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Man, it had been so long since America had a good lip-syncing controversy to talk about, so thanks Lorne Michaels, Marci Klein and Joe Simpson! Everyone is buzzing about Ashlee Simpson, the "punkier" (but only in that pre-fab, third generation Avril Lavigne, Urban Outfitters way) sister of Jessica Simpson. Ashlee was either punk'd or revealed on Saturday Night Live when, during her second song, someone played the wrong vocal track (what played was Pieces of You, which she performed earlier). D'oh! As father/manager Joe was probably ripping his earring out, Ashlee and bandmates stood there dumbly, and then Ashlee vamped by doing a jig (bad, blurry photo of Ashelee in mid-jig below)...and then walked off. At the close of the show, she "apologized," explaining, "I feel so bad my band started playing the wrong song and I didn't know what to do so I thought I'd do a hoe-down- I'm sorry." The Post notes that SNL producers claim they were told it was a backing vocal. Yeah.
Father Joe: Lesson number one to Ashlee should have been that usually singers can change the songs they sing midway through. Think Elvis Costello's 1977 SNL appearance, when he started to play Less Than Zero but then switched to Radio, Radio; SNL hadn't wanted him to play Radio, Radio, which criticized his record label, but Elvis showed them. Anyway, Gothamist did think that Ashlee sounded surprisingly less screechy during first song Pieces of Me (we've seen her MTV show, and boy, can she not really sing), so it wasn't a surprise that she lip synced - the shock and surprise is that it was unveiled like this. Ashlee's limited talent aside, we'd like to point out that the fish stinks from the head - management, record labels, the marketing machine, etc., for encouraging and supporting a culture of lip syncers, and the fact is that tons of singers do it. Odds are that Ashlee will develop at least a very bad rash, if not another inferiority complex, from this incident. We can only wait for the next Teen People to address this. And the poor talent team of Jude Law - he was the one supposed to be at the center of attention.
stereogum has links to the non-performance and the explanation, as well as spirited comments (stereogum's Zapruder comment is also spot-on). The Media Drop also has extensive coverage, including these links to AVI and WMV files. We can't wait to see what Whatevs says. And the musical guest this Saturday will be Eminem, with host Kate Winslet.
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i can't help but feel bad for her... at the end of the day, she's just a kid.
I know what you mean. Even though I was happy that she was exposed because the state of mainstream music today is sad, but clearly, it just sucks for her.
I predict we'll see some Ashlee Halloween get ups - black wigs, Urban outfitters clothing with "retro" t-shirts, and jigging.
http://ashlee-simpson.ytmnd.com/
Gotta agree on feeling sorry for the kid. My schadenfreude for Ashlee was running full throttle this weekend, but I'm shocked to find that I actually have an ounce of compassion for her.
God knows, if I were a teenager, I wouldn't know how to handle it either.
That said, maybe this incident will kill her career so she can go back to being a kid (albeit one who has a ridiculously rich and large breasted sister and a preacher/domineering manager father) and we all live happily ever after.
The only thing that people don't seem to realize -is that many singers lipsynch on live audience shows. And it's not necessarily because they can't sing. It can be for a variety of reasons, from - giving your voice a rest cause you've been on tour - to making it easier for sound set-up. I know of live morning shows that will guest musicians and have insisted or tried to insist they use a dat with the music AND vocals because they didn't want to deal with all the gear required.
I don't give a shit how old she is. Automatonic engineered pop music is a pox on culture, and Ashlee Simpson and her family are among the worst. At least she IS young, and can find something else a little less offensive and demeaning to do with her life.
Compassion for a millionaire teenager while most of us live check to check? Get a grip.
No sympathy at all. There are thousands of singers out there who can and would sing if given half a chance. Can you imagine someone as non- packaged as a Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, etc etc, ever being able to get on the air today? These are not pretty people, but they are singers/artists in the true sense. Many say that Dylan for example is not even a good singer in terms of his vocal ability, but his talent, song writting skills and ability to make art that effects peoples lives are aspects that make him an artist, which are all things that are sorely lacking in todays pre-packaged poptarts (male and female). Shame on her, her father, all her fans, SNL for putting her on and her apologists. Remember- it aint called Saturday Night Canned.
Hope more non-talent hacks are exposed in the near future.
Come on guys. Let's give poor Ash a break. Say something nice to her on my dedicated Say Something Nice to Ashlee Simpson post:
Example:
"Nearly 50 percent of Milli Vanilli is still alive after their career ending lip synching disaster. Look at the glass as half full!"
Let's be nice for once!
Oh my god, stop the presses. Simpson's been exposed as a talentless hack!? What't the world coming to?
She and Britney should duet on "Blame it on the Rain"....
Okay, the perfect thing for Ashlee to do is to become the spokeswoman for Nexium or some other acid reflux drug - similar to Jessica's tuna deal.
...Somebody make sure that I get credit for the Public Relations move, will you?
hey im sorry whut happened but i still love you and i m ur numbah 1 fan byes
xoxoxox
,Erin
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Ashlee Simpson is soooooooo fake! ickkkkk
ASHLEEEEEE SIMPSON = UGLY PLASTIC BITCH NOW!! AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!