Back in 2005, on her dour sophomore stumble, Ashlee Simpson proclaimed, “I am me, and I won’t change for anyone.” Then her face changed. And now she’s swapped her Avril Lavigne–imitation grunge for some horny new-wave, aided by Timbaland and the Neptunes’ Chad Hugo, who do their best to satisfy her fetish for all things upbeat and ’80s. But in the quest to make overly bronzed twentysomethings sweat, this endearing pseudo–rebel loses much of the little–sister angst that made her so appealing in the first place. On “Hot Stuff,” she tries to turn up her aerodynamic nose at crotch–shot–prone tarts but——thanks to some ill–advised rapping—comes off like a ditz herself. It’s not all forced party jams: The spunky “Ragdoll” is an assured Police tribute that would make Sting envious, and “Little Miss Obsessive” convincingly updates hair–metal balladry. But while Ashlee used to desperately distance herself from her blemishless sister, she now sounds desperate to fall in line.

Download: “Ragdoll,” “Little Miss Obsessive”