I Am Me

I Am Me was released about fifteen months after Autobiography, which was released in July 2004. According to Simpson, following her concert tour from February to April 2005, she was supposed to take a month off, but began working on the album early;[15] as she said, "I got home and got bored, so I called John Shanks and was like, 'Can I come in the studio? Let's get a head start so the record company's not asking for the record right away or anything.'"[16] She also said that she wanted to "get the pre-jitters or anything that was going wrong out of my system. And when I went in everything started going smooth. It was fun." According to Simpson, she felt less pressure when recording I Am Me than she did when recording Autobiography.[15]
I Am Me is, like its predecessor, a mixture of rock and pop; it has been described as similar to Simpson's first album,[17] and Simpson herself has said that she wanted it to be "familiar" to Autobiography.[16] Some differences have also been noted. I Am Me has been said to be influenced by '80s music,[18][19] and Simpson herself said "I just love '80s music" and "It's just so light and fun, and that was a lot of what I wanted to do on this record."[20] Prior to recording I Am Me, Simpson had said she wanted to incorporate more of the feel of '80s music into her next album, as some of her favorite music is from that time.[21]
I Am Me has been called more musically "aggressive" than Autobiography[20] and incorporates a range of musical styles; it has been called "dynamic" and "ambitious". Simpson's father and manager Joe said that his daughter had to be held back from "the places she wanted to go" as an artist, because, he said, if she changed too quickly her fans would be left behind.[22] Simpson has mentioned how she tried "new sounds" when working on the album, citing in particular the song "Burnin Up",[23] which was described by one reviewer as "a fairly credible stab at Clash-style dub".[24] This song is not a cover of the...