In Which to the Author’s Dismay, she has to concede that the girl rocks

Now this might be the weirdest thing I will ever say: I’m loving the new Ashlee Simpson album.

Who knew the spokeslady of the insipid generation would start channeling Avril, Gwen Stefani, Blondie lite, and a little Cyndi Lauper- possibly in time to redeem herself?

I hated even admitting such a thing, trust me. But Rolling Stone gave it the seal of approval and I thought, huh? Where am I?

So, yeah, checked it out. The lyrics are…horrible.. horribly unfortunate most of the time. But not all the time. It’s the type of awful that’s going to be embarrassing a few years from now when she’s putting out killer shit. And I think she will. Some of this already is.

I do so love a good pop ditty. I love silly boyfriend songs that thump and bump and jump about, stuff that takes you from the skipping rope days right through to the ol’ pine boat. But I’m heavily prejudiced by utter disdain for the Simpsons sisters. I’ve been embarrassed for them over the years, but at least Jessica’s got her beauty. The only thing interesting about Ashlee Simpson has been how her boyfriend made the word ‘guyliner’ part of group consciousness.

Though I cringe frequently at the lyrics, there’re other times when I’m genuinely thinking ‘clever.’ I would absolutely be up on the dance floor, and that’s getting rarer and rarer though I said it never would….

Some songs are getting better with repeated listening, always a real test in my mind. There’s a lot of fun to be had here, and I like to be silly and foolish a great deal of the time. Surely, Ash’s not the best voice in the industry, but not half bad, either. It’s the very first time I’ve ever seen the girl show a personality: tons of it! The Rolling Stone mentioned some ‘appealing honesty,’ and sure enough, a sprinkling of that and a good dose of genuine confidence really show her stepping up to the plate.

Most astonishing of all, there’s at least one track that I would call ‘brilliant.’ I couldn’t help but notice the title of Little Miss Obsessive right off the bat, given my blog name. Then I couldn’t help myself cranking it up loud, over and over. And I can’t wait to hear the long mixes at Fly, hands in the air, see you there!

Now how embarrassing is this? Go check it out.