Autobiography

Autobiography is the first album by Ashlee Simpson. It was released in the United States by Geffen Records on July 20, 2004, and debuted there at number one in sales. The album is a mixture of pop and rock&mdash;its rock elements helping to set Ashlee apart from her sister, Jessica Simpson, who was already a famous pop singer&mdash;and includes "Pieces of Me", a hit in many countries in mid to late 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 series, The Ashlee Simpson Show.

About the album
According to Simpson, the songs on Autobiography are, as the title suggests, strongly autobiographical, with lyrics that were inspired by her feelings and experiences&mdash;Simpson is credited with co-writing each of the album's twelve songs, and she has described the process as being similar to keeping a diary. As she said just before the album's U.S. release: "My inspiration came from what I have gone through in the past three years. Every single day I was thinking of what I was going through and would write songs about it." The lyrics primarily deal with love and heartbreak; in particular, much of the album's lyrical content was inspired by Simpson's breakup with her boyfriend, Josh Henderson, which featured in the first episode of The Ashlee Simpson Show. "Whenever I'm going through pain and heartbreak," she said in one interview, "I write non-stop from my house or in the studio or wherever I can write. It's a great way for me to express it and get it all out." 1

Musically, the album incorporates both rock and pop elements, in notable contrast to the more strongly pop-oriented music of her sister Jessica. One review noted that, unlike her sister's music, Autobiography "relies on glitzy guitars and big power-pop riffs." Ashlee has emphasized that she did not want her music to be like that of pop singers such as her sister or Hilary Duff; instead, she cites as influences female rock musicians such as Chrissie Hynde and Joan Jett. Despite her apparent personal preferences, some have suspected that her more rock-oriented sound and image represent a deliberate marketing attempt to distinguish the sisters. Just before the album's release, when asked to describe the music on Autobiography, Simpson called it "rock/pop", but she said that she did not focus on making the music conform to a certain genre: "I just wanted the music to sound like me and to be an expression of myself." 

Discussing the album in an interview, Simpson said: "I was extremely involved in everything cos I felt that it was my baby and I wanted to be hands-on." 2 She nevertheless worked closely with a number of experienced songwriters. The album's producer, John Shanks, who has worked with a number of other successful female artists, receives songwriting credit alongside Simpson on all but two songs, and he won a Grammy in February 2005 in part for his work as producer on Autobiography. Kara DioGuardi also receives songwriting credit, together with Simpson and Shanks, on seven of the songs, including the three singles. Others are credited on three songs&mdash;four people, in addition to Simpson, are credited on the song "Unreachable", including Sugar Ray drummer Stan Frazier. (See the track listing.)

Critical reviews of Autobiography have been mixed. Some reviews regarded the album positively: People magazine considered it a "passable debut" and said that it showed Simpson was a "credible talent in her own right", while All Music Guide said it was "an unexpectedly strong debut". Blender magazine said in its review that "there isn't a song on her debut that doesn't paint in huge strokes", and Billboard said that it was "chock-full of catchy songs." The album has also been described as "edgy, soulful and real". 

Other reviews have been more negative, however. Rolling Stone, for example, called it "mundane" with a "predictable script". In its review, the BBC said that "half the album ... feels self indulgent and lacks substance"&mdash;but it conceded that "in between the formulaic, innocuous songs are a smattering of catchy pop-rock tracks." IGN.com, in a mixed review, called it "by-the-books, generic (and at times bland) pop/rock". 

The music on Autobiography is sometimes compared to that of Avril Lavigne and Pink, in that it is similarly styled rock-flavored pop (or pop-flavored rock) sung by young women who incorporate rebellion or at least independence into their images. For example, the All Music Guide review said that "the glossy, punky pop of Pink and Avril Lavigne" is "the touchstone for [Simpson's] debut". 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; it argued that on both albums, the artists' "paramount concern" is self-esteem: "a never-ending battle against adolescent insecurity." 3

For its part, The Village Voice (which grouped a review of Autobiography with one of Hilary Duff's self-titled 2004 release), compared Autobiography favorably to Courtney Love's 2004 album America's Sweetheart: Love's solo debut "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." The Village Voice also praised Simpson's singing, saying that she "can pack so much contradictory emotion into a single line—a single word—that the music can barely contain it."4

Blender also wrote positively of her vocals, calling them "refreshingly unfluffed, with a ragged tomboy edge that's consistently affecting". IGN, while calling Autobiography ' s lyrical content "somewhat sophomoric", said that Simpson's vocals showed maturity and promise. Rolling Stone, however, at one point described Simpson's singing as "wailing in lieu of hitting notes".

