Autobiography (Ashlee Simpson album)
| Autobiography | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Album by Ashlee Simpson | ||
| Released | July 20 2004 | |
| Recorded | Henson Recording Studio, Hollywood, CA | |
| Genre | Pop/Rock | |
| Length | 44 min 1 sec | |
| Record label | Geffen | |
| Producer | John Shanks | |
| Professional reviews | ||
| AMG | 3.5 / 5 | link |
| BBC | Mixed | link |
| Billboard | Positive | link |
| Blender | 3 / 5 | link |
| E! Online | B- | link |
| Entertainment Weekly | B- | link |
| IGN | 6.5 / 10 | link |
| People | 2.5 / 4 | link |
| Rolling Stone | 2 / 5 | link |
| Village Voice | Positive | link |
Autobiography is the first album by Ashlee Simpson. It was released in the United States by Geffen Records on July 20, 2004 and debuted at number one in sales. It is a mixture of pop and rock and includes "Pieces of Me", one of the most popular songs in the U.S. in mid-2004, as well as the follow-up singles "Shadow" and "La La". The process of making the album was recorded in Simpson's MTV reality show, The Ashlee Simpson Show.
About the songs
The songs on Autobiography are, as the title suggests, strongly autobiographical in nature: they deal primarily with Simpson's feelings and her experiences in relationships—both love and heartbreak. "Every song on my album has a meaning and something that happened during it," she has said.1 In one interview, she said—responding to a question about why she named her album "Autobiography"—"...Basically, everything that I was going through in my life, ... I would go in the studio and write a song about it, and it was just kind of like ... a diary." (Capital FM, London, September 15, 2004) Responding to a question from Charles Gibson on Good Morning America—"You're 19 years old; how can you have an autobiography at 19?"—Simpson said half-jokingly: "Yeah, you know, it's pretty dramatic being 19 years old; I mean, we have boyfriends, we get our hearts broken..." (July 19, 2004)
The album incorporates both rock and pop elements—"I wanted to have, like, that element of, you know, rock ... the cool thing about, you know, rock is just to be able to go in there and...be free, and just kind of do whatever you want", Simpson said in one interview (Total Request Live UK, September 15, 2004)—in notable contrast to the more strongly pop-oriented music of her sister, Jessica Simpson. On her reality show, Ashlee emphasized that she did not want her music to be like her sister's, or to be like that of Hilary Duff. On the contrary, she sometimes cites as influences past women of rock, such as Chrissie Hynde and Joan Jett.
Critical reviews of Autobiography have been mixed. People magazine regarded the album as a "passable debut" and said that it showed Simpson was a "credible talent in her own right" (August 2, 2004, page 41), while All Music Guide said it was "an unexpectedly strong debut". [1] Blender magazine said in its review that "there isn't a song on her debut that doesn't paint in huge strokes" (September 2004), and Billboard said that it was "chock-full of catchy songs." (August 7, 2004) The album has also been described as "edgy, soulful and real". [2]
Other reviews have been more negative, however. Rolling Stone, for example, called it "mundane" with a "predictable script". (August 5, 2004) In its review, the BBC said that "half the album ... feels self indulgent and lacks substance". [3] IGN.com, in a mixed review, called it "by-the-books, generic (and at times bland) pop/rock". (September 17, 2004)
The music on Autobiography is sometimes compared to that of Avril Lavigne and Pink, in that it is all rock-flavored pop (or pop-flavored rock) sung by young women who incorporate rebellion or at least independence into their images. For example, the New York Times, in its review of the album, said that Autobiography "is a thoroughly calculated package, aiming for the same audience that embraces Avril Lavigne and Pink." The NYT article grouped Autobiography's review together with a review of Maria Mena's album White Turns Blue; the article argued that on both albums, the artists' "paramount concern" is self-esteem: "a never-ending battle against adolescent insecurity." 2
For its part, The Village Voice (which grouped a review of Autobiography together with one of Hilary Duff's self-titled second album), compared Autobiography favorably to Courtney Love's 2004 album America's Sweetheart: "American Sweetheart is tragic and blasted and pissed-off and pathetic and desperate and sad; Autobiography is all those things, plus it has Fruit Stripe bubblegrunge guitars and insanely chewy melodies and an ear-tickling production job." In addition, it praised Simpson's singing, stating: "...Simpson can pack so much contradictory emotion into a single line—a single word—that the music can barely contain it." 3
Singles
"Pieces of Me", the first single, is an upbeat song that was written about Simpson's relationship with the musician Ryan Cabrera, a friend with whom she became romantically involved. The song's lyrics describe the comfort and happiness she finds with him. The music video for "Pieces of Me" features Simpson singing in a studio, surrounded by her backing band; clips from The Ashlee Simpson Show, which made its debut on television not long after the song hit radio, are interspersed throughout the video.
