In This Skin: Collector's Edition

Background

The first news about the third studio album by Jessica Simpson began circulating in late 2002, about a year after the release of her then latest studio album, Irresistible. Simpson said she wanted to write songs for her third album. In an interview with MTV in October 2002, Nick Lachey, her then-husband, revealed that Jessica was back in the studio, working on a new album. He said: "She's finally writing her own music, which I have always said she could do forever, but she had always been shy to get out there and do it. Jessica's a great writer, and she's really doing her songwriting from the heart ". Over the sound of the album, Lachey said: "It's a much more organic album and more true to itself," he continued, "All live instruments and it's very musical". After the confirmation, Jessica gave an interview to the press, in which she stated that she had met with Damon Elliott, an American music producer who previously worked with the likes of Beyoncé, Pink, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera. Later on, other producers signed on to contribute to Simpsons album, among those included Billy Mann, known for working with Ricky Martin, Backstreet Boys, Cher and Celine Dion, another producer confirmed at this meeting was Rob Fusari who, like the other producers, worked with Simpson on her first album.

In January 2003, in an interview at the American Music Awards, Andy Marvel revealed he was writing several songs for her album. Columbia Records confirmed the date for album release would be August 19, 2003, to be entitled In This Skin. Furthermore, other confirmed producers included Keith Thomas, Rick Wake and Andrew Williams. In January 2004, Simpson announced the reissue of In This Skin, subtitled In This Skin: Collector's Edition.

New material

For the reissue of the album, Simpson recorded two new songs; one is a cover of the 1986 song "Take My Breath Away" by the band Berlin and the other a cover of Robbie Williams's hit song, "Angels". Simpson remarked that "Take My Breath Away" is Simpson and Lachey's love theme "because it was playing the first time Nick kissed me". "I've been obsessed with 'Take My Breath Away' for a very long time," she said. Nick Lachey helped produce the vocals for both of her cover songs. Recording "Angels" was tough, Simpson said, because she had to do both songs in one day. She also revealed Lachey helped her get in the right mood by keeping his hand in her back pocket "and being right there" during the recording session.

Singles

The first single, a cover of "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, was released on March 25, 2004. It received positive reviews from contemporary critics. "Take My Breath Away" became a top-twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as a top ten hit on the Top 40 Tracks and the Top 40 Mainstream charts. The song also became another number-one hit for Simpson on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart. Although the song was not a huge hit, it performed decently on the other tracks it charted on: the Adult Top 40, the Adult Contemporary, the Hot 100 Airplay, the Hot Dance Club Play, and the Hot Digital Tracks charts. The video shows Simpson driving through a southwestern desert. She stops to fill up with fuel, and then arrives at a diner where she watches lovers in motion. A cover version of "Angels" by Robbie Williams was the second and last single from the album, released on June 7, 2004. In Australia, it debuted and peaked at number twenty-seven, becoming the sixth top thirty hit for Simpson in the country and positioned the album better, along with "Take My Breath Away".

Track listing