Ashlee Simpson sets April date for next album

By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Ashlee Simpson has set an April 22 release date for her third Geffen album, "Bittersweet World," which features production from Timbaland and the Neptunes' Chad Hugo.

The first official single, "Little Miss Obsessive," boasts guest vocals from the Plain White T's Tom Higginson. The track has yet to land on any Billboard charts.

Released digitally in December, album track "Out of My Head (Ay Ya Ya)" also failed to chart but has sold 117,000 digital downloads in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Simpson indulges her '80s fetish throughout the project. The sassy "Boys" imagines the Cardigans' "Lovefool" atop a Chic rhythm, and there's a "Beat It" vibe on the chugging "Rag Doll."

"I almost wish I lived my 20s in the '80s," says Simpson, who was born in 1984. "A lot of the record is a bit cheeky. Sometimes I'm writing about something serious, but it was fun for me to kind of goof around as well."

Reuters/Billboard