"Shadow", the second single, is about feelings she had (when she was about 15 or 16 years old, according to one interview [4]) of living in the shadow of the dreams and accomplishments of her famous older sister, Jessica Simpson, and finding her own identity. Although the song is noted for having somewhat dark lyrics, especially in comparison to the upbeat "Pieces of Me", it has a positive message, and towards the end of the song Simpson sings that "everything's cool now" and "the past is in the past".
"Shadow" was called the "best and most personal song" on the album by People magazine in its review. Others, however, have criticized the song's lyrics—which begin with the line "I was six years old / when my parents went away"—for seeming excessively dramatic in light of the fact that Simpson's family is apparently quite happy and loving, as seen on the reality shows Newlyweds and The Ashlee Simpson Show. [5]
The music video for "Shadow" is more elaborate than the video for "Pieces of Me". In the video, which includes considerable symbolism, Simpson plays two different versions of herself, blonde and brunette, who live in separate "worlds" which exist side by side. The world of the blonde Ashlee appears happy and perfect, while the brunette Ashlee seems to have more negative feelings—at one point she shoves a bowl of cereal prepared by the blonde Ashlee off a kitchen table—but eventually it is revealed that the blonde Ashlee is not as happy as she seems. At the end of the video, shadows are seen symbolically leaving the brunette Ashlee—this may be interpreted to mean she has found her own identity.
The planned third single is "La La", the most energetic, rock-oriented song on the album. The lyrics to the song are highly sexual—"You make me wanna la la in the kitchen on the floor / I'll be a French maid when I meet you at the door"—but Simpson has described them as tongue-in-cheek: "It was one of those songs where every silly thing that was sexual that I could think of I put into the song."4 In an appearance on Total Request Live on November 18, Simpson said light-heartedly about the song that "you can take it how you wanna take it." Reactions to the song have been mixed; People magazine called it "insipid" in its review of the album.
The music video for "La La" debuted on the Internet on AOL's "First View" on November 22 and on television in an episode of MTV's Making the Video on November 23. In the latter case, the video premiere was preceded by a show about the filming of the video, in which Simpson described the song as "almost an expression of just letting loose". The video, which takes place in a suburban setting, features Simpson and her friends hanging around town, getting into trouble, and partying through the night. In Making the Video, Simpson compares the video to the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High (it could also be compared to the Smashing Pumpkins' 1996 video for their song "1979"). Simpson is seen singing the song, dancing on top of a car, in front of a donut shop, and laying on a couch playing a skateboarding video game. The video continues with a late-night party around a swimming pool, but it gets broken up by the police, and Simpson and the crowd head to a laundromat, where the partying continues.
Other songs
The title track, "Autobiography", is an upbeat, rock-flavored song that serves to introduce Simpson at the beginning of the album: "Got stains on my t-shirt, and I'm the biggest flirt," she sings. At the song's beginning, she sings that "you think you know me", but, she sings later, "if you want my auto, want my autobiography / baby, just ask me." The Village Voice review described the song as "a compact masterpiece of wrist-pumping Joan Jett rock candy". "Autobiography" is also the theme song to The Ashlee Simpson Show, and at the end of the last episode of the show's first season, it plays over a montage of clips from the show. In October 2004 it was announced that "Autobiography" would be the album's third single, following an internet poll in which fans chose it as the song they wanted to be the next single (it was one of three options; "Better Off" came in second place and "La La" in third). On October 29, however, it was announced on Simpson's official website that "Autobiography" would be replaced as the third single by "La La".
The fifth track, "Love Makes the World Go Round", was described as "a smooth, clean, Top40 ready slice of generic pop" by IGN in its review. People magazine said that Simpson "succumbs to cliché" on this song.
"Better Off", the album's sixth track, was described by People magazine as a "bubbly" song that "should have Hilary Duff worried". However, IGN, in its review of the album, called it a "slow-to-mid-tempo shuffle that actually features some poignant imagery", but "falls victim to the run-of-the-mill production and eventually simplistic lyrics."
