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Ashlee Simpson: What went wrong?
Published Tuesday, Jun 3 2008, 12:22 BST | By Nick Levine | 7 comments
"Oh dear," you're probably thinking, "but it's bound to have done much better in the States." Well, you'd be right, but also a little bit wrong. Though Bittersweet World debuted at number four on the US albums chart, it sold just 47,000 copies in its first seven days of release. That's 173,000 down on the opening week tally for Ashlee's previous album, 2005's I Am Me. Ouch indeed.
On paper Bittersweet World had plenty going for it - hip producers, a fantastic lead single and video in 'Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)', a singer who'd finally started to take some creative chances - so what went wrong? We've come up with five theories:
1. People who'd enjoyed Ashlee Simpson's old pop/rock sound were put off by the hipper, dancier stylings of 'Outta My Head'.
2. People just didn't believe that Ashlee Simpson had come up with something as brilliant as 'Outta My Head'.
4. Ashlee Simpson deliberately released an album with dodgy sales prospects so she could enjoy a nice, long maternity leave.
5. People didn't recognise Ashlee Simpson after her recent nose job and were thus unable to find Bittersweet World in the shops. We'll call this the 'Jennifer Grey Effect'.
The second single from Bittersweet World, 'Little Miss Obsessive', is released over here on August 4. It's a decent enough tune, not a million miles away from 'Pieces of Me', but we can't see it reviving the album's fortunes. To be honest, it's going to take a duet with hubbie - accompanied by a video featuring a cameo from Baby Simpson-Wentz - to turn this one into a best-seller.
Why do you think Ashlee Simpson's album is under-performing? Does it deserve better? Use the space below to have your say.
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7 Comments
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Anonymous, USA, on June 11th, 2008
I'm betting that her album isn't selling because she isn't creative enough to make albums worth listening to. And employing Timbaland for his predictable and lame stylings is just icing on this cake of failure.
I'm betting that her album isn't selling because she isn't creative enough to make albums worth listening to. And employing Timbaland for his predictable and lame stylings is just icing on this cake of failure.
John, Chesterfield, on June 5th, 2008
Oh well, she can always live off Jessica's money!
Oh well, she can always live off Jessica's money!
Victoria, Hertfordshire, on June 3rd, 2008
I like Ashlee Simpson's albums and I'm not ashamed to say so. I have all her albums and each album has songs I like and don't like on it. I think to be honest people have been more interested in the press she has been getting- nose job, engagement, pregnancy, wedding- and due to these she has been unable to do much promo work for her music. Also she has had to postpone her summer tour due to being pregnant. It's just unfortunate that she has had a lot of bad press in the past and people always refer to the incident when she was lip syncing on live tv and now people don't see her as any good. That was a while ago now and when I saw her sing live Outta My Head- she was fantastic and showed she can sing.
I like Ashlee Simpson's albums and I'm not ashamed to say so. I have all her albums and each album has songs I like and don't like on it. I think to be honest people have been more interested in the press she has been getting- nose job, engagement, pregnancy, wedding- and due to these she has been unable to do much promo work for her music. Also she has had to postpone her summer tour due to being pregnant. It's just unfortunate that she has had a lot of bad press in the past and people always refer to the incident when she was lip syncing on live tv and now people don't see her as any good. That was a while ago now and when I saw her sing live Outta My Head- she was fantastic and showed she can sing.
Another Anonymous, London, on June 3rd, 2008
Reason - people are either ashamed to admit they like her so they won't buy her music, or the promotion was poorly timed. I think it's a mix of two, more of the latter. Outta My Head was on our screens over a month ago, it was getting a positive response, but then only a few weeks later it was on iTunes. It made it's way into the top 20 there pretty quick, which was impressive. But, they delayed the physical release too long. A month later it was available on CD, by which all the promo and appearances had be done and plenty of people had downloaded it. They should've done 'a Rihanna' and released the download and physical simultaneously or at least nearer each other. Would've been a top 10 hit without radio support, and would've aroused interest in the album. Back to my first point, people are also perhaps ashamed to like Ashlee Simpson because she's had all that negative press; the nose job, the lip synching, getting booed on live TV. Bit of a pity really isn't it.
Reason - people are either ashamed to admit they like her so they won't buy her music, or the promotion was poorly timed. I think it's a mix of two, more of the latter. Outta My Head was on our screens over a month ago, it was getting a positive response, but then only a few weeks later it was on iTunes. It made it's way into the top 20 there pretty quick, which was impressive. But, they delayed the physical release too long. A month later it was available on CD, by which all the promo and appearances had be done and plenty of people had downloaded it. They should've done 'a Rihanna' and released the download and physical simultaneously or at least nearer each other. Would've been a top 10 hit without radio support, and would've aroused interest in the album. Back to my first point, people are also perhaps ashamed to like Ashlee Simpson because she's had all that negative press; the nose job, the lip synching, getting booed on live TV. Bit of a pity really isn't it.
Dolgol, on June 3rd, 2008
because she is talentless!!!
because she is talentless!!!
Anonymous, on June 3rd, 2008
it's obvious why she isn't selling anymore, its the saturday night live incident have a backlash :X its a shame rly cus loads of singers mime and you can even tell, it was just unfortunate that she mimed to the wrong song :| and another thing is she doesn't really promote does she? But I liked 'Outta My Head' so meh.
it's obvious why she isn't selling anymore, its the saturday night live incident have a backlash :X its a shame rly cus loads of singers mime and you can even tell, it was just unfortunate that she mimed to the wrong song :| and another thing is she doesn't really promote does she? But I liked 'Outta My Head' so meh.
i love the album!!!!!!! yes it`s different to her 1st 2 but as an artist gets older they change and experiment with different sounds. i love ash and always will. keep up the great work