"Pieces of Me" is the debut single of American pop/rock singer Ashlee Simpson and the first single from her debut album,Autobiography (2004). The ballad[2],which was jointly written and composed by Simpson,Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks and produced by Shanks,[3] is a blend of pop and rock with lyrics about finding comfort and happiness in a relationship with a new boyfriend.
"Pieces of Me" was released as the first single from Autobiography on May 17,2004. It peaked at number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Outside of the U.S.,the song reached the top 10 in several countries,including Australia,Denmark,Norway,and the United Kingdom. Billboard ranked the song at number 97 in their 2017 list of "The 100 Greatest Choruses of the 21st Century" and number 26 in their 2020 list of "The 50 Greatest Minivan Rock Songs". As of 2025,it remains Simpson's most successful song as well as her only song to reach the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 or the UK Singles Chart.
Background and composition
The recording of "Pieces of Me" features in "Valentine's Bummer",the fourth episode of the first season of Ashlee Simpson's reality show,The Ashlee Simpson Show,[4] and was inspired by Simpson's relationship with the musician Ryan Cabrera,a friend with whom she became romantically involved. As she said,"It was just really nice to be with somebody who's just real and who's nice —just a good person. So I wrote that about him,and when I finished it,I was so excited and so was he."[5] The two were reported to have broken up in August 2004.[6] In another interview,Simpson said,"It's a feel good song,it's easy to listen to and every time I perform it or listen to it or whatever,... it just feels good."[7]
Jeff Rothschild played drums on the track,John Shanks played guitars and bass,and Simpson and Kara DioGuardi performed background vocals.[3]
Critical reception
The song received generally favorable reviews from music critics. IGN.com said of the song that it "lopes along to a feel good melancholic guitar strum while [Simpson] waxes like any lovelorn 19-year old would about the current love of their life."[8] Another review said that the "stringy" guitar riffs in "Pieces of Me" were "simple,yet effective",with the "catchy chorus bringing the song to life."[9] According to one review of the album Autobiography,Simpson's singing on the track goes from "impassioned wail to innocent cooing ably."[10] A UK review of the single called it "palatable" "as guitar-led lipstick confessionals go".[11] It has also been described as a "perfect choice" for the album's first single,having "a tempo between fast and slow,with hints of both throughout the song."[12]
Commercial performance
"Pieces of Me" began receiving widespread radio play in the U.S. in May 2004,well before the album's release on July 20. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, 97 stations added "Pieces of Me" to their play lists in the week ending on May 17,which it said was the strongest week for any single in 2004 at that point in the year.[13] The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 61 in June 2004 (the chart's top début for the week)[14] and reached the top 10 in August with a rise from number 13 to number nine.[15] It then rose to number eight the next week,[16] where it spent two weeks before peaking at number five on the Hot 100 in September 2004.[17] After spending one week at number five,it fell to number six[18] and then to number seven.[19] "Pieces of Me" remained in the top 50 on the Hot 100 chart until November 2004. It also reached number one on the BillboardTop 40 Tracks chart. The single was certified gold in October 2004 and platinum in January 2005.[20] "Pieces of Me" was number 39 on Billboard's 2004 year end Hot 100 Singles &Tracks chart and number 36 on the year end Hot 100 Singles Sales chart.[21]
The U.S. CD single was released by Geffen Records on June 29,2004,[22] and debuted at number three in single sales (behind American Idol stars Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo) with almost 8,000 copies sold.[23] The single includes the album version of the song as well as an instrumental. On the cover,Simpson has dark hair,and the artwork is similar to that of the album Autobiography;an earlier,promotional version of the single shows a blonde Simpson with a yellow jacket. This promotional version includes only the original version of the song.