"Love Me for Me" (the title is sometimes incorrectly given as "Love for Me", presumably because on the back cover of the album it is stylistically written in a manner that only has one "Me", but is supposed to be read as though it were two—in the song's lyrics, the line "love me for me" is clearly sung)—in which Simpson sings, "Here I am, perfect as I'm ever gonna be"—was described by People magazine as "Joan Jett-esque", but in its review, People also said that Simpson "doesn't quite nail" the song's "tough rocker-chick pose". Rolling Stone, in its review, said that the song represented the album's "nadir". Blender magazine, however, humorously noted in its review of the album that "Love Me for Me" has "so many coy mood swings and head games it could vaporize an emo boy on contact."
It is followed by "Surrender", a rock-oriented, upbeat song in which Simpson sings with light-hearted frustration, "Oh, you drive me crazy", and tells the object of her affections to "open up your eyes / don't you know you only get one life?" It has been described as a highlight of the album, having an "in-your-face attitude" and "gentle electronic flourishes".5
"Unreachable", one of the album's melancholy songs, is about Simpson's breakup with her ex-boyfriend, Josh Henderson, which featured in the first episode of The Ashlee Simpson Show. "You can't push a river, you can't make me fall / but you can make me unreachable," she sings poignantly. "Unreachable" is credited to five people, more than any other on the album, including Stan Frazier, the drummer of the band Sugar Ray. The subsequent track, "Nothing New", is about conflict in a relationship and the emotional turmoil that comes with it, but it concludes with Simpson singing that "I'm over the drama of you."
"Giving It All Away", the album's shortest track (at 2 minutes and 56 seconds), has been described as having "jangling guitars and smooth, but edgy crooning". (IGN) It is followed by "Undiscovered", the closing track (and also the longest, at nearly five minutes). It is another melancholy song about heartbreak, and it ends with Simpson crying out: "Don't walk away." Simpson herself has said of "Undiscovered": "Every time I sing this song, it touches me. Sometimes I'll even cry. It's about my ex-boyfriend and telling him 'I miss you.' It's so real to me. I wrote the lyrics while I was standing at the microphone." [6] The BBC's generally negative review of the album praised this final track, saying it "has well put-together strings and an emotional sincerity that the rest of the album sadly lacks." [7]
Simpson is credited with cowriting each of the album's 12 songs. Some versions of the album include bonus tracks after "Undiscovered"; for example, the U.K. version of the album includes the songs "Harder Everyday" and "Sorry". In the U.S., "Sorry" was offered as a free internet download to those who bought the album from Wal-Mart, accessible through a code included in the CD case.
Sales and chart success
In the U.S., Autobiography debuted at number one in sales on the Billboard 200 chart for the week of its release, selling about 398,000 copies. It dropped to number two in its second week, displaced by Now That's What I Call Music! 16, a compilation of popular songs (which, ironically, includes Jessica Simpson's cover of "Take My Breath Away"), and sold about 269,000 copies. Sales increased in the album's third week, however, with about 286,000 copies sold, returning it to number one. It remained at number one in its fourth week, with about 263,000 copies sold, but dropped back to number two in its fifth week, selling about 164,000 copies, having been again displaced by the Now That's What I Call Music! compilation. In its sixth week, it dropped further to number six, with about 134,000 copies sold, and in its seventh week it fell to number eight, with about 113,000 copies sold. The album returned to number six in its eighth week, despite selling only about 89,000 copies, fewer than in the preceding week. In its ninth week, it remained at number six and sold about 75,000 copies; it fell to number nine in its tenth week, although it still sold about 75,000 copies. The album fell much further on the chart in its 11th week, slipping to number 19, but in its 12th week it moved up to number 16. In its 13th week, it fell back to number 19, however, and in its 14th week it fell further to number 22. It fell further still, to number 27, in its 15th week, and to number 34 in its 16th week, before falling out of the top 50 in its 17th week, in mid-November 2004.
Some have compared Simpson's success in album sales favorably with that of her sister Jessica, who, despite having several hits since 1999, has never had a number one album (the closest she came was with the release of the special edition of In This Skin in early 2004, which debuted at number two). Simpson herself has said that she never expected the album to do so well: "I just hoped my album charted. I didn't expect it to be number one in the country! It was a huge shock." 5
Discussing the appeal of the album, which quickly went platinum, Simpson has said: "I think that it's an album that's, like, very true to my emotion; I think that, you know, people like to hear when somebody's being real, and you can, like, tell, if you listen to an album, if they're being real or not, you know, and I think that people have enjoyed that, and at the same time ... a lot of different ages can listen to it..." (Capital FM, London, September 15, 2004)
The first single, "Pieces of Me", proved to be a major hit in the U.S., eventually rising to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Top 40 Tracks chart, and remaining on the charts for many months. The follow-up single "Shadow" was not as successful, rising to only number 57 on the Hot 100 and number 27 on the Top 40 Tracks chart (and to number 14 on the Top 40 Mainstream). Autobiography was released in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2004, a week after the "Pieces of Me" single, which debuted at number four on the UK Singles Chart. The single fell steadily afterwards, however, and it dropped out of the top 40 on the U.K. chart in mid-November.
