A public "despair"

Jessica Simpson confuses the hell out of me. At first she was presented as a goody good songstress, molded from a strong Christian-rooted family. She was no sexy Britney Spears. And she was certainly no Xtina.\nThen came her vastly popular show with Nick Lachey, "Newlyweds," on MTV, and yup, that squeaky clean image quickly disappeared.\nShe was a temptress, the "it" girl of the early oughts, and well, she was really freakin' hot.\nHer dad starting talking about her huge chest. You get the picture.\nBut through it all, her music has pretty much stayed the same - safe, radio-friendly pop songs.\nBut on her newest effort, A Public Affair, Simpson goes in a bit of a new direction with her sound, churning out more a dance record at points than straight up pop.\nIt doesn't work.\nThe disc's lead track and first single "A Public Affair," sounds like a '70s disco cut with some sprinklings of early Madonna.\nSimpson also tries her hand at a cover of Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)." And if Pete Burns hasn't already laid a bitch slap on her by now for ruining his classic cut, it's probably coming very soon.\nThen it just gets embarrassing.\n"Swing with Me" is backed by a big band sound, complete with horns and rumbling drums. You know, like a swing song. Get it? "Swing with Me?" How clever!\nOn "Push your Tush" Simpson does some playful talking to start off the track. "Do you hear that cowbell?/Caca Caca Caca-doodle do" she says.\nHey look! Remember me? I was so goofy and silly on my MTV show! Here I am doing that same bit again on a song called "Push Your Tush." I'm so cute!\nOn a few tracks, such as "The Lover in Me" and "Back to You" Simpson harkens back to her safe pop song style. They come out as the most tolerable cuts on the disc.\nSometimes a change in sound works. (See Clarkson, Kelly.) And in some cases - like Simpson's - it just doesn't.