Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 12/02/07
Label: SonyBMG

If wishing made it so, Jessica Simpson would be the biggest pop star on the planet. Few blonde, beautiful, all singing, all dancing, all acting girls in America want it quite as much as Jessica. Yet try as she might - and let's not forget that she's come a long way thanks to her and ex-husband Nick Lachey's MTV series "Newlyweds" - she still finds herself trailing way behind the likes of Christina and Britney. No matter how hard Jessica works, she comes off as decidedly b-list, and no amount of Cowgirl sass and charm can seem to change that.

Fifth album, "A Public Affair", certainly makes a concerted effort to bump her up the standings and have the wholesome, if ditzy, All American girl who burped and farted her way into the hearts of a nation on "Newlyweds", taken seriously. Production heavyweights from 50 Cent and Snoop cohort Scott Storch to living legends Jam & Lewis, who made stars of Janet Jackson and Usher, have been enlisted. The soft focus schmaltz has been largely ditched for getting low-down and flirty, and the bmp has been turn-up all the way up from middle of the road to good time party.

All the pieces are in place for a major piece of rebranding. And what better way to nail it than to get Mariah Carey's favoured co-writer, Johnta Austin, to deliver a killer first single in the shape of the title track. Only, for all the single's girls night out fun, it's hard to miss that it sounds like a mumbled retread of Madonna's "Holiday". Likewise, "If You Were Mine" encourages thoughts of digging out Janet Jackson's "When I Think Of You", rather than hailing an over looked talent.

Familiarity and vagueness are themes which dog most of "A Public Affair". "Walkin' Round In A Circle" hints at Belinda Carlisle, "Swing With Me"'s prohibition raunch cries out for Christina Aguilera and the cover of Dead Or Alive's electro-pop classic, "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" is pure Saturday night Karaoke. Only when she stops trying so hard, settling for fun and cute, playing the cheeky chick in denim hot pants for "Push Your Tush", does she really find her own stride.

Capable of holding a tune and being a bit saucy as Simpson is, her personality isn't big enough to own such a range of styles nor make good essentially average songs. Granted "A Public Affair" is her best album. It bumps her right to the very top of pop's b-list. But she was probably aiming a good deal higher than that.

    by Dan Gennoe