Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 06/02/06
Label: Papa Joe Records

Looking admirably jugsy and improbably blonde on the cover of her second album, Simpson 'The Younger' returns. Best known for lip-syncing the wrong song on "Saturday Night Live" and blaming the incident on her band / the backing track / an 'acid reflux' condition, Jessica's less photogenic little sister now has the credit 'Vocals: Ashlee Simpson' listed next to every track, lest any doubts remained. Her voice is like a nasal Britney without the yelps and affectations; a bland, studio-smoothed tone that's well suited to the inoffensive, generic fare that comprises these 13 co-written compositions.

Herein, she's alternatively sassy and "bro-ken" - part Gwen, part Avril. A sooty-eyed siren, luring other girls' guys onto her rocky outcrops ("Boyfriend"); an empowered sista corralling her girlfriends ("L.O.V.E."); a boo-hoo I-will-survivor ("Beautifully Broken") and, erm, the new Derek Acorah ("Eyes Wide Open"). On the title track, she does her very best Courtney Love impression ("Woaah-ooh-WOAH!") atop a flimsy backing that apparently missed the grunge meeting, and she loosely addresses the "SNL" incident on the maudlin piano ballad "Catch Me When I Fall" (Does anybody see / That when the lights are off something's killing me?"), which is like "Super Trooper" re-done by half-wits.

With Jessica's failed marriage front page tabloid news in the US, it's perfectly reasonable that Ashlee would feel the need to assert her personality and use this album as a statement of intent. But, beyond the usual 'I love him. He treats me badly. All girls together. God, I'm so lonely - and deep' sentiments, there's nothing remotely individual on offer. The '80s-influenced arrangements, while slicker and more accomplished than the button-press pap of the woeful "That's My Goal" and its ilk, are without invention or memorable moments, while the angst-blog lyrics must have taken all of a chauffeured ride to the studio to jot down.

In fact, it seems like the most effort of all has gone into the cover art, which features Ashlee in a range of glamour Goth guises, none of them convincing. This release and 'edgy' reinvention is, one suspects, not really Ashlee's choice at all, but simply what her svengali manager father Joe deems most likely to generate the biggest return for his management company (JT Entertainment) and record label (Papa Joe Records). Pure pop is once again on the wane in the US, where even cornball performers like Kelly Clarkson and Hilary Duff are getting the major label 'rock chick' makeover.

If this fluffy, punk-lite petulance, devoid of any real personality is to your taste, lap it up.

    by Emma Morgan