She is in talks with "Saturday Night Live" (search) to host and perform on the show in October, close to the release date of her sophomore 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 first CD, "Autobiography" — which bowed at No. 1 last year and has sold 2.9 million copies — 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 (search).

Simpson, who said she had to use prerecorded vocals because her acid reflux had left her unable to sing, was pilloried for passing off her performance as live.

Not surprisingly, that event and the aftermath found their way onto the new album. Two songs make reference to the embarassing gaffe.

"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.

Simpson knows that after her "SNL" snafu, some folks won't be willing to give her a second chance.

"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."