Ashlee Simpson's "I am Me"
--Album Review--
At about this time last year, critics agreed Ashlee Simpson’s lip-syncing debacle on “Saturday Night Live” marked the end of her career.
However, her latest album, “I Am Me,” proves them wrong.
Simpson has demonstrated strong resilience despite her name being dragged through the mud more than Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan combined. Just last week, the angry citizens of Toronto held a protest against Simpson’s performance in the city. On top of that, a video has recently surfaced of an intoxicated Simpson stumbling through a McDonald’s restaurant.
Regardless, “I Am Me” rose to the top of the Billboard 200 chart this week. This isn’t a first for Simpson. Her debut album “Autobiography” maintained a similar status for three weeks in the summer of 2004.
American pop music consumers seem to have a love/hate relationship with Simpson and her music.
The record appeals to the same group of people who place “Laguna Beach” among the top 10 most watched cable programs.
Teens and young adults are embarrassed to admit they consume the over-produced and under-developed drivel infiltrating airwaves today. They probably gave a quick glance around to make sure no one could see them purchase “I Am Me” off iTunes -- the same way they close the blinds when they turn on MTV to catch the gossip between a group of wealthy, beautiful teens in southern California.
What is it that drives her sales? How can someone labeled “talent-less” by most American critics sell 220,000 albums in her first week of sales? Despite what her critics would have you think, the answer is her music. Simpson has once again co-written every track with John Shanks and Kara DioGuardi, as on her debut last year.
This time, the tracks are a little more jagged and a lot more “real.” She has also gone out of her way to shed the fun “Ashlee” image created for “Autobiography.”
The first sign of this drastic change is the new album’s cover art. A stark black and white image of a sullen Simpson lets the listener know that she is not a kid anymore.
Her hard lyrics and the driving guitar additionally alert the audience that they aren’t dealing with Jessica’s “little” sister anymore.
Ashlee has “really” grown up. Her first single, “Boyfriend,” has lit up the airwaves lately.
Gaining steam with Top-40 radio stations and earning the No. 1 spot on MTV’s most requested videos, it seems no scandal will bring her down. In fact, just the opposite has happened. The track is rumored to deal with her well-publicized feud with Lindsay Lohan over “That ‘70s Show” star Wilmer Valderama.
Also stemming from controversy is the dismal “Catch Me When I Fall.” Apparently, she penned it soon after the lip-synching fiasco that nearly exhausted her career.
Pilfering a big money-making scheme used by Gwen Stefani earlier this year, her letter crazy “L.O.V.E.” is sure to have pre-teens everywhere throwing on their pink wrist bands and trucker caps to get crazy with their girls. After all, who needs boys when you’ve got your girls by your side?
It’s almost as if Simpson has taken cues from some of the best female rock stars of the past half century and created a derivative jumble of sounds. The result is a sort of ornate musical cocktail that tastes all right going down but leaves you with that “what did I drink last night” feeling. It’s true the album is heavy enough on pop rock sensibility to earn its sales and radio play, as demonstrated by her usurping the No. 1 spot on the charts.
The “Me” she speaks of in the album title is nothing more than a style-stealing teenager running on the fumes of tabloid-generated fuel. Ashlee Simpson’s “I Am Me” is nothing you haven’t heard before and likely nothing you’ll care to hear again.
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