With Bittersweet World, the younger, more tone-deaf Simpson sibling has wholeheartedly embraced the ‘80s, beat-tastic sound that has been gaining speed in the pop world over the years. The result is a mixed bag. Lead single “Outta My Head” is built on a nagging guitar beat and a simple drum machine, but sadly the lyrics are ridiculously inane (“what you lookin’ at me for huh? / show me respect or I will show you the door”), and Ashlee fails miserably at sounding sassy.
The album isn’t totally worthless, however. For every cringe-inducing break-up song (“Little Miss Obsessive”) and pointless bad-girl posturing (“Rule Breaker”), there are a couple bright spots: the dark pulse of “Murder” and the whirling guitar pop of “Ragdoll,” and no one can ever accuse Ashlee of lacking energy. All in all, Bittersweet World is more of a party than her earlier efforts, but still a plastic, manufactured one at that.
Surprisingly, this album was actually pretty good. The only thing it really lacked was consistency with the new songs. She adventured out into a new genre but fell back into old formulas which didn't fit the album, thus the 3. Overall, Outta My Head and Boys are the stand out tracks. It just stinks they both come so early in the album.
