Bittersweet World - Themes and Influences

Themes and Influences

In an April 2007 issue of US Magazine, Simpson was quoted as saying the album would have a more "mature" sound, yet still remain "rock". In the June 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan, she said that as she was becoming more mature, her music was changing, and that the new album would have less focus on relationship trouble and breakups. According to Simpson, the album was initially intended as a "singer-songwriter record", but she subsequently decided to change course and do something more "fun". Simpson revealed to E! News in June 2007 that her third album would have fun, dance songs, as well as break-up songs. She was also quoted as saying: "Who knows!? Maybe I'll fall in love on this record!" Simpson gave MTV a sneak peek of the album on September 8. It was described by Simpson as being based on beats more than guitars, unlike her previous albums. Among the songs was "Murder", featuring Travis McCoy. Simpson mentioned her work on Chicago as being one source of inspiration for the album, and she said that "there's a part of every girl and guy who wants to get out and get away with things", mentioning a kind of alter-ego on the album called "Vicky Valentine". Aside from "Murder", other songs mentioned by MTV were "Follow You Wherever You Go" (described as "jazzed-up"), "Rulebreaker", "Ay Ay Ay", and "Ragdoll". According to MTV, Simpson had recorded six songs with Timbaland and seven with Chad Hugo and Kenna. Later, in November, Simpson downplayed the "Vicky Valentine" alter-ego aspect of the album, saying that it "got a little blown out of proportion" and that it was "a joke for us making the record, and it's all lighthearted and all in good fun. It's me at the end of the day. We've all got different sides to us." In an interview with CosmoGIRL! for its December 2007/January 2008 issue (for which she was the cover girl), Simpson said that she did not feel that she needed to prove herself when making this album and that she had a "stronger vision" for it. She also said that she challenged herself by "working with new sounds and new people" and that, although there was an expectation that she would be influenced by her boyfriend Pete Wentz to move further in the direction of rock with this album, she chose the opposite course, describing the result as a "fun party album" with a "silly and quirky" side. According to Simpson, she trusted her instincts in making the album and "felt free to be fun and crazy and sexy".

In an interview with Billboard.com in early December, Simpson said that the album had some 1980s influences but was not entirely styled as an 1980s album. She said that there would still be a pop/rock aspect to the album, mentioning the songs "Rulebreaker" and "Never Dream Alone" in this respect. The album's title was still undecided at the time of the interview, and Simpson said that she intended to choose it during the Christmas holidays. She also said that she was planning on going on tour to support the album around February and that she wanted the initial phase to be a "smaller club tour". Simpson said in a January 2008 interview that the album celebrated her love of life and described how working with Timbaland, Hugo and Kenna was a change of pace; she also said that she wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album: "This is my art and it's personal. If someone else writes the song without my input, it doesn't feel honest." The lyrics on Bittersweet World are "more abstract" than on past albums, according to Simpson, but she was "still singing about things I've gone through or friends went through", calling the subject matter "diverse and universal". According to Simpson, having already achieved two number one albums caused her to feel less pressure in making Bittersweet World, and she felt she had more freedom to do what she wanted with the album. She said that the album was recorded over the course of about a year, concluding around January 2008. Much of the songwriting was done in the studio; Simpson sometimes went to the beach before going to the studio in order to clear her mind.