Out of all the
teen pop
thrushes of the late '90s/early 2000s,
Jessica Simpson
was perhaps the oddest. Not because she was genuinely strange -- especially compared to
Christina
or
Pink
-- but because she never seemed that comfortable with the genre. On her debut,
Sweet Kisses
, that awkwardness could be written off as first-time jitters, particularly because the album boasted the dynamite single
"I Think I'm in Love,"
which is about as perfect as
pop
gets. On her second album,
Irresistible
, her awkwardness could be attributed to either the fabled sophomore slump or the fact that she was being tarted up too much, presented as a sexy tease when she's really just the sweet, curvy girl next door. Now, for her third album,
In This Skin
, she tones down the trashy club beats and image, staying within the contemporary
dance-pop
realm while inching toward the middle-of-the-road diva that she's always yearned to be. And that's the key to
Simpson
and her oddly unsatisfying records -- apart from that brief, brilliant moment on
she's never seemed like she's wanted to sing
music. She's somebody who would have been much more comfortable in an era where she could have been produced by
Mitch Miller
, not somebody who half-heartedly sings moderately stylish, overly calculated
.
is not a bad singer, but she doesn't have much charisma, and only when she's given a show-stopping
ballad
in the vein of
Celine Dion
can she really strut her skills. The problem with
is that its heart is in the mature middle of the road but its sound is still pitched too young, making this a record that satisfies neither audience.
is still a sweet, photogenic girl with a good voice, but she's yet to find a set of songs or producers to showcase her at her best. In her favor, as she gets further removed from her teens, she will be allowed to do more mature material, but the downside is that if she doesn't find a good collaborator soon, she might not get many more chances to find her sound. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine