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Jessica Simpson: Country Comforts
The tabloid survivor and erstwhile pop pinup opens up about her
new sound, new love and new happiness
By Melinda Newman
Special to MSN Music
Barry Manilow may have sung it first, but Jessica Simpson's new theme song could be the
teeth-clenching survivor's tale, "I Made It Through the Rain." Just make sure to
add some fiddle.
"In country, it's really different. People really care about the
music and the lyrics and why you wrote it because they can relate to it."
See photos of Jessica Simpson
The pop princess and tabloid cover girl has gone country and, to hear her
tell it, she finally feels at home. Sitting in a red peasant dress and gray
hoodie on a sofa at Sony BMG's Nashville, Tenn., headquarters, her adorable
maltipoo Daisy snoozing in a chair nearby, Simpson waxes rhapsodic about her new
musical direction: "I really wasn't a trendsetter in pop music; I was trying to
keep up with the trends," she says. "I finally found where I'm supposed to be."
See photos: Pop, rock and rap's born-again cowboys
and girls
Years of relentless public scrutiny -- through her gut-wrenching divorce from
her reality show co-star Nick Lachey, a seemingly mismatched romance with John Mayer and, now, with new love Dallas Cowboys
quarterback Tony Romo -- have left Simpson a little wary, but remarkably
unguarded. Her intimate feelings, some taken directly from her journal, make up
much of the lyrical content on her country debut "Do You Know."
Simpson lived in Nashville while recording the album, but now splits her time
between Los Angeles and Dallas so she can cheer on her ball-tossing beau during
the upcoming fall season.
MSN Music: What do you want people to learn about you from listening
to this album?
Jessica Simpson: I think people just forgot that I sing
(laughs). I have been quiet for the past two, almost three years. After the
divorce I really just shut off and had to heal before I could be strong enough
to take the world on again, so the world took me on and just ran with it and has
completely given people a false perception of who I am. With this record I think
that people will experience my heart again and experience my voice again.
You have been in several movies and have your name attached to
several brands. Do you still consider yourself first and foremost a
singer?
Oh gosh, yes. I think that the only way to do that to where I could
understand myself was in country music. In pop music I kept delivering all these
ballads and pop radio just wouldn't play them. Pop music, just for me
personally, was too beat-driven and it was too much about all the glitz and
glamour and what I was wearing ... Radio DJs would really try to dig in deep and
get from me what they wanted and then just kick me out the door, so I started to
feel a little bit used and abused. In country, it's really different. People
really care about the music and the lyrics and why you wrote it because they can
relate to it.
After your last pop album, 2006's "A Public Affair," you said
you didn't want to perform again.
I just don't think ["A Public Affair"] should have been released because I
was going through such a hard time. That was right during the divorce. Nick had
released his album and he was talking about us and I couldn't believe it, I was
so hurt. I felt like he was using our divorce as some kind of promotion. It
really made me nervous to do interviews and to promote something. So I was like,
if I'm going to put this record out, all the songs are going to be up-tempo and
I'm just going to dance and tell everybody that I'm happy and that everything is
great. And I'm a horrible liar.
This album takes you on an emotional journey. Could you have done
this CD when you were 21?
No, absolutely not, because my heart had never been destroyed the way it has
been since I was 21. I guess God allows certain things to happen but he never
gives us more than we can handle. Now I look at it and I'm thankful for the pain
because I think people can relate to me more and it makes me more human to
people.
You've said that every song on "Do You Know" is a piece of your
heart. "Remember That" is about an abusive relationship. What piece of your
heart is that?
I think it's important for women to find value and self worth in themselves
in every relationship that they're in. And abusive, controlling situations are
extremely hard to break free from. (Story Continues On Next Page...) |
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