"Please Don't Leave Me" is a song from American singer Pink and the third single taken from her fifth studio album Funhouse. It was released on February 16, 2009. The song received strong airplay in Australia and New Zealand, as well as being added to the BBC Radio 1 A-List playlist in the UK. The music video for "Please Don't Leave Me" was directed by Dave Meyers and was leaked online, along with the single's cover art, before the song's official announcement as a single. In the United States, the song managed to reach the Top 20, peaking at 17. The song was featured in Suburgatory.
Background
"Please Don't Leave Me" was co-written by Pink and Max Martin, who handled the production as well, for the track. It is one of four songs from the album produced by Max Martin, along with the number-one single "So What". The song is a mid-tempo track that details a love-hate relationship. Pink sings of someone having a bad effect on her, yet not being able to let go of the person. She insists during the chorus, "I always say how I don't need you, but it's always gonna come right back to this, please don't leave me." The song was one of the first three to be heard and performed from Funhouse, being performed along with "So What" and second single, "Sober", live on Much Music, prior to the album's release.
Reception
Critical reception
Digital Spy gave the song a positive review: "A really good video can make you realise a song's better than you originally thought — a case in point being the new Pink single. Within the context of her Funhouse album, 'Please Don't Leave Me' seemed like a quite good angsty break-up song — one of many quite good angsty break-up songs on there — but after watching the Misery-inspired promo it becomes something far more memorable. "I can be so mean when I wanna be, I am capable of really anything," sings Pink here, one of several lines that resonate harder once you've seen her brandishing a golf club, chucking her invalid boyfriend out of his wheelchair and chasing him round the house with an axe. Still, entertaining as the video is, it's Pink's bruised vocals — which convey the combination of bitterness and regret in her lyrics perfectly — that leave the biggest impression."
Chart performance
"Please Don't Leave Me" made a #46 debut on the Australian ARIA Charts the chart week of 19 January 2010. On the Official Australian Airplay chart, the song debuted at #8, making it the second-highest debut song ever on the chart behind Delta Goodrem's, "In This Life" which debuted at #6 in September, 2007. In its third week on the Airplay Chart it managed to peak at #1, making it Pink's third consecutive single to do so, and making it the first song to peak at #1 in that many weeks. In the UK it debuted at 162 on 2 November 2008 due to the downloads of the song from its parent album (Funhouse), which was newly released that week. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 28 on February 23, 2009, and has peaked at number 19. The song peaked at number one in Poland. In the United Kingdom the song re-entered the chart on 15 March 2009 at 171 due to digital sales from 'Funhouse' and reached a new peak of number #12, making it her 17th top twenty hit in the UK. "Please Don't Leave Me" climbed relatively slowly after its release in the United States. But after weeks of release spent on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Chart, the song debuted on #66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at #17, giving Pink her third top 20 hit from Funhouse, as well as her sixth consecutive top 20 on the chart. The song sold well digitally, entering the Hot Digital Songs chart at #70 and rising 26 spots to #44 the following week.
Music video
Background
The music video for "Please Don't Leave Me" was shot in late 2008, leaked to the internet on January 23, 2009, and officially premiered on Pink's YouTube channel on January 27, 2009. It was directed by Dave Meyers. The video draws influences from the 1990 Stephen King based film Misery, as well as other similar thrillers, including Cujo, The Shining and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. It utilizes both the horror/thriller genre, while also being interpretable as a dark comedy. In the week beginning February 27 the video was named Channel V's 'Ripe' clip of the week. The male lead in the video was portrayed by actor Eric Lively. Brian Christensen served as stunt coordinator, Nikki Hester as stunt double for Pink, and Justin Sundquist as stunt double for Eric Lively. The music video first aired on UK television on 4Music on March 8, 2009 at 10:45pm. It showed the full video, uncensored.