Jessica Simpson hasn't had what anyone would call an uneventful couple of years. Amid a divorce, another child, and a road to sober recovery, she has found her home in Nashville. Recently, she opened up about her journey to Rolling Stone, and I think she deserves some praise for her progress and success, despite the odds.
Videos by Wide Open Country
As is often the case in the wild world of pop, Jessica Simpson finds herself being compared to superstars like Britney Spears. She was coming into her own in an era that had some of the greats of hr genre. To try to stand shoulder to shoulder with them is unhealthy, and yet it's what many insisted she did.
She, her label, and her fans saw her career as a popularity contest. Looking back on her early stages as a pop musician, Jessica Simpson told Rolling Stone, "I was never going to win because I had someone like Britney [Spears] and Christina [Aguilera] ahead of me, who were selling so many more records."
She was not only compared to them but also encouraged to be like them. Her performances were required to look like theirs, despite the fact that she much preferred to do things her own way. She was forced, by her label, into a style she wasn't comfortable with.
"I didn't want to dance, I didn't want to wear a head mic. But I agreed to do it because I worked for Sony, and I didn't want to let them down, and I felt like I was constantly letting people down, even myself, probably because I wasn't singing words I wrote."
Jessica Simpson Decided To Break The Mold
Feeling overwhelmed and tired of the pop music industry mill, Jessica Simpson broke off and did her own thing. Encouraged by her manager, she wrote some of her own music. It ended up paying off too, with 'With You' that sat in the charts for 23 weeks.
Looking back on her musical career, she noted how her best moments are when she's being true to herself. "When I've had success in my life is when I've just been honest and real," she told Rolling Stone.
As any artist knows, true art is only created when the artists create for themselves. Trying to emulate or please others only results in shoddy imitations and soulless productions.
