Pieces of Me (Ashlee Simpson song)
"Pieces of Me" is a Top 40 song by the American singer Ashlee Simpson that hit airwaves in the United States in mid-2004. It was the first single off Simpson's debut album, Autobiography. An upbeat blend of pop and rock, it is a love song that was written about Simpson's relationship with Ryan Cabrera, her boyfriend at the time.
The liner notes to Autobiography credit Ashlee Simpson, Kara DioGuardi, and the album's producer, John Shanks, for writing "Pieces of Me". Jeff Rothschild played drums on the track, Shanks played guitars and bass, and Simpson and DioGuardi did background vocals.
Single
"Pieces of Me" reached a peak of number five on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart in the U.S. It debuted on the chart at number 61 in June 2004. [1] In the week ending on November 13, 2004, it fell from number 24 to number 37. The U.S. CD single, released by Geffen Records on June 29, 2004, includes the album version of the song as well as an instrumental.
The single was released in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2004, and debuted at number four on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending October 3. It fell to number 14 in its second week (ending October 10), to number 18 in its third week (ending October 17), to number 22 in its fourth week (ending October 24), to number 23 in its fifth week (ending October 31), and to number 28 in its sixth week (ending November 7). [2]
On television
The recording of "Pieces of Me" features in the fourth episode of Simpson's reality show, The Ashlee Simpson Show; the same episode focuses on Simpson's relationship with Cabrera, so the song's recording ties into the episode's general theme. The episode concludes with "Pieces of Me" playing over a variety of clips of Simpson and Cabrera together. She also sings it in concert during episode seven of the show (and is introduced by her sister Jessica), but she is not happy with this performance. She performs the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at the beginning of episode eight, and also during an acoustic performance at Target House, a place for children with suppressed immune systems, later in episode eight.
The music video for the song, directed by Stefan Smith, features Simpson singing in the studio (wearing a white shirt emblazoned with the word "punk" and a pink dress, but no shoes—she sometimes performs barefoot), surrounded by her band members playing their instruments. Clips from The Ashlee Simpson Show (which debuted on TV in June, not long after the song hit radio) are interspersed throughout the video. The video is fairly simplistic, and when Simpson is going to film the more elaborate video for her second single, "Shadow", in episode seven of the show, she refers to the latter as her first "real" video.
Simpson has frequently performed "Pieces of Me" live, including a number of notable television performances. The Tonight Show episode in which Simpson sang "Pieces of Me" (followed by a brief interview with Jay Leno) aired on May 24, 2004, and she also sang it on The Late Show with David Letterman on July 16. She sang the song (after a brief interview with Charles Gibson) on Good Morning America on July 19, the day before her album was released in the U.S. On July 27, she sang it (after an interview) on Ryan Seacrest's talk show, On Air With Ryan Seacrest, and on August 8 she performed "Pieces of Me" on the Teen Choice Awards; the song also received the "Song of the Summer" award. On August 29, Simpson performed the song during the pre-show for the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards (and immediately afterwards introduced the band New Found Glory, who played their song "All Downhill From Here").
The song made its debut somewhat later in the United Kingdom, where the album was also released several months after it was in the U.S. In September 2004, Simpson made several notable television appearances in the U.K. in which she performed the song, including on Top of the Pops Saturday, CD:UK and Popworld.
On October 24, 2004, she performed the song on Saturday Night Live as the first of two scheduled for that night, but when she began her second performance (of "Autobiography", the title track from the album), a recording of "Pieces of Me" could be heard playing before Simpson raised her microphone. Simpson was criticized by some for what was seen as lip synching or singing over a backing track. The next day, she called in to MTV's Total Request Live to explain that she couldn't sing well that night because of her acid reflux, a medical problem which was also featured prominently on her reality show, so she was forced to perform with a backing track. Unfortunately, she said, at the beginning of her second performance the track for "Pieces of Me" was accidentally played again.
Peak chart positions
2004 Pieces of Me The Billboard Hot 100 No. 5 2004 Pieces of Me Billboard Top 40 Tracks No. 1 2004 Pieces of Me Billboard Adult Top 40 No. 4 2004 Pieces of Me UK Singles Chart No. 4
External links
- Launch.com (U.K.) review – 7 out of 10 stars
- Manchester Online review – 3 out of 5 stars