Promotion
Aside from regular concerts and CD signings, Simpson has made a number of notable television appearances to promote Autobiography and its singles. On May 20, she performed "Pieces of Me" at Summer Music Mania (she was introduced by Jessica, and the performance features in episode seven of The Ashlee Simpson Show), which aired on FOX on June 1. Also in late May, she appeared on The Tonight Show and sang "Pieces of Me", and afterwards sat down for a brief interview with the host, Jay Leno (this Tonight Show appearance featured at the beginning of episode eight of the reality show). In the days leading up to her album's release, she also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and Good Morning America (see above), and performed "Pieces of Me" on both shows. On July 20, the day of Autobiography's release, she appeared on MTV's music video countdown show Total Request Live, and this appearance also featured in episode eight of her reality show. Subsequently, she appeared on On Air with Ryan Seacrest on July 27 for an interview with Ryan Seacrest and then a performance of "Pieces of Me", and on August 29, she performed "Pieces of Me" at the pre-show for the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards.
Promotion for Autobiography and "Pieces of Me" came later in the United Kingdom, where Simpson made a number of television appearances in September 2004, including one on the U.K. version of Total Request Live and performances of "Pieces of Me" on Top of the Pops (September 17) and Top of the Pops Saturday (September 25). She also performed "Pieces of Me" on CD:UK (followed by an interview) and Popworld.
"Pieces of Me" was followed by the second single, "Shadow", and another round of television appearances in the U.S. On September 20, Simpson appeared again on Total Request Live; although she did not sing "Shadow" as scheduled because she was not feeling well, she did give an interview and introduced the "Shadow" music video, which was at number two on the countdown that day. She was also on Live with Regis and Kelly on September 22, giving an interview and then performing "Shadow"; on the same day, she was on the Tonight Show again, also performing "Shadow".
Simpson appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on the night of October 23/24, and was scheduled to perform "Pieces of Me" and then "Autobiography" (which was at the time still planned as the third single). She was unable to perform the second of these songs, however, due to an embarrassing error with a backing track she needed because her voice was weak that night due to acid reflux (a condition which had also featured on The Ashlee Simpson Show). Despite her illness, Simpson received some poor publicity from this incident, but gave a redeeming performance of "Autobiography" at the Radio Music Awards on October 25.
Simpson appeared on Total Request Live on November 18 to sing "La La", the third single, after being interviewed by Carson Daly. Regarding it being the third single, she said: "It's nice because, you know, "Pieces of Me" was, you know, an up and happy kind of song, and "Shadow" was more serious, and now I get to have fun and, you know, jump around and be crazy, so I feel like this song's probably the closest to my personality."
The making of the album and the reality show
In one interview, on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn in November 2003, Simpson said that she had been working on her album for about a year before that point, and that the process had been getting more serious for about three months. [8] At the beginning of The Ashlee Simpson Show, Simpson is shown signing her record deal with Geffen (which also occurred about three months before November, according to the Late Late Show interview). In episode one, some of the early stages of songwriting are seen, and in episode two, Simpson records some early demos of songs; she is seen having trouble singing one song, "Fly Away", which did not make it onto the album. (Other early songs that failed to make it onto the album, at least under the known titles, were mentioned in the November 2003 Late Late Show interview: "Sold Me Out" and "Hurt for You".) But Geffen executive Jordan Schur "wasn't feeling the demos", as she says, and he has her work with other people; in episode three she meets with several of them (although she is chronically late—"I am so late to every single meeting I go to!"): John Feldmann of the band Goldfinger (who co-wrote "Giving It All Away" with Simpson), Guy Chambers, and the producing team The Matrix. Later in the same episode, she begins to work with John Shanks, who became the producer of her album.
