2008 Woodie Awards
Ashlee Simpson: Much more bitter than sweet
Alex Nagorski
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: Life!
Dear Ashlee,
The only question worth asking you is: Why? Why would you create such an atrocious album? Why would you let down all the fans who have stuck by you through everything? They stood at your side when you made a complete fool out of yourself on national television during your infamous Saturday Night Live lip-synching incident.
They made both of your previous albums debut at #1, putting you on the fast track to possible superstardom. Hell, they even defended you when you abandoned all you said you stood for by getting all that plastic surgery and turning into another eminently forgettable modern blonde starlet.
"Boyfriend," the lead track off your last album, "I Am Me," had you singing "Hollywood will suck me in but it won't spit me out." When you wrote that song, did you know you were lying and would morph into a corporate sellout?
On Apr. 22, you released "Bittersweet World," your third major label album. How a major label supported this "record" at all, however, is completely unclear. In fact, it would be no surprise if after this album fails to generate any good press, you'll be dropped. It's sad, yes, but you brought this on yourself.
It is also unclear why you're using your relationship with Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz the completely wrong way. You could have taken advantage of his musical genius and entrepreneurial expertise to help you evolve your pop/rock sound and make an actually good album. His influence is clearly there on "Little Miss Obsessive," the only legitimately good song on the record. Why you wouldn't work with this same formula on the rest of your CD is just mind boggling.
Instead, you're using Wentz to generate publicity. Don't even try to say that the fact that you and he announced your engagement and are constantly in the news squandering pregnancy rumors just a couple of days before your album was released was not a publicity stunt.
Gee, Ashlee, it must be a coincidence that your name is all over the celebrity gossip blogs the week you try to get yourself press and hype for your record. And to answer the question, you're probably thinking, no, you did not spark enough interest in anyone to buy this record to support your future family.
The only question worth asking you is: Why? Why would you create such an atrocious album? Why would you let down all the fans who have stuck by you through everything? They stood at your side when you made a complete fool out of yourself on national television during your infamous Saturday Night Live lip-synching incident.
They made both of your previous albums debut at #1, putting you on the fast track to possible superstardom. Hell, they even defended you when you abandoned all you said you stood for by getting all that plastic surgery and turning into another eminently forgettable modern blonde starlet.
"Boyfriend," the lead track off your last album, "I Am Me," had you singing "Hollywood will suck me in but it won't spit me out." When you wrote that song, did you know you were lying and would morph into a corporate sellout?
On Apr. 22, you released "Bittersweet World," your third major label album. How a major label supported this "record" at all, however, is completely unclear. In fact, it would be no surprise if after this album fails to generate any good press, you'll be dropped. It's sad, yes, but you brought this on yourself.
It is also unclear why you're using your relationship with Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz the completely wrong way. You could have taken advantage of his musical genius and entrepreneurial expertise to help you evolve your pop/rock sound and make an actually good album. His influence is clearly there on "Little Miss Obsessive," the only legitimately good song on the record. Why you wouldn't work with this same formula on the rest of your CD is just mind boggling.
Instead, you're using Wentz to generate publicity. Don't even try to say that the fact that you and he announced your engagement and are constantly in the news squandering pregnancy rumors just a couple of days before your album was released was not a publicity stunt.
Gee, Ashlee, it must be a coincidence that your name is all over the celebrity gossip blogs the week you try to get yourself press and hype for your record. And to answer the question, you're probably thinking, no, you did not spark enough interest in anyone to buy this record to support your future family.