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Ashlee
Simpson
On
Path
To A
New
'Me'
Ashlee
Simpson
is
ready
to
return
to
the
scene
of
the
crime.
She
is
in
talks
with
"Saturday
Night
Live"
to
host
and
perform
on
the
show
around
the
October
11
release
of
her
sophomore
Geffen
album,
"I
Am
Me."
"It's
not
confirmed
yet,
but
I
want
to
do
it,"
she
told
Billboard
in
her
first
interview
about
the
new
album.
"I've
battled
those
demons.
I'm
ready
to
go
back
out
and
do
it
again."
Lest
anyone
has
forgotten,
Simpson,
in
support
of
her
Geffen
debut,
"Autobiography"
--
which
bowed
at
No.
1 on
the
Billboard
200
last
year
and
has
sold
2.9
million
copies,
according
to
Nielsen
SoundScan
--
appeared
on
the
show
last
October.
As
she
prepared
to
sing
her
second
song,
a
prerecorded
vocal
track
of
her
first
performance
erroneously
began
playing,
revealing
that
she
had
been
lip-syncing.
Simpson,
who
said
she
had
to
use
prerecorded
vocals
because
her
acid
reflux
had
left
her
unable
to
sing,
was
vilified
for
passing
off
her
performance
as
live.
Not
surprisingly,
that
event
and
the
aftermath
found
their
way
onto
the
new
album,
which,
like
"Autobiography,"
she
wrote
with
Kara
Dioguardi
and
John
Shanks.
The
tune
"Beautifully
Broken"
most
clearly
references
those
events.
"I've
obviously
fallen
on
my
face
before
in
front
of a
bunch
of
people,
but
I've
learned
it's
a
beautiful
thing
and
it's
OK
for
people
to
be
broken,"
she
says.
"That
song
is
about
the
moment
where
it's
like,
'God,
I
don't
even
know
if
I'm
going
to
be
able
to
get
out
of
my
bed
tomorrow.'
But
you
have
to
get
yourself
to
get
up
and
continue."
Musically,
the
album
is
more
aggressive
than
"Autobiography"
and
also
shows
the
'80s
influence
of
such
female
rockers
as
Joan
Jett
and
Terri
Nunn,
which
is
surprising,
because
Simpson
is
only
20.
"I
just
love
'80s
music,"
she
says.
"It's
just
so
light
and
fun,
and
that
was
a
lot
of
what
I
wanted
to
do
on
this
record."
Simpson
knows
that
after
her
"SNL"
snafu,
some
folks
won't
be
willing
to
give
her
a
second
chance,
but
she
left
the
ghosts
of
her
naysayers
outside
the
recording
studio.
"The
first
two
days,
I
was
like,
'What
am I
gonna
(do)'
...
and
then
I
was
like,
'Who
cares?
I'm
going
to
make
a
record
that's
true
to
myself
...
I'm
not
afraid
of
criticism
anymore,
must
I
say?"
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