However, music fans may be surprised and have to hold off on tearing this disc apart. What's Left Of Me is hardly a one-topic disc. Now, there are certainly plenty of tracks that are written about the struggle that has ensued in Nick's life in the past year or two. The lead single and title track is indicative of that. Though written to someone else somewhere down the road, the track chronicles the fact that Nick is a hurt and broken man, but he's not giving up on love just yet (I'm half the man I thought I would be/But you can have what's left of me). And, as Nick puts it, "what's left of me" is what's left of him, both the good and the bad, just like the part he lost contained both good and bad. Basically, this isn't some, "Here, you can have the leftovers" track. This is an honest call out to whoever he may find next. Likewise, I Can't Hate You Anymore is written directly about the situation with Jessica. But, again, it is not a song filled with feelings of hatred and bitterness. On the contrary, as the title suggests, it is a track that Nick uses to say that he's done hating and being bitter. From the first two songs, listeners should be surprisingly pleased with the maturity in the lyrics.
But still, don't expect the entire disc to be an "ode to Jessica, good and bad" type of thing. Rather, tracks like Beautiful and I Do It For You take on a very different style of lyric. Beautiful is really a song that every woman should here from one man sometime in their life. The idea behind the songs is so simple, yet so important: You're beautiful/That's all that I can say/Unforgettable/I'm caught in every way/Don't ever let the mirror tell you lies/Just look at your reflection through my eyes/You're beautiful. On the other hand, I Do It For You yearns for a lover who takes love seriously. It takes a different spin on love than most are accustomed to. Where the woman is normally the one considered to take love more seriously, Nick writes a song from the male perspective that tries to find a woman who will take love as seriously as he does. It makes for a very unique and very solid track.
Much of the disc is indeed focused on the past two years of Nick's life, as would be expected from any artist writing a disc during such a difficult time in life. Tracks like Shades Of Blue, Ghosts and Everywhere But Here show Nick's struggle with Jesisca leaving, but they also show a maturity in handling it. He doesn't ever get into a mode of name-calling and bitter hatred on this disc. Rather, all the tracks lead up to the closing of the disc, appropriately titled Resolution. The track truly closes the disc in classy fashion. It is, in all accuracy, Nick's resolution of the matter; to let go and just continue to try and be the best man he can be. If everyone out there could resolve to do that after a relationship went sour, this world could easily be a better place.
Overall, What's Left Of Me is exactly what listeners will expect musically. It is definitely a pop disc, with a hint of rock thrown in from time to time. And Nick's vocals continue to be solid. It is the lyrics that make this disc what it is. Nick is a grown man dealing with a dark time in life. He manages to show maturity, class and resolve throughout this entire disc. It makes for an impressive disc. If reviewers decide to trash this disc, it will be based more on the fact that they want to get in Jessica's pants (Directed at the male reviewers of the world) than the actual quality and merit of this disc.