Shadow

Ashlee Simpson is on top of the world, with a No. 1 launch album, a No. 1 debut at mainstream top 40 and household-name status during the hasty course of the summer of 2004. Fall is looking promising, too, with the release of the follow-up to edgy, singable "Pieces of Me": "Shadow" is as good, if not better. The woe-is-me rock ballad paints Simpson as the misunderstood sister, living behind the glamour of sis Jessica's fame. Whatever. But there's a universality in the lyric that any teen will take to heart and make her own anthem of independence. Simpson's signature vocal sounds like it's shaken up in a bag of fine gravel—gruff and guttural and raspy in an appealing manner. If non-urban songs ever topped The Billboard Hot 100, this would be a shoo-in. Young ladies, arm yourselves with hairbrushes in hand; this one's going to storm the land.—CT