Frank Kogan

I made a Shelly Peiken playlist, and it put my Kara DioGuardi playlist to sleep.

I secretly think "Love Me for Me" is the best track on Autobiography, better even than "La La," but the rest of her songs are...nothing like that.

It's like she's trying to be generic: "17" (Mandy Moore), "Something I Never Had" (Lohan), and "We'll Be Together" (Tisdale) could all be the same song. ("We'll Be Together," by the way, is the low point of the playlist, and it's the one song Shelly wrote on her own.) They're like little musical Harlequin romances. And if you've ever wondered what "Love Me for Me" would sound like without all that pesky personality and conviction, listen to "As I Am" (Miley Cyrus).

I mean, she has her moments: "Bitch," "Love Me for Me," "Is This Hollywood," and I'm assuming the other woodward tracks are just as good, although I haven't heard them. And "Almost Doesn't Count" is a favorite from way back, when I was fifteen or so, and has a bit that's stuck with me all these years: I can't keep on loving you one foot outside the door / I hear a funny hesitation of a heart that's never really sure. (Also good: Can't get to heaven / half off the ground.) But I don't think those moments are Shelly's, I think they're Meredith's and Ashlee's and Lucy's, because Meredith and Ashlee and Lucy continue to have those moments without Shelly, but Shelly doesn't have those moments without them.

Anyway, I got bored with Shelly and downloaded some Ashlee bonus tracks. Have you heard "Just Let Me Cry" or "Sorry"?