cletta1201's Full Review: A Public Affair [Bonus Track] by Jessica Simpson
For the last 18 months Jessica Simpson's life has been a tabloid staple. A messy divorce splashed on the cover of every magazine, a handful of rumored affairs and yet Simpson seems relatively unphased by the whole ordeal. Shortly after the reality-based MTV show Newlyweds aired, Simpson became a star in her own right, stepping out of the shadows of her equally blonde counterparts Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
But despite the fact that Simpson was no longer just the other blonde one, she still hasn't managed to make an album that solidifies her role as a star. Sure, she knows her way around a Louis Vuitton store, but that doesn't mean she can make a good record and the fact that this is Simpson's 5th attempt at musical success, makes it all the more strange that she's not been able to gain any viable music footing at all.
A Public Affair is just as discombobulated as previous Simpson releases. It's neither pop nor R&B nor a good mix of both. Simpson tries too hard to please everybody and fails to please anybody. A Public Affair feels thoughtless and muddled and does nothing to showcase the fact that Simpson has something that a lot of her pop counterparts don't have; the ability to actually sing.
"Swing With Me" is a 40's-inspired mess. "Push Your Tush" is 70's country gone way left in the worst way (think Coyote Ugly meets Kenny Rogers) and the Scott Storch produced "Fired Up" should have been a Brooke Hogan song. That fact alone makes it wrong for a singer of Jessica SImpson's caliber on so many levels - with Simpson whispering and gushing over the song's hook, it's so busy you have a hard time imagining anyone at a record company would approve this for human consumption. "The Lover In Me" is adult contemporary, with it's overwrought sentimentality and inspiring music which would be okay if Simpson wasn't a woman in her twenties, and thus the result is that the song is just a poor fit right down to it's gospel-like break in the middle.
There are also the two remakes. Patty Griffin's "Let Him Fly" and Dead Or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)", both of which are average at best. The latter sounds like a bad house remix of a song that's already cheesy and although "Let Him Fly" fares better than You Spin Me, it's not by much. Although it's more stripped down than anything else on the album, it just feels as out of place as Kevin Federline should feel behind a microphone. It seems Simpson was going for honest and pure here, and it just doesn't come together as it should.
The album isn't however, a complete and total failure. Most of the good material get's a boost from an 80's revival. "If You Were Mine" is bright and groovy with it's shiny synthesizer effects and simple melody. There's the campy first single "A Public Affair" which gets a big musical helping hand from Madonna's Holiday. Simpson turns her back on the illusion of love on the simple "I Don't Want To Care" which is one of only a few songs that potentially allude to her divorce from Nick Lachey ("I don't wanna care about love/ I don't wanna care about us/ I don't wanna care at all anymore/ I used to wanna care a little bit/ But now I care way too much/ Now this love thing I wish I never felt it before"). Despite it's broadway musical feel "Back To You" is perhaps the best highlight of Simpson's actual vocal ability. Simpson is the owner of a strong and interesting voice, and yet - no producer has been able to really quite bring out the best in her.
As controlled as Simpson appears to be about her image as the goofy, adorable but sexy girl next door - she definitely needs to pull the reigns in tighter on her musical career if she wants to continue to make albums because releases like A Public Affair only do her credibility as a singer an extreme disservice. And while it's easy to see the album in the context of girl leaves marriage behind for freedom, this is no Butterfly (Mariah Carey), so perhaps the good thing to look forward to is that Simpson might still be cocooning and that later she'll be able to spread her wings and fly.
With 2006 s A Public Affair, Jessica Simpson s first major studio release since her divorce from Nick Lachey, the singer/actress parlays her newfound ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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