Is Ashlee Simpson 'Me'?

Few artists command less respect than Ashlee Simpson. Though her debut album, Autobiography, sold 2.9 million copies, Ashlee's infamous lip-sync miscue on Saturday Night Live confirmed critics' suspicions: that she was a talent-free creation of her manager-father, Joe Simpson. An Orange Bowl halftime performance several months later had spectators booing again, seemingly sealing Ashlee's "here today, gone later today" fate.

With the arrival of I Am Me, Ashlee steps into the ring again. Critical savaging has begun anew, but Ashlee seems determined to vindicate herself. And her comeback attempt has inexplicably reconnected with fans who quickly snapped up nearly a quarter-million copies (in its first week of release), giving Ms. Simpson her second No. 1 bow.

Meet the Producer
I Am Me exemplifies how today's producers are sometimes more important than the artists themselves. Ashlee re-enlisted über-producer John Shanks, whose studio skills have shaped the songs of Hilary Duff, Kelly Clarkson and Lindsay Lohan. Ashlee gets co-writing credits, but make no mistake: John Shanks' technically impeccable hooks drive this record. Whether it's delivering straightforward girl-rock, copping R&B rhythms or appropriating U2's echo-laden atmospherics, John Shanks' creative fingerprints are all over this disc.

Entertainment Weekly critic David Browne put it this way, dissing Ashlee's contribution while giving Shanks a backhanded compliment: "I Am Me does at least confirm that [Ashlee is] a producer's dream: a singer of no discernable personality who can be altered to suit the demands of the marketplace. ... Simpson's Svengali, John Shanks, is one cunning producer. [The sounds he replicates] are like studio exercises, ways for Shanks to practice his craft and prepare for his next jobs."

Clichéd but Maturing
The result of all this studio manipulation is simultaneously brilliant and generic. Girl-rock is governed by standard conventions, and while I Am Me's sound shines (if you like radio-ready pop-rock, anyway), most of its songs read like three-ingredient recipes. Start with a ladleful of attitude. "Boyfriend" tumbles out into the parking lot like a junior high catfight: "I didn't steal your boyfriend/Hey, how long 'til you look at your own life?" Next, add a cup o' sweetness. "In Another Life" gushes, "No matter what we do, I wanna spend my life with you." Finally, salt with a bitter breakup. "So I scream, scream 'cause it hurts," emotes "Goodbye," "Your every word cuts me inside and leaves me worse."

There are moments of maturity—a little gourmet among the beans-and-franks, if you will. "Beautifully Broken" recognizes that hard knocks are part of life: "I'm beautifully broken/And I don't mind if you know it. ... I'm filled with hope 'cause I get another chance." And Ashlee's discovering that fame doesn't fill the void within: "But everything means nothing/When the ride that you've been on ... Leaves you feeling lost" ("Catch Me When I Fall").

Simpson also deserves props for not amping up the sex factor in her material—no small thing considering the career trajectory of her big sister Jessica. When she's singing off the formula song sheet, at least she's not constantly sleazing it up, too. Several songs include mild sexual innuendo (on "Burnin' Up" Ashlee pants, "I'm so hot"), but nowhere is I Am Me as explicit as Autobiography's "Lala" was (a song that fantasizes about kitchen-floor sex). And she actually resists sexual temptation later in "Burnin' Up": "It's getting really hot in here/And soon it will be hard to say goodnight/The time's not right/So say goodnight." Indeed, one mild profanity and one misuse of God's name are the only other content concerns worth noting.

A Happy Accident?
All that makes me conclude Ashlee's refusal to push the envelope sexually is the most noteworthy thing about the CD. And I wish I could confidently say it's a good indication of what's to come. Given some of her and her father's recent comments, however, I Am Me might be more of a happy accident.

Last summer, Ashlee co-starred in the below-radar movie Undiscovered. Her character was slated to be a lesbian, but Joe Simpson urged producers to rewrite her part. His objections proved pragmatic, though, not moral. As reported in the New York Post, he put his calculations on display by stating, "It doesn't work for her to be gay the first thing out." Ashlee added, "But it's cool, it's edgy, it's different." Dad concluded, "She's going to be a huge movie star. ... When we're done, she'll play it all."

By her own admission, then, it seems Ashlee Simpson is aspiring to be cool, edgy and different. Values that, oddly enough, practically predestine her to cultural conformity and mediocrity.