Gossip hounds hoping that
Nick Lachey's first post-divorce album would be laden with songs about his doomed marriage to
Jessica Simpson will be pleased -- scratch that, delighted -- with
What's Left of Me. If the album title doesn't clue you in to what it's all about, a glance at the song titles tip off its content: "I Can't Hate You Anymore," "On Your Own," "Outside Looking In," "Everywhere But Here," "Ghosts," "You're Not Alone," "Resolution" -- it's a virtual greatest-hits of brokenhearted laments, all sequenced as if it were a concept album about a man coming to terms with a painful divorce. To top it off, the centerfold photo finds
Lachey sprawled out on a mattress in a grungy trailer, a stack of worn books, a TV with rabbit ears, and an empty beer bottle within reach, all bearing the unmistakable subtext that this is what the separation from
Jessica has left him with (he also offers the following thanks: "most importantly, Miller Brewing...thank you!" -- but don't get ahead of yourself and think that this is a nod of gratitude to the beverages that got him through this difficult time; it's part of an extended thank you to "all of my friends who help to satisfy my sports addiction," which takes up as much space as his business, family, and fans thanks). So, this second album from the former
98° star provides plenty of voyeuristic satisfaction, as each song -- whether it's written by
Lachey or not (and chances are, it is, since he has writing credits on eight of the 12 songs) -- plays into the theme, which makes it kind of like the boy band
Blood on the Tracks. And while it's hard not to have sympathy for a guy whose sexpot ex allegedly cuckolded him through her affairs with Johnny Knoxville and
Bam Margera (it's possible to imagine a more humiliating list of lovers for
Lachey, but even if you added anyone from Wilmer Valderhama to
Artie Lange to that list, it wouldn't seem as bullying, as violent as that pair; it's practically a Jackass stunt), it's sure hard not to wish
What's Left of Me was a whole lot better.