The exit song for season 9 of American Idol is Will Young's "Leave Right Now," appropriately titled to send fallen Idol contestants back to the real world. Young is the first Pop Idol winner from the U.K.. Leave Right Now” is a hit single from Will’s second album, Friday’s Child. The single went to number one on the UK Singles Chart, selling 117,700 copies in its first week of release in 2003. The song's theme departs from the traditional uplifting spirit of Idol exit songs and seems a bit harsh, particularly the chorus:

"I think I better leave right now
Before I fall any deeper
I think I better leave right now
Feeling weaker and weaker."

The tradition of the Idol exit song began in Season 5 with Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" followed by Daughtry's "Home" in Season 6. Season 7's exits cycled through three different songs: "Hollywood's Not America" by Ferras, "Best Days" by Graham Colton, and "Celebrate Me Home" by Ruben Studdard. The exit song for the Season 8 of American Idol is a remake of the Motley Crue song "Home Sweet Home" by Carrie Underwood.

Idol producers typically select an inspirational home-themed ballad for the season-ending exit song for each week's contestant that lessens the feeling of a failure or dismissal. Will Young's "Leave Right Now," written by Eg White, initially evokes a harsher feeling.

White explained in an interview with the U.K.'s Telegraph, however, that writing "Leave Right Now" helped to turn his life around when he was close to hitting bottom."

“I had written loads of songs with loads of people and precisely nothing had come of it. I got asked to write a Christmas single for Gareth Gates and spent five days trying to do it and dug myself into total despair, I just couldn’t get the balance between cheesy and interesting, everything sounded shit. And round about two o’clock on the last afternoon of this designated period, I collapsed into complete depression. And by four o’clock I had ‘Leave Right Now’ completely written. I don’t really know how or why and I don’t remember the process. It was sheer desperation.”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/neilmccormick/5360406/Francis-Eg-White-interview-the-craftsman-behind-pops-perfect-songs.html

The song sat until it was discovered by Idol's Simon Fuller who declared it a hit in the making. Fuller offered it to Will Young after winning Pop Idol. Within five days after its release, it reached number one on Britain's pop charts.