The single was released in the United Kingdom on September 27,2004,on two CDs;the first includes a David Garcia &High Spiesremix,and the second includes remixes,a medley of snippets of songs from Autobiography ("Shadow","Autobiography","La La",and "Better Off"),and the "Pieces of Me" music video. "Pieces of Me" debuted at number four on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending October 3 and remained in the top 40 for seven weeks.[24]
Simpson has described her excitement when she first heard the song on the radio:
"I was in L.A. and my sister heard me on the radio and was freaking out and called me so I turned on the radio in my apartment with my two best friends and started jumping around and freaking out."[25]
In Australia, "Pieces of Me" made its debut on the ARIA singles chart at number 14,[26] and peaked for two weeks at number 7 in September;[26] it fell out of the top 40 in late November 2004. "Pieces of Me" was also accredited as a gold single in Australia.[27] In New Zealand, the song debuted on the RIANZ top 40 singles chart at number 33 in September 2004, peaked at 32 the next week, and fell out of the top 40 after its third week.[28]
In Germany, "Pieces of Me" reached number 26 on the singles chart,[29] and in Austria it debuted at number 43 and peaked at 15 in its sixth week.[30] In Switzerland, it debuted at number 17 and peaked at 11 in its third week, in October 2004.[31] In Italy, "Pieces of Me" peaked at 24 in October 2004, in its fourth week on the top 50 singles chart after debuting at 47;[32] after seven weeks, it fell out of the top 50. In Denmark, the song debuted at 5 and peaked at 4,[33] after which it fell off the chart; in Sweden, it reached a peak of number 31 on the singles chart,[34] while in Norway it stayed on the top 20 singles chart for 12 weeks, peaking at 3 in its fifth week.[35]
In Japan, "Pieces of Me" was a popular hit on radios reaching the top spot in domestic and international top in Japan Radio. It also reached the top 5 in countries such as Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan.[36]
Release and promotion
"Pieces of Me" was released as the lead single from Autobiography on June 29, 2004. The music video for the song, directed by Stefan Smith,[37] features Simpson (wearing a white shirt emblazoned with the word "punk" and a pink dress, as well as using Fostex T20RP headphones) and her band in the studio interspersed with clips of reality TV footage from The Ashlee Simpson Show. The video is fairly simplistic, and Simpson refers to the more elaborate video for her second single, "Shadow", as her first "real" video.[citation needed]
Simpson appeared on MTV's Total Request Live on May 17, 2004, and the "Pieces of Me" video was premiered on the show on this date. On June 2, she also appeared on the show and performed the song. The video did not debut on the countdown's top 10 until July 19; however, it reached number one for the first time on August 4 and remained on the countdown through September 13. The "Shadow" video premiered on the following day and took the place of "Pieces of Me" on the countdown.[38]
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 UK in which she performed the song, including on Top of the Pops (September 17),[42]Top of the Pops Saturday (September 25),[43]CD:UK and Popworld.
Later in 2004, on the October 23 episode of Saturday Night Liveseason 30, Simpson performed "Pieces of Me" as her first of two songs that night; when she started to perform her second song (which was supposed to be "Autobiography"), a recording of "Pieces of Me" was mistakenly played instead, indicating that Simpson was using some sort of vocal aid. She began to do an impromptu jig (which she later named as a hoedown) when she realized she had been caught lip-syncing, and then left the stage. (She later explained it as being due to her acid reflux condition.)[44] For her next performance, at the Radio Music Awards on October 25, Simpson poked fun at the SNL incident by having some of "Pieces of Me" play at the beginning of her performance, to suggest that she was caught in the same situation as before, only to then smile and exclaim that she was "just kidding" and begin performing "Autobiography."[45] The incident was also parodied in Good Charlotte's "I Just Wanna Live" music video and later on Family Guy during the season 4 episode "Brian Goes Back to College" in 2005.
Simpson subsequently performed "Pieces of Me" (in addition to a performance of "La La") on Jingle Ball Rock, a television special on FOX featuring performances by a number of popular artists; it was taped on December 3 and aired on the evening of December 17. She also sang the song as part of a concert broadcast live over the Internet on December 6, and during the performance she pulled a member of the audience up on stage with her. Simpson later performed the song on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2005, in which she also hosted the West Coast portion of the show.[46]
↑ Pieces of Me (US CD single liner notes). Ashlee Simpson. Geffen Records. 2004. B0003019-32.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Pieces of Me (UK CD1 liner notes). Ashlee Simpson. Geffen Records. 2004. 9863811.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Pieces of Me (UK CD2 liner notes). Ashlee Simpson. Geffen Records. 2004. 9863812.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Pieces of Me (European CD single liner notes). Ashlee Simpson. Geffen Records. 2004. 0602498634554.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Pieces of Me (Australian CD single liner notes). Ashlee Simpson. Geffen Records. 2004. 9863330.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Pieces of Me (Japanese CD single liner notes). Ashlee Simpson. Geffen Records. 2004. UICF-5006.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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