The song served as the theme song for the original show and the 2021 revival. An upbeat pop and pop-punk song,it is about seeing the brighter side of every situation. It peaked at number 100 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 83 on the US Pop 100 chart. A music video was released for the song in 2008 and was later uploaded to Cosgrove's YouTube channel on September 28,2010. Cosgrove performed "Leave It All to Me" during her debut solo tour the Dancing Crazy Tour in 2011.
Background and release
The revival's opening sequence
American actress Miranda Cosgrove,who starred as Carly Shay on the Nickelodeon television show iCarly,[1][2] was asked by the show's producers to record a theme song for the series.[3][4][5] The actress explained she had never made a song or been in a recording studio,but agreed and was very excited.[3][4] She recalled that she had a good time signing the song and wanted to record more of it.[4][6] The song was written by Michael Corcoran.[7][8] After it was written and recorded,"Leave It All to Me" ended up being the theme song for iCarly.[9][10]
"Leave It All to Me" was released on December 18,2007,as the lead single on the soundtrack albumiCarly,through Nickelodeon Records and Columbia Records.[11][12] A remix by Canadian music producer Billboard was released on the soundtrack album iCarly:iSoundtrack II on January 24,2012.[13][14] In June 2021,Cosgrove told Seventeen that "Leave It All to Me" would serve as the theme song for the 2021 iCarly revival.[15][16] She clarified that although she and the cast talked about re-recording the original theme or writing a new song,she wanted to keep the original theme song.[17][18] She explained that she had worked hard to keep the original theme song.[15][16]
"Leave It All to Me" features Cosgrove on lead vocals and Drake Bell—her co-star from Drake & Josh—on background vocals and lead guitar.[21][22][23] Heidi Kotansky of Common Sense Media described Bell's vocals on the track as "muted backup accompaniment that can't really be heard throughout most of the song".[19] She added that Cosgrove's vocals were "surprisingly decent and mature, perhaps a bit altered".[19]
The track is an upbeat pop and pop-punk song.[8][19][24][25] "Leave It All to Me" is driven by a steady drumbeat, with its bridge featuring an electric guitar riff and bells that transition into the chorus.[19][24][26] The track concludes with Cosgrove repeatedly singing, "Leave it all to me, just leave it all to me."[19][24] Lyrically, the song is about seeing the positives of every situation, giving the best effort possible, taking some chances, and realizing that some things are just intended to be, which is seen in the line: "Live life, breathe air/I know somehow we're gonna get there, and feel so wonderful."[8][19][24]
Kotansky described "Leave It All to Me" as "positive" and "peppy", mentioning that it is "very easy to get stuck in your head".[19] She remarked that while it was "not the most innovative or talented pop single", it "definitely beats a lot of what's out there for tweens today".[19] Critics Katie Louise Smith of Capital and Fletcher Peters of Paste both called the song "iconic",[27][28] while Cosmopolitan's Samantha Olson described "Leave It All to Me" as a "truly iconic theme song".[29] P. Claire Dodson of Teen Vogue found the song "instantly catchy",[16] and Danny Mills of Collider called it "catchy and upbeat", stating it has the "potential to get stuck in your head for hours".[25] Jake Viswanath of Bustle wrote that it "still knocks to this day", adding that Bell's feature "was a nice nod to Drake & Josh".[30]
Aric Jenkins, writing for The Ringer, described the song as "deceptively catchy", opining that Cosgrove's vocals sounded like "they were engineered in a Swedish laboratory for radio play".[24] Jenkins noted that he "detested" the song "through its opening 20 seconds", but later praised it by saying that its "Beach Boys–esque harmonizing adds a lovely feeling of cohesion and togetherness".[24] Nakeisha Campbell for PureWow said that Corcoran "hit the nail on the head" when he wrote the song, adding that she "absolutely love[s] that it highlights making the best of every situation".[8] Crystal Bell for MTV News ranked it twelfth on her "The 17 Best Nickelodeon Theme Songs, Ranked" list, stating that "the only thing that makes this better is knowing Drake Bell provided the background vocals".[31] Similarly, Jacquez Printup of Yardbarker placed it sixth on his list of "20 catchy TV show theme songs that stay in your brain forever", describing it as "catchy, motivational, and a bit encouraging, too".[32]
Commercial performance
"Leave It All to Me" debuted and peaked at number 100 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart dated January 12, 2008, giving Cosgrove and Bell their first Hot 100 hit in the United States.[33][34][35][36] The song lasted for one week on the chart.[33][34] The single also charted at number 83 on the US Pop 100 chart.[37]
Promotion and impact
The official music video for "Leave It All to Me" was released in 2008.[38][39] The video was later released to Cosgrove's YouTube channel on September 28, 2010.[40] Cosgrove would perform "Leave It All to Me" during her first headlining 2011 concert tour the Dancing Crazy Tour.[41][42][43] Bell joined Cosgrove to perform the song at Club Nokia, with his appearance gathering cheers from the crowd.[44] In January 2017, it had been around six years since Cosgrove released her second extended play High Maintenance, and took a break from making music to attend college at the University of Southern California. Bell wished she came back to making music and shared a throwback video of him and Cosgrove dancing to the song.[44]
In April 2017, Noah Cyrus revealed that she was a huge fan of iCarly. Cyrus made a video of herself lip-syncing the song and would later post it on her Instagram account.[45] In June 2021, rapper DDG released a freestyle that samples the track. The freestyle begins with the intro of the original theme song and features a section of Cosgrove's opening verse before transitioning into DDG's verse.[26] Throughout 2022, former Victorious actor and DJ Matt Bennett performed the song live during some of his DJ concert sets.[46] In July 2023, during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, Jaidyn Triplett, who was cast in the show's revival, posted a video on Twitter of herself singing the show's theme song. The video also featured Cosgrove, Nathan Kress, and Jerry Trainor dancing in the background.[47][48]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
