Bittersweet World is Ashlee Simpson's 3rd album . This new release's Ashlee's 1st album since 2005's I Am Me .
So far , 2 singles have been released from Bittersweet World prior to the release of the album . Unlike the way the Japanese music market works , the US market works differently in that artistes tend to release singles before & after an album's released in a bid way to drum up more sales .
Whereas for the Japanese market , artistes usually have the tendency to release singles before an album's released & you seldom hear cases where singles are put out after an album has been dropped . There have been exceptions but that's usually not the case .
I actually have been a long fan of this girl since she debuted on the scene with 2004's Autobiography & compared to her older (in)famous sister Jessica Simpson , I actually prefer Ashlee's material much much more than Jessica & I have Ashlee's 1st 2 albums so it's only natural for me to be thrilled to find out that she's back with new material in the form of Bittersweet World .
If you know how her 1st 2 albums sounds like , Bittersweet World is totally different & makes quite a dramatic shift from the trademark pop/rock sound that she was famous for in the beginning .
I guess longtime fans of Ashlee were shocked when she dropped the 1st single from the record , Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) as the style of the song was a 360 degree turn for Ashlee as it's in the hip pop genre .
Needless to say , Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) tanked quite badly & I suspect it's the shift in musical direction which possibly alienated many of her fans . What a shame as the song's real catchy & it's something unique coming from Ashlee .
If Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) doesn't sit well with you , then probably longtime fans will like the 1st official single from the album / 2nd single from the album even more in the form of Little Miss Obsessive which features vocals from Plain White T's Tom Higgenson .
Little Miss Obsessive still manages to maintain her trademark pop/rock sound & this's 1 of my current fave songs at the moment . I like the way that Ashlee & Tom's vocals compliment each other quite well .
If you still long for Ashlee's pop/rock songs , you still get a couple of them like No Time For Tears & What I've Become which has a more edgier hard rock sound to it which I adore .
Otherwise , the rest of the tracks are mainly in the hip pop , electropop , punk pop genres . I personally think that all the tracks are well defined & are unique from each other & that they don't sound samey & the same which's a good thing .
Stand out tracks include Boys , Rule Breaker , Ragdoll & Hot Stuff in which Hot Stuff has a music hook which sounds strangely similar to Justin Timberlake's SexyBack .
Murder which feats vocals from Izza Kizza is my 2nd fave song on the album . I like the melody of the song which's really catchy & you can thank music maestro Timbaland for that .
The title track of the album's not bad but for some reason , it's not as strong as I thought it will be . It's only until I gave it a few more listens & I find it to be a decent one now .
The song that did not sit with me is Never Dream Alone which's ironically the last song on the album . While I do like the melody of the song which's basically a stripped down piano & cello tune , I find Ashlee's vocals a bit flat in Never Dream Alone . Not to mention I find that Never Dream Alone doesn't really have a head or tail to it .
Overall , I can say musically , Ashlee Simpson has grown since her 1st 2 offerings . If people are going to think that Bittersweet World is going to sound the same as her earlier works , they will be sorely disappointed .
About 75% - 80% of the album contains non pop/rock tunes & instead they're replaced with a fresh , funky blended sound of hip pop , electropop , punk pop .
With producers such as Timbaland , King Logan , Jerome Harmon , N*E*R*D's Chad Hugo & etc manning the production & sound to Bittersweet World , you definitely can't go wrong with this album especially when you have Timbaland & Chad Hugo onboard .
Bittersweet World is a fun record & you can definitely tell that Ashlee wants nothing but to just let loose in this latest offering .
Bottomline is , the album's not meant to be taken seriously & don't really expect a masterpiece offering coming from Ashlee . However if you listen to it with an open mind , you will bound to be surprised with Bittersweet World .