Singles
"Pieces of Me", the first single, is an upbeat song about Simpson's relationship with the musician Ryan Cabrera, a friend with whom she became romantically involved, and about "how it feels so nice to have something that feels real in my life". The song's lyrics describe the comfort and happiness she found with him while she was making her album. The music video for "Pieces of Me" features Simpson singing in a studio while her band plays, with clips of reality footage related to The Ashlee Simpson Show interspersed throughout.

"Shadow", the second single, is about feelings she had when she was about 15 or 16 years old of living in the shadow of the dreams and accomplishments of her famous older sister and finding her own identity. Although the song is noted for having somewhat dark and melancholy 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. Others, however, have criticized the song's lyrics&mdash;which begin with the line "I was six years old / when my parents went away"&mdash;for seeming excessively dramatic in light of the appearance that Simpson's family is quite happy and loving, as seen on the reality shows Newlyweds and The Ashlee Simpson Show, and also very successful. 

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&mdash;at one point she shoves a bowl of cereal prepared by the blonde Ashlee off a kitchen table&mdash;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.

The third single is "La La", arguably the album's most rock-oriented song, which has been described as "energetic". The lyrics to the song are highly sexual&mdash;"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"&mdash;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."1 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, while the Billboard and BBC album reviews regarded it more favorably&mdash;the former naming it as a song that could "keep Autobiography on the charts in the foreseeable future."

The music video for "La La" takes place in a suburban setting; it features Simpson and her friends hanging around town, getting into trouble, and partying through the night. 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, which is broken up by the police, and Simpson and the crowd then head to a laundromat, where the partying continues. The video thus generally departs from the sexuality of the song's lyrics, but represents the energetic feel of the music.

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. In the song, she responds to people talking about her&mdash;"you think you know me"&mdash;by singing "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".4 "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. 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, while People magazine said that Simpson "succumbs to cliché" on this song. One review called it "Stevie Nicks-inspired". 

"Better Off", the album's sixth track, was described by People magazine as a "bubbly" song that "should have Hilary Duff worried". 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."

In a December 6, 2004 concert, Simpson described "Love Me for Me"&mdash;in which she sings, "Here I am, perfect as I'm ever gonna be"&mdash;as being about having a "boyfriend that just didn't understand". The song 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, referring to the song's lyrics, said that "Love Me for Me" has "so many coy mood swings and head games it could vaporize an emo boy on contact." The song's title is sometimes incorrectly given as "Love for Me", perhaps 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&mdash;in the song's lyrics, the line "love me for me" is clearly sung.

It is followed by "Surrender", a rock-oriented, upbeat song in which Simpson sings with light-hearted frustration, "Oh, you drive me crazy". In the December 6 concert mentioned above, she dedicated the song to girls with ex-boyfriends who "just won't give it up." "Surrender" has been described as a highlight of the album, having an "in-your-face attitude" and "gentle electronic flourishes". 

According to one review, Autobiography "is front loaded with rockers, the more introspective tunes saved for the platter's second half." This holds true for the songs after "Surrender"; it is immediately followed by "Unreachable", a melancholy song about heartbreak which she wrote after her breakup with Josh Henderson: "You can't push a river, you can't make me fall / but you can make me unreachable," she sings. 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." She explained the song's meaning in an interview: "I was at the stage where I got really sick of my ex-boyfriend's dramas and this song says it all. At the end, you know I've reached the point where I've had enough of these dramas; I'm finished with him." 2

"Giving It All Away", which Simpson co-wrote with John Feldmann of the band Goldfinger, is the album's shortest track (at 2 minutes and 56 seconds); it has been described as having "jangling guitars and smooth, but edgy crooning". It is followed by "Undiscovered", the closing track (and also the longest, at nearly five minutes), which is another melancholy song about heartbreak; 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." In her concert on December 6, she said that she recorded the song just after their breakup, and although it took her a little while to get over her ex-boyfriend, by the time she finished recording "Undiscovered", she was over him. 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." 

Some versions of the album include bonus tracks after "Undiscovered"; for example, the version of the album released in the United Kingdom includes the songs "Harder Everyday" and "Sorry". Although the U.S. release includes no bonus tracks, "Sorry" was offered as a free Internet download to American customers who bought the album from Wal-Mart, accessible through a code included in the CD case.

