Ashlee Simpson

[Mass]

I'm enjoying Madonna's new album so much more than this. Hahaha.

[miriam]

REVIEW: Ashlee Simpson's 'Bittersweet World' fails to lift her out of mediocrity

By PRESTON JONES
Star-Telegram staff writer
For most of her career, Ashlee Simpson has been a pop music punching bag.

Catching a break has been next to impossible: The infamous, lip-synched 2004 appearance on Saturday Night Live, her reviled 2005 Orange Bowl gig, the did-she/didn't-she nose job, middling critical reaction to her albums and, of course, there's the association with her big sister Jessica (no stranger herself to public derision).
Is Waco native Ashlee the most wretched performer turning out product these days? No, but it's hard to see how she'll ever emerge from the considerable shadow of the tabloids (her brief run in a touring production of Chicago did net her some positive press) and be anything more than a paparazzi magnet. To do that, she'd need a killer disc, a record so stacked with effortless (or inventive) hits that any and all doubters were silenced.
Maybe next time -- Bittersweet World, Simpson's long-gestating third album, has been the subject of some outlandish rumors (at one point, the Cure's Robert Smith was supposed to be collaborating with the 23-year-old) but the final product picks up where 2005's I Am Me left off. Diving headlong into the '80s fascination she's only flirted with previously, Simpson drafted some heavy hitters to help out, notably Timbaland (whose boomy, oddball beats pop up frequently), Chad Hugo of the Neptunes and little-known Ethiopian artist Kenna.
As with so many young performers aching to subvert expectations, Simpson tries on different sonic styles (Ragdoll feels like a gum-chewing teenager's take on the Police; the title track is a bizarre cocktail of Stray Cats swagger and Avril Lavigne pop-punk) but can't find the conviction to commit. Near the album's end, Simpson lets her freak flag fly with Hot Stuff and Murder, a pair of angular, exotic tracks that don't feel like anything else on World -- rather than using these as a jumping-off point, Simpson treats them like afterthoughts, quirky ideas she just needed to get out of her system.
Most of World is in the vein of singles Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) and Little Miss Obsessive, songs cut from the cloth of Kelly Clarkson and Rihanna -- tunes that fade into the din of Top 40 radio, doing little to distinguish themselves. As the Papa Joe Simpson-engineered publicity machine cranks up for this disc (She's engaged! She's pregnant!), you can't but feel a little sorry for Simpson. She's the victim of an overbearing father and a public that cares more about who she's dating than what she's doing to earn a living. Bittersweet World, unfortunately, won't do anything to change that.
Star-Telegram.com: | 04/22/2008 | REVIEW: Ashlee Simpson's 'Bittersweet World' fails to lift her out of mediocrity

[miriam]

Ashlee Simpson's T-Shirt Line



It's time to give it up and call it a day when your clothing line makes Heidi Montag's line look like some couture shit. Asshole Simpson designed a t-shirt line for Wet Seal to help market her shitty ass CD. Who the fuck would want this bitch's ass face all over their t-shirt? I wouldn't even use her ass face to wipe my own ass.Click here if you want to buy this shit, but be aware that your computer will laugh at you once you hit "process order."
And since I've already hurt your eyes, I might as well hurt your ears as well. Here's Asshole on Leno last night. She should have lip-synched and then danced a jig. It would have been more entertaining.
Ashlee Simpson's T-Shirt Line | Dlisted

[Mass]

I like this review.

Ashlee Simpson
Bittersweet World
by Sal Cinquemani
Posted: April 17, 2008

What better way to usher in your new sound than with a new nose (and if scuttlebutt is to be believed, Paul Wendt's baby)? But the most notable accessories on Ashlee Simpson's third album are her collaborators. The news that Simpson would be working with Timbaland on Bittersweet World undoubtedly induced eye rolls from those who still pretend to care, but while Tim's name is attached to more than half of the songs on the album, they're largely produced by proxy. King Logan and Jerome Harmon of Royal Court take the reins on several tracks, while Kenna and the Neptunes' Chad Hugo pick up the slack on the remainder of the album.

With equal doses quirk and attitude, Simpson channels Gwen Stefani's "What You Waiting For?" on the new-new wave lead single, "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)" (co-written by Philly's Santi White a.k.a. Santogold), and the album's other standout, "Hot Stuff" ("Sunday school girl wantin' some," she vamps over a N.E.R.D.-esque guitar riff). Songs like the flirty "Boys"—not to mention references to addiction and anal sex on "Murder"—aren't designed to appeal to the same tween audience that ate up Simpson's transparent pose as the Anti-Jessica four years ago, but the album's second single, "Little Miss Obsessive," featuring Tom Higgenson of Plain White T's, and "Rule Breaker" are more in line with the emo-lite that helped Simpson sell millions.

Bittersweet World is another step in the right direction for Simpson; now if only she'd learn that real rule breakers don't write songs about it.

2 and a half **'s out of 5.


Link: Slant Magazine - Music Review: Ashlee Simpson: Bittersweet World

[rockpit]

Lol the aka made it all clear . Sorry...

[Teenager From Mars]

I am super disappointed by the t-shirt line. Why put your face all over them...

[orange-sky]

well she pretty much had zero involvement in the t-shirt line so I guess it wasn't her choice. She just ok'd them.
I dunno if that's better or worse

[Mass]

What did you expect?
It's exactly what I thought it would look like. Cheap and tacky. Easy money.

Atleast it looks a bit better than Heidi Montag's shit. I couldn't believe what I saw when I caught it on TV.
I was like, is she serious?

lol @ all these Hollywood girls and their faux pas clothing line.

[rockpit]

The Lil Miss Obsessive tee is an Av-Blender look-alike.

[miriam]

Is Ashlee Starting To Show?
Ashlee Simpson - who refuses to deny that she is [COLOR=#7a1a52! important][COLOR=#7a1a52! important]pregnant[/color][/color] (which means she may or may not be but probably is) and fiance Pete were spotted going to a Kanye West concert yesterday in LA.

Whether Ashlee is pregnant or not, she has (in this set of photos and some that came out from over the weekend) begun wearing loose clothing around her stomach area…