 2 of the musical ''Waitress'', when Jenna, the protagonist, is reflecting on her life. Jenna thinks about the kind of person she once was and how her life has disappointed her. Bareilles explained the story behind this song during a Reddit AMA: "I wrote it for the scene in the movie where the lead character, Jenna, feels like she's lost all hope of saving herself from her terrible situation, and she's reflecting on who she thought she would have become.

Expansion beyond Broadway

Bareilles, in an interview with ''

'', said that "the range of who this song speaks to is much broader than I could have anticipated ...The chasm between who we are, and who we thought we would be, is always something we’re negotiating ... In the life of 'Waitress', people make an assumption that it's a very feminine show, and it is, and I love that. But these themes go so far beyond gender." Jesse Green, the co-chief theater critic for the ''Times'', reflects that "the emotional content has a classic arc from sadness and self-criticism to acceptance and triumph."

Live performance

"She Used To Be Mine" was performed at the 2016

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cere ...

by Bareilles and

. The song was once again performed as a duet with Canadian singer

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded eleven studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical opera ...

during the holiday special ''Sara Bareilles: New Year’s Eve with the National Symphony Orchestra & Friends'', which aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

stations in the United States on December 31, 2024.

Commercial performance

"She Used to Be Mine" was the most-added song on

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

(Hot AC) radio the week of its release, according to radio monitoring organization ''Mediabase''. The song debuted at number 40 on the ''Billboard''

Adult Pop Songs The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

chart on the chart dated October 17, 2015.

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2015 songs 2015 singles 2010s ballads Pop ballads Sara Bareilles songs Epic Records singles Rock ballads Songs written by Sara Bareilles Song recordings produced by Neal Avron Songs about pregnancy Songs from musicals Soul ballads