Ashlee simpson bittersweet world interview

Ashlee Simpson is underrated and she knows it. The younger, scrappier Simpson sister has never had the glossier career of her older sibling Jessica. In fact, for someone who grew up on stage, had a successful acting career, an MTV reality show and is now married to one of Diana Ross’s children, Evan Ross, Ashlee Simpson has always been an underdog.

In 2004, aged 19, she released her brilliant debut album
Autobiography
. The process of writing and recording the album was documented on
The Ashlee Simpson

Show
, a reality TV show that attempted to replicate the success of her sister’s show with her then-husband Nick Lachey,
Newlyweds
. Ashlee, however, isn’t Jessica, and while the show depicted a young woman going through heartbreak and hanging out with her friends, it also offered a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the major label mechanics. Early on in the show, Ashlee meets with her label as they clash over the direction her music is taking. Her label want her to be more like Hilary Duff; Ashlee just wants to be herself.









The show also took viewers behind the headlines. Ashlee’s now iconic and infamous
Saturday Night Live
lipsync fuck up was a plot device o

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.


Remember pop music? Sure you do, it was pretty big back there for a while. Back when it was the defining cultural artefact of the Western world for around 60 years, seemingly right up until the point broadsheet music critics decided to ‘take it seriously’ around the turn of the century. Less than a decade on, we’re in a time and place where a successful UK pop act hasn’t been launched in eight years, and the biggest female solo star in the world this February was that one from Moldy Peaches. Well done all involved.

So, right here right now, what passes for capital-‘P’ pop in the UK is either The Ting Tings doing their ‘Toni Basil chopped ‘n’ screwed’ steez, Scissor Sisters’ Toni and Guy anthems, or fucking Alphabeat. (Side note: can anyone name another artist currently recording who looks more like she cries herself to sleep each night other than her from Alphabeat? Me neither).

Even Girls Aloud, who were meant to be the saviours of this shit back in the day, prefer to go to war wielding the ‘It’s not real indie, they’re just poseurs’ jibber-jabber of ‘
Hoxton Heroes
’, a song that doesn’t so much resemble the girl power stompings of

Ashlee Simpson, I Am Me


In her short career, Ashlee, younger sister of Jessica, has already inspired an internet petition aimed at stopping her from singing live - the recorded version presumably being enough of a trial. This was after her debut album, a US number one in 2004, had familiarised Americans with her shrill "rock" mannerisms, which, in fairness, are no more grating than Avril Lavigne's. Perhaps noses were put out of joint by her sense of self-importance, a quality so prevalent on her second album that it negates the mild pleasure you might otherwise get from it.

The humiliating experience of being caught miming while supposedly singing live on TV has been turned into a pompous self-help ballad, Beautifully Broken, while the power-poppy I Am Me broadcasts Ashlee's demand to be the alpha female of the Simpson family. The best song is a cute, Gwen Stefani-ish rap pastiche, LOVE, which has her coming down off her high horse for a minute.




Ashlee Simpson Says Her Daughter's Love For Her Old Albums Is Inspiring New Music


In addition to Jagger, Simpson has a 2-year-old son named Ziggy with husband Evan Ross. She also has a 14-year-old son named Bronx, whom she shares with ex-husband Pete Wentz. Fittingly, each one of her kids has a unique love for music. "We have such a wide variety of music in our house, from soul to rock. I feel like lately we've been bringing it back," she says. "There are just so many different moments in music. It's so fun to connect to — 'Oh, that time in my life I heard this song' . . . I connect to so many different sounds of music, especially with my kids. It depends who I have in my car. If I have my 2-year-old, it's 'The Wheels on the Bus.' I'm like, please, no, let's listen to Stevie Wonder. He's cool!"

Meanwhile, Bronx "has the best taste in music," she adds. "I'm like, put your playlist on. And he'll now introduce me to artists I haven't heard."

And of course, her husband is a musician himself — and just so happens to be the son of musical legend Diana Ross. While Simpson hasn't made her own music in a while, she and Ross released a six-song EP in 2018 and another single in 2