MUSIC REVIEWS
Ashlee Simpson - I Am Me
David Allun Jones
Both my Mac Dre-adoring friends and Radiohead-obsessed buddies collectively rolled their eyes at my latest questionable purchase: Ashlee Simpson’s sophomore disc, I Am Me. They asked me why I would waste money on someone who became successful thanks to a reality series and familiar family name, two credentials that they felt eternally put her in a talent-less pre-fab pop category, in other words: ONES TO NEVER RESPECT. But even if you tried, you couldn’t escape her coy and charming breakthrough hit “Pieces of Me”, a song I came around to actually liking after the seventy-eighth listen. And her voice, no matter how much flack she has been given for it, is definitely a unique trait: evoking a sense of weariness with it’s husky tone while remaining girly with the sporadic squeaks. All this, in addition to the whole “Saturday Night Live” fiasco, makes her one of the more intriguing pop artists on the scene, so curiosity led me into buying her revealing second album.
I Am Me finds Simpson more confident as she’s learned to like everything about herself, even the fact that she’s not perfect. It’s an overwrought and heavy-handed theme that seems pre-fabricated to put up a good front following something as embarrassing as the “SNL” incident and in the end, sucks out most of the singer’s youthful zest. Anyone believing that this album would be as fun and bubbly as the catchy lead single “Boyfriend”, a sassy “fuck you” to a jealous ex-friend spreading unfounded rumors spiked with effervescent punk riffs, might not be surprised to see most of the album fail to reach such inspired heights but there are other noted moments of greatness, especially when Simpson indulges in her favorite 80’s influences.
“Coming Back For More” and “Dancing Alone” both coast along driving new wave guitars before opening up with big, bright hooks that are hard to resist. The reggae-tinged “Burnin’ Up” and giddy “L.O.V.E.” take on Gwen Stefani-like characteristics but distinguish themselves thanks to Simpson’s rough growl of a voice. While the album closer, and lone, effective ballad “Say Goodbye” transfixes you with it’s swirling arrangement (reminiscent of an old school Madonna or Cyndi Lauper slow jam) and lyrics that look back on a storybook romance that took a turn for the worst (“There’s no way back/ And what if there was/ You’d still be you/ And I’d still need to say goodbye”).
Ironically, what ends up holding Simpson back is the same factor that makes her sound so good. Pop/ rock mastermind John Shanks produced the entire album and pillows Simpson with crisp and clean productions. Unfortunately, he also sticks her with sleek, processed guitars and standard, predictable pop-grunge melodies, making about half of the album sound virtually the same. And when Simpson takes a turn for the serious, as she spends several ballads doing, the results are lame and forgettable because they follow Shanks pedestrian blueprint with such precision.
I Am Me might not be a perfect record and probably won’t change the minds of people set on hating her, but it does offer glimpses of an artist that will only continue to grow and better her artistic output with maturity and more self-understanding. It’s easy to see she is developing a strong sense of what she likes and seems hell bent on exposing her every inner thought to the public, but an allegiance to a mass audience (that may not even exist) threatens to keep her in a “TRL”-baiting category that won’t ever earn her the cred points needed to be taken seriously. In due time, I can see Ashlee following the route of Fiona Apple rather than remain in the Michelle Branch/ Avril Lavigne mold and when she crosses that apex, I will laugh in the face of the folks who dared berate me for buying her shit.
