What’s on my MP3 player now? Ashlee Simpson’s Autobiography and Vanessa Carlton’s Be Not Nobody and Harmonium.
(Oh, and American Idiot.)
I’m a straight, married male in my 30s. I admit, I have a problem.
Now, granted, while I like Ashlee, I think her sister Jessica is bankrupt as an artist. I mean, really–what does she have to say? Likewise, I despise Britney (though I’m a sucker for Christina’s “Beautiful” and that song she did for Mulan). But I generally like the new girl pop rockers. Ashlee’s stuff seems like a good starting point, with some real good gleams in songs like “Unreachable” and “Undiscovered” (and, to a lesser extent, in “Surrender”). And Vanessa Carlton’s songs are excellent–I love “Prince” and “Sway” from the first album, and I think “She Floats” from the 2nd album is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard.
I’m thinking I’ll look into Michelle Branch’s stuff next–I’ve liked her radio-played songs that I’ve heard.
I’ll kind of give you Michelle Branch - I’ve heard some of her acoustic stuff, and there’s an artist hidden in there somewhere. Unfortunately her music is overproduced to such an extant that any hint of originality is washed away completely.
But Ashlee? You complain (rightly so) about Jessica’s lack of artistry, but listen to her sister, who was literally created in a boardroom somewhere to fill a musical niche. Seriously, if that meeting had been ten minutes shorter Ashlee would be tearing up the country charts now. She’s a test tube musician. I’d be willing to bet there are at least 100,000 girls/women that you could put in her place (with her writers and publicists) that would be just as successful.
I’m not familiar with Carlton, but she at least writes and plays piano on her own stuff doesn’t she? She gets credit for that.
Congratulations. You’ve successfully appraised an artist and yet, you didn’t mention her music! What does it matter how Ashlee Simpson’s record found its way on to the shelves of record stores? If the exact same record was instead the culmination of years of Ms. Simpson living off Top Ramen and playing gritty dives with the odd CBGBs show thrown in for extra cred, would you like it better?
I judge music with my ears, not by reading biographies and liner notes.
Anyway - I agree with the OP. I’m not a huge fan, but Ashlee has some pretty good songs, and if you put her track “Love Makes The World Go Round” immediately preceding Stars’ (indie band on small label Arts + Crafts) “Ageless Beauty,” you’ll notice that the transition is seamless, and if anything, the Stars track is poppier than the Ashlee one.
I’m not very into Michelle Branch or Vanessa Carlton, but I don’t mind the odd Avril track, and Kelly Clarkson’s recent (rockier) stuff is pretty good. No, scratch that, it’s damn impressive.
No, but I would give her a little respect as an artist.
And I wasn’t attempting to critique her music. I was responding to toadspittle’s implication that Ashlee Simpson has something to say. She does indeed, it’s “What song do you want me to sing next, sirs?”
Fair enough, unless all her lyrics are like La La.
Shakira* is absolutely amazing. Don’t get me wrong: her English CD (Laundry Service) was “meh” inducing at best, but her other albums are phenomenal. Donde Esta Las Ladrones and her new CD Fijacion Oral are both great. My favorite of hers would have to be the Unplugged CD.
A lot of people don’t realize she is a rock singer because all of her American singles have been like *Suerte * (that is the Spanish name for it. . . I think it was “Whenever, Wherever” in English) or the latest La Tortura, but she is quite the rockin’ chick in the Latin music community.
Plus, have you seen how she moves her hips? Totally hot
*“Sha-key-rah” not “Shak-ear-uh” I hate when the MTV people mispronounce her name. Bah.
