"Pieces of Me" is the debut single by American pop/rock singer Ashlee Simpson and the first single from her debut album, Autobiography (2004). The song, which was jointly written and composed by Simpson, Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks, and produced by Shanks, 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, prior to the album's release in July; it peaked at number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and contributed to the success of Autobiography, which went triple platinum in the U.S. Outside of the U.S., the song reached the top 10 in a number of 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. , 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 The recording of "Pieces of Me" features in "Valentine's Bummer," the fourth episode of the first season of Simpson's reality show, The Ashlee Simpson Show, 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." The two were reported to have broken up in August 2004. 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." Jeff Rothschild played drums on the track, Shanks played guitars and bass, and Simpson and DioGuardi did background vocals. 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." Another review said that the "stringy" guitar riffs in "Pieces of Me" were