Thank God the elections are over and we can get back to an issue
that truly affects the American people: Ashlee Simpson caught
lip-syncing on Saturday Night Live. I was getting really tired of all
the 'George - Bush - closest - election - ever - whats - going - to -
happen - to - abortion - rights' blah, blah, blah. Can we please get
back to either trashing or defending Ashlee Simpson?


For
the one or two people in the world who have not heard about this
incident, Ashlee Simpson was caught lip-syncing her "live" performance
on NBC's Saturday Night Live on October 23rd. She initially blamed her
band but later switched her story and blamed her acid reflux disease.
She was supposed to sing Autobiography, the title track of her debut
album. When the music for Pieces of Me, which she had "sung" earlier in
the show began, she was confused. When the vocal tracks for Pieces of
Me played as well, even though she obviously wasnt singing, she had no
idea what to do. She decided to do a hoedown. It is with great
restraint that I do not make a joke about the ho being down, indeed.

In a letter to her fans on her website, (http://www.ashleesimpsonmusic.com),
she thanks her true fans for their support and love. Her fans
responding to her note on the site are not all taking her advice to do
what I do and not read what people are saying on the internet. They are
taking their negative comments to her very own website, despite her
claims that Its the love my fans have shown me that makes me want to go
back out there and continue to prove all the negative press wrong!


Here is an unedited comment to Ashlees note from a fan in its entirety.
I felt that all of the kid instant-messaging abbreviations made it
truly speak to me.

howdy all yalls! idk bout yall but wen i get
on this website there is always someone dissin my gurl ashlee... for
all of yall that do that its not our fuckin falt that yall are gelious
of her. She is one of the best artist out there. And she has no control
over the fact that her older sister is also a fab artist. She's just
doing her thing and trying to make it work all out and from the music i
can tell that she is. So all of yall people that r gelious of her just
stay off the web page b/c yal are all the real ones that cant and wont
do shit with yallz lifes. But neways!! i love ashlee! and ASH just keep
up the work b/c your the best role model and one could ever have and
take it all the way home!!



Bless the children for
being able to speak the truth in ways that adults cannot. Some of the
other posts remind Ashlee to remember that God made you perfect in His
sight and that people are just criticizing you because they wish they
could do what you do. Others applaud her for being a strong person to
be able to tell people they were wrong about something.

Other
people have felt the need to tell Ashlee that she couldnt hit a high
note with a baseball bat or that she is spoiled, lazy, immature, and
stupid. It is still nicer than the post that calls her a DIRTY DIRTY
DIRTY [insert the C-word].

Why the anger? Its not like Ashlee
Simpson is the only pop star in the world to ever lip-sync. There seems
to be a double standard on who can lip-sync and who cant. In America,
we dont mind lip-syncing if our pop stars are dancing. In fact, we
almost prefer it because we know that they would be out of breath if
they sang live. Fans of the dancing pop stars dont usually go to
concerts for live music - they go for the show.

Everyone knows
Britney Spears lip-syncs and even she admits to singing to back-up
tracks, which seems to be the industry term for lip-syncing. Seeing the
way Britney dances onstage, you know there has to be something helping
her. It would be physically impossible to sing while dancing so
acrobatically. When Britney is dangling from the ceiling with wires or
dancing provocatively with back-up dancers, we dont care if she
lip-synchs. For the stand around pop stars like Simpson, we want them
to be live. Its as if were saying, Youre just standing there, so you
might as well sing. After seeing some really bad live performances in
my life, I wish more stars would lip-sync on TV.

Personally, Im
not a fan of Ashlee Simpson. I had never even heard her music before
the SNL performance. I could care less about her lip-syncing, but I am
amused by the people who are so angry about it. It makes me want to buy
one of her CDs to get more information about her as an artist. Is this
perhaps proving the old adage that there is no such thing as bad
publicity, since at least some of her fans will continue to be loyal,
her career is not over? She might even get a few new fans from the
exposure. So Ashlee, in the official language of your fans: u r ok w/
me.

Sources:

Ashlee Simpson and That Lip-Syncing Feeling by Lisa de Moraes for The Washington Post Tuesday, October 26, 2004

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62938-2004Oct25.html

The official Ashlee Simpson website: http://www.ashleesimpsonmusic.com/