Sales and chart success

 * Main article: Autobiography sales and chart positions

In the U.S., Autobiography was 2004's biggest debut by a female artist; it quickly went platinum and was certified triple platinum in September 2004. Following its July 20 release, it was number one in sales on the Billboard 200 chart in its first week, selling over 398,000 copies. 5 In its second week on the chart, it was displaced by ''Now That's What I Call Music! 16'', a compilation of popular songs, but in its third week it returned to number one. It remained at number one in its fourth week, at the same time crossing the one million mark in total U.S. sales, with about 1.2 million, but it dropped back to number two in its fifth week, having been again displaced by the Now compilation. It sold over 2.5 million copies in 2004, making it the ninth best-selling album of the year. The album has also enjoyed some success in Canada, where it reached number 11 in its fourth week and again in its 24th week.

Some have compared Simpson's success in album sales favorably with that of her sister Jessica, who has never had a number one album. 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."6 Discussing the appeal of Autobiography, Simpson emphasized its emotional sincerity in a Capital FM (London) radio interview, calling it very true to her emotions and saying: "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..." (September 15, 2004) She also said that people of many different ages could enjoy the album; it is, however, commonly thought that it appeals primarily to teenagers.

Some observers have viewed Simpson's reality show and association with her sister as more responsible for Autobiography ' s success than the music itself. In July, Geoff Mayfield, Billboard ' s director of charts, described the album as the "right thing at the right time" and said: "The MTV show is a huge catalyst, radio jumped all over the song, and her famous sister opened the door. If Jessica never happened, then Ashlee doesn't get her own show and this album doesn't happen." Zena Burns of Teen People attributed more of Simpson's success to the quality of the first single, "Pieces of Me": "Ashlee has an amazing promotional machine, and it doesn't hurt to have Jessica and MTV behind you, but she also came out with an insanely catchy pop single." 7

Autobiography drew a record 2.66 million requested streams when it was featured online in the week prior to its release (July 13–20) on MTV.com's "The Leak". 5 "Pieces of Me" proved to be a major hit in the U.S., although the follow-up single, "Shadow", was not as successful.

Outside of the U.S., "Pieces of Me" was a popular single in many countries, and the album itself also charted in some countries. Autobiography was released in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2004, debuting at number 31 on the albums chart. In Norway, Autobiography debuted at number 31 and peaked at number 29 on the top 40 album chart, remaining on the chart for three weeks. In Switzerland, the album reached a peak of number 36 on the album chart in its second week. 

Promotion and publicity

 * Main article: Autobiography promotion and publicity

Autobiography and its singles have received a considerable degree of promotion in the U.S.&mdash;where the album has enjoyed the most success&mdash;and also in some other countries. Much of the attention Simpson and her music received in 2004 focused on contrasting her with Jessica and making her more rock-oriented image primary&mdash;article titles dubbed her "The Rock Sister" and "The Sister Who Rocks". Additionally, Simpson's personal involvement in the writing of her "autobiographical" songs contributed to a perception that she is somewhat more real than many other popular American singers, with more genuine sentiment reflected in her lyrics. The Ashlee Simpson Show displayed these aspects of her image clearly, although some have suggested that the degree of corporate backing for a debut artist&mdash;including the unusually high degree of promotion that comes with having the making of an album as the subject of a television show&mdash;indicates that her success was "manufactured" and that her father and manager, Joe Simpson, uses reality television to achieve success that might not be possible otherwise.

Even before The Ashlee Simpson Show aired, however, "Pieces of Me" was began picking up significant radio play in May 2004, and it was noted in an article in the Los Angeles Times that it was the most rapidly added song on radio up to that point in the year. In the months that followed, Simpson made a number of notable television appearances in the U.S. to perform the song, including on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Good Morning America.

Promotion for Autobiography and "Pieces of Me" came later in Europe, primarily beginning in September 2004. At this time, Simpson made a number of television appearances there: she appeared on the German and U.K. versions of Total Request Live, and in the U.K. she also performed "Pieces of Me" on several shows, including Top of the Pops.

In the U.S., "Pieces of Me" was followed by "Shadow" in September, accompanied by another round of television appearances. She sang the song on Live with Regis and Kelly and The Tonight Show.

Perhaps the best known of Simpson's 2004 televised performances came when she 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". She was unable to perform the second of these songs due to an embarrassing error with a vocal backing track, which 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 she subsequently gave a successful performance of "Autobiography" at the Radio Music Awards on October 25.

Promotion for "La La" as the third single began in the U.S. in November 2004. Simpson appeared on Total Request Live to sing it, and during an interview with Carson Daly she said of "La La" in comparison to her previous two singles: "It's nice because ... "Pieces of Me" was ... an up and happy kind of song, and "Shadow" was more serious, and now I get to have fun and ... jump around and be crazy, so I feel like this song's probably the closest to my personality." The music video for "La La" was also the subject of an episode of MTV's Making the Video.

