I got a BOYFRIEND. We like to FIGHT A LOT. We got a lot in common: he thinks I FUCKING ROCK.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Have we talked about the new Ashlee Simpson on poptimists yet? I've only just got round to it and I think it's BLOODY BRILLIANT. Haven't worked out where it stands w/r/t her first two albums but it's a logical next step - she's basically grown up and lightened up, she sounds very much in control of herself (whereas on Autobiography and I Am Me she was more likely to be found flailing angstily around her emotions, which was great, but this is just different).

She's got Timbaland, Chad Hugo, Kenna and Santogold on the album but it's really telling that nothing on Bittersweet World really sounds like any of them at all - the points of comparison are far more indicative of Ashlee's own taste (ie Debbie Harry and Pat Benatar time travelling to meet Gwen Stefani in her own 80s mode, or something).

Outta My Head - we all know and love this, yeah? I finally got Santogold's 'LES Artistes' last night when I realised it was basically a version of 'Outta My Head'. It sets the tone for the album in that Ashlee sounds as though she's singing through her laughter - I wouldn't call Bittersweet World playful as such, but Ashlee is definitely playing with us.

Boys - AWESOME X 1000! Total summer jam, Gwen Stefani understudy surpasses the leading name. Surely the next single if anyone involved has any sense (though looking at how Mimi and Janet are effing up their singles schedules, I don't credit anyone anywhere with any sense in this matter any more). LOL at "use your head but not that one". Erm what actually are the boys giving her though?

Rule Breaker - crunchy and funny, the song whence the lyrics in the headline are taken. Destined to be mocked by people who think Ashlee's trying to be genuinely tuff. Duh, she's still playing; when she sings "you think I'm a REBEL, cuz I keep making TROUBLE" she sounds like she's on the verge of cracking up. Laughter is infectious.

Little Miss Obsessive - one of the few glimpses of the old Ashlee. Huge soft rock ballad, I don't have much to say about it (yet) but I completely love this.

Ragdoll - this is like Rule Breaker but with less quotability and a stronger melody I think.

Bittersweet World - HEY IT'S ROXIE HART! You can really hear the influence of Ashlee's stint in Chicago on this album in certain places, most of all in this. It's not a big musical number or anything, the influence is more subtle - a slight note of vampishness, a cabaret wink here and there...one of my immediate favourites. The bit where everything but the beat drops out for the lines "there's a universal bottom line / everybody's in disguise, even you and I" is brilliant.

What I've Become - erm I don't think I remember this but I do remember it being good. I think the ticket inspectors were going round the bus while this was playing.

Hot Stuff - WHOA what is this madness? 'Hella Good'-esque beat (yeah insofar as this album has any contemporary points of comparison it's Gwen Stefani), rollercoaster melody interludes, Ashlee pouting and wisecracking for all she's worth. Makes me laugh, esp "Show off! She just wanna take her clothes off!" and "Whatcha gon' do when y'all zip it? [MASSIVE PAUSE during which you can just FEEL Ashlee rolling her eyes] Try to flip it!"

Murder - another wtf amazing track, swampy guitars and a beat which sounds like clip-clopping hooves - the ending is amazing, more Roxie Hart cabaret stuffz - I've never heard Ashlee sing so softly and sweetly.

Never Dream Alone - big piano ballad which I'm sure I'll grow to love when I pay attention to the lyrics.

The bonus tracks on the UK album seem to be 'Pieces Of Me' and 'Boyfriend' - we all know and love these, yeah? - but there are probably others doing the rounds. I seem to have acquired one called 'Invisible' which sounds like an I Am Me reject and is kind of negligible.

HUGE PASS, anyway - this has zoomed straight into the highest echelon of albums released this year (other members of that category: Erykah Badu, Mariah Carey, Booka Shade, Estelle, Trus'me, The Bug, Akiko Kiyama, The-Dream, maaaybe Sébastien Tellier and Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia and Kuniyuki Takahashi and Black Devil Disco Club).

Comments

[koganbot]

Did you know that one of her original concepts for the album was to have all the songs performed in the voice of fictional character Vicky Valentine? "Boys" and "Murder" and "Rule Breaker" and "Ragdoll" all are pretty clearly Vicky Valentine songs. And "Hot Stuff" is Vicky Valentine as Super Alien or something. (That's my vote for next U.S. single. I figure that since the radio won't play her no matter what, she might as well go for the extreme; I foresee it getting club play in SF and NY and Miami.)

About two-thirds of the way through this vid Ashlee sings what I assume is a song from Chicago (I've never seen Chicago, so I don't know.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The first I heard about the Vicky Valentine alter ego was in an interview where Ashlee was like "oh haha that was a joke"! But I read the threads about this mysterious Victor Valentine co-writer so I'm guessing there's a bit of Vicky - whoever Ashlee's conceptualised her as - in there. I don't hear anything specific I recognise as VV though because I don't know exactly what Ashlee had in mind when she thought of her: those songs do have a distinctly different narrative voice but it kind of fits with what Ashlee herself is like now too!

It all still comes down to "she's playing with us".

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Actually I REALLY wish I'd seen Chicago (I think that was the year I was completely broke and couldn't do anything which wasn't free) - the only production of it I've seen was, er, a school one, but Roxie Hart LOOMS LARGE as an influence.