The recording of the song "Surrender" features in this episode, as she works with Shanks: "The first time I worked with John," she says during the show, "we wrote a song called "Surrender", and we did it in like two hours, something like that, and it was just so short, and like, a great song." Later, Simpson becomes upset when she thinks Geffen executive Jordan Schur wants the song to be more "pop"-sounding, but after she and her father Joe Simpson (who is also her manager) discuss it with Schur, things are worked out.
The recording of "Pieces of Me" is included in episode four of The Ashlee Simpson Show; because this episode focuses on Simpson's relationship with Cabrera, the recording of the song ties in to her personal life. "Shadow" is introduced at the beginning of episode five, when she talks with John Shanks about the song and then begins singing it while Shanks plays guitar; this is followed by a montage of video clips from Simpson's childhood.
Simpson's photoshoot for the album's cover and liner notes booklet features at the beginning of episode seven of the show. Many of the pictures, such as the one used for the front cover of the album, show Simpson in a dark setting, with graffiti-style writing scrawled on the wall behind her, and in two of the pictures used for the album, she is laying on a black couch: the one used for the back cover, a fairly close shot of Simpson's face as she is laying on her side, and the one used for the back of the CD booklet, in which she is shown smiling, laying on her back. In other pictures from this photoshoot, found inside the CD booklet, Simpson poses standing with a microphone in front of a white background. The liner notes credit Mark Liddell for the album's photography, Rachel Zoe for styling, Ken Paves for hair, and Karan Mitchell for make-up. Design is credited to Soap Design Co. in Los Angeles, California.
Track listing
- "Autobiography" (Simpson, Kara DioGuardi, John Shanks) – 3:34
- "Pieces of Me" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:37
- "Shadow" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:57
- "La La" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:42
- "Love Makes the World Go Round" (Simpson, Shanks) – 3:45
- "Better Off" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:27
- "Love Me for Me" (Simpson, Shelly Peiken, Shanks) – 3:27
- "Surrender" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:20
- "Unreachable" (Simpson, Stan Frazier, Steve Fox, Robbie Nevil, Billy Mann) – 3:53
- "Nothing New" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:06
- "Giving It All Away" (Simpson, John Feldmann) – 2:56
- "Undiscovered" (Simpson, Shanks) – 4:56
Bonus tracks (UK)
- "Harder Everyday"
- "Sorry"
Bonus tracks (Japan)
- "Harder Everyday"
- "Sorry"
- "Endless Summer"
Personnel
- Ashlee Simpson – vocals; background vocals (tracks 1-4, 10 and 12)
- Kenny Aronoff – drums (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10)
- John Shanks – guitars, bass; keyboards (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 12); background vocals (tracks 1, 5, 7, 8 and 9)
- Kara DioGuardi – background vocals (tracks 1-4, 6 and 10)
- Jeff Rothschild – drums (tracks 2, 4, 11 and 12)
- Jamie Muhoberac – piano, organ (track 3)
- Patrick Warren – Chamberlain (tracks 3 and 12)
- Abe Laboriel, Jr. – drums (tracks 6, 7 and 9)
- John Feldmann – original programming (track 11)
- David Campbell – string arrangement (track 12)
Autobiography, recorded and mixed at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, was produced by John Shanks, recorded by Jeff Rothschild, and mixed by Shanks and Rothschild. Its executive producer was Jordan Schur of Geffen Records. Mark Valentine is credited with additional engineering. The album was mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in New York City.
Peak chart positions
Album – Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | The Billboard 200 | 1 |
Singles – Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | "Pieces of Me" | Adult Contemporary | 30 |
| 2004 | "Pieces of Me" | Adult Top 40 | 4 |
| 2004 | "Pieces of Me" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 5 |
| 2004 | "Pieces of Me" | Top 40 Mainstream | 1 |
| 2004 | "Pieces of Me" | Top 40 Tracks | 1 |
| 2004 | "Shadow" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 57 |
| 2004 | "Shadow" | Top 40 Mainstream | 14 |
| 2004 | "Shadow" | Top 40 Tracks | 27 |
Singles – United Kingdom
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | "Pieces of Me" | The UK Singles Chart | 4 |
References
- 944, Volume 3, Issue 8, page 75.
- The New York Times, "Raunchy or Sweet Reflections of Adolescent Self-Esteem" July 26, 2004.
- The Village Voice, "The Jig Is Up", November 12, 2004.
- Steppin' Out, August 4, 2004, page 53.
- Stylus, July 21, 2004.
- Seventeen, November 2004, page 86.
External links
- Official Ashlee Simpson site
- Geffen Records
- Soap Design Co. – album design