Simpson performed in a concert that was broadcast live on the Internet by AOL Music Live on the evening of December 6. According to a Geffen press release, this show "had the biggest 1 week audience ever for AOL with 1.6 million plays." Also in December, Simpson performed "La La" on Jingle Ball Rock and on The Tonight Show. Simpson performed three of Autobiography ' s songs on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2005, in addition to hosting the West Coast portion of the show. In early January 2005, she performed "La La" at the Orange Bowl.

In the United Kingdom, it was decided that "La La" would be the second single instead of "Shadow", and therefore "La La" began its run in the U.K. at about the same time as it did in the U.S. A CD single for "La La" is planned for U.K. release in January 2005, and in the same month, Simpson is scheduled to make several appearances on television in the U.K. Simpson further promoted the album with her first U.S. headlining tour; it began on February 16, 2005, and ended on April 20. 

The making of the album and the reality show
In a television 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. Later, in a 2004 interview, Simpson said that at first record labels would not meet with her. As she described it, "people would be like, 'Oh, she just wants to be like her sister'." For her part, Simpson said that she did not want to meet with Jessica's record label (Columbia): "I wanted to be signed because of my music". She eventually signed with Geffen instead: "You find the people who believe in you&mdash;and it works." 6 At the beginning of The Ashlee Simpson Show, Simpson is shown signing the record deal (which also occurred about three months before November 2003, according to the Late Late Show interview).

Simpson initially did not want to do the reality show, she has said, but was persuaded by her father and manager, Joe Simpson, when he said that they would make it about her album and the music: "...I thought that was kind of cool. You're actually seeing a deeper look into how this album got made." 6 She also wanted to distinguish herself from her sister by showing their differences, including their different musical styles and tastes. In episode one of the show, some of the early stages of songwriting are seen, as she works with Steve Fox and Stan Frazier, and at the end of the episode she is shown singing "Unreachable" (on which Fox and Frazier are credited) after her breakup with Josh. Early in episode two, Simpson is seen singing the song "Love Makes the World Go Round", and later she has trouble when singing one song, "Fly Away" (which she describes as being about going through something very emotional), 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 Schur didn't like the demos she recorded, and he wanted her to work with other people; in episode three she meets with several of them: John Feldmann, 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 Schur wants the song to be more pop-sounding&mdash;she is told that Schur thinks she should sound "prettier", although at the same time she is told that it is "probably good" that Schur compared the song to the music of the band Garbage. After she and her father discuss it with Schur, things are worked out; Schur also says that the song reminds him of the band Hole, another rock band with a female vocalist&mdash;"it reminds me of Courtney Love on Celebrity Skin", he elaborates.

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 has said of making the album: "It's a lot of work. From finding the right label to the actual recording, it took about nine months, then it was followed by the publicity work." 2 In an extensive list of thank-yous in the album's liner notes, Simpson includes Benji and Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte; she worked with them on a song that did not make it onto the album. 

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 (including the one used for the back cover), she is laying on a black couch. 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.

Track listing

 * 1) "Autobiography" (Simpson, Kara DioGuardi, John Shanks) – 3:34
 * 2) "Pieces of Me" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:37
 * 3) "Shadow" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:57
 * 4) "La La" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:42
 * 5) "Love Makes the World Go Round" (Simpson, Shanks) – 3:45
 * 6) "Better Off" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:27
 * 7) "Love Me for Me" (Simpson, Shelly Peiken, Shanks) – 3:27
 * 8) "Surrender" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:20
 * 9) "Unreachable" (Simpson, Stan Frazier, Steve Fox, Robbie Nevil, Billy Mann) – 3:53
 * 10) "Nothing New" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks) – 3:06
 * 11) "Giving It All Away" (Simpson, John Feldmann) – 2:56
 * 12) "Undiscovered" (Simpson, Shanks) – 4:56

Bonus tracks
In some countries, the album includes some of the following bonus tracks, although not necessarily all three of them:
 * "Harder Everyday"
 * "Sorry" (Simpson, Fox, Frazier)
 * "Endless Summer" (Simpson, DioGuardi, Shanks)

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 – Chamberlin (tracks 3 and 12)
 * Abe Laboriel, Jr. – drums (tracks 6, 7 and 9)
 * John Feldmann – original programming (track 11)
 * David Campbell – string arrangement (tracks 3 and 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.

"Shadow"

 * [1] US charts compiled by Billboard
 * [2] Australian charts compiled by ARIA
 * [3] New Zealand charts compiled by RIANZ