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Wednesday, June 13, 2001

Jessica Simpson's live chat transcript

Pop star Jessica Simpson joined AllPop.com for a live chat on Wednesday, June 13. Find out what the singing star had to say about her new album, tour and her ex-boyfriend in the complete transcript.

leah: I just wanna say your so amazing and i really look up to you in everything! i wanted to know who are your influences and why? thanks so much

Jessica Simpson: Hi! My biggest influence would be Celine Dion or Mariah Carrey and also Cece Winans, a gospel singer. I just love their voices and love the way they sound.

Cindy: I saw on a poll that it said that you and Nick Lachey broke up. Is that true?

Jessica Simpson: Yes, it is true that Nick and I aren't together, he's actually here in L.A. today with me. We talk everyday. And that's basically where it's at right now.

Renée: What is the hardest part of your job, putting aside the fact that you don't get to see your family as often as you'd wish to?

Jessica Simpson: Sounds funny because I like it but the hardest part of it is all the travelling. You get tired but I do like it.

Matt: This is kind of a personal question, and I know women can get embarrassed about it, but what is your waist size? Have you changed physically from working at the gym and dancing for your new video?

Jessica Simpson: My waist size! That's funny. Yes, I've been working out. Because I'm dancing more in my show, I'm losing inches around my waistline. I do a thousand sit-ups a day. So yeah, I've definitely seen a difference in my waist line.

Christina: I'm your number one fan. I love your music. You're very beautiful and talented. Are you going to have a video coming out with you singing live?

Jessica Simpson: Thanks for being my number 1 fan, I appreciate that. We're going to be doing some video footage actually of the tour. That'll all be live. Hopefully [it will be released] soon.

Kate: I really admire your standards of not having sex before marriage! You are a really great example to other girls out there who can look up to you, and you have kept to your promise. Thanks Jess and God Bless ya!

Jessica Simpson: Thank you so much for your support. The reason I came out with that when I did was because I'd seen so many young girls who hadn't saved themselves and were getting into trouble. You wanted them to know that I may be a person in the entertainment business but I can still wait to have sex and hopefully that would encourage them.

Melina (sweetstuff): Jess I love the duet you did with Marc Anthony!!! I played that for my b-friend, and he loved it!! I think it is a beautiful song!! How did it feel being in love with him for like 6 hours? HeHe!! Love a girl!! Your the best!!

Jessica Simpson: Thanks! I appreciate that, yes it was great working with that. Being in love with him for 6 hours was fun and then he left and went home to his wife and new baby. He's a great person an amazing talent too. He's hilarious and funny, he keeps us laughing the home time. So talented. I really love Mark's work. He's actually the one who approached me about doing the duet.

Jenni: Hey Jessica. I was just wondering are you going to make a Christian CD and if so when is coming out?

Jessica Simpson: You know, no. Every one of my albums I make I'll always do some kind of a tribute to my spirituality but as far as making a straight religious record, probably not but you never know what the future holds.

Michelle: Hey Jessica! I love your new album, its really awesome. I was wondering if you actually knew that you were going to be a famous singer and if you ever told anyone?

Jessica Simpson: I always kind of knew in the back of my mind that....I always knew I would be a singer and do it professionally. I didn't really tell anybody except for my parents. They encouraged me. They're the ones who helped me to open doors. My mom sings and my dad was very theatrical, he went to school on a drama scholarship.

brenda: What is your favourite song from the a;bum and why.

Jessica Simpson: Hi Brenda, my favourite song is, I have two, I love Hot Like Fire because it's a song with a lot of attitude and was really fun to record, the second song is When You Told Me You Love Me, I really base that on a situation of a friend of mine who's parents are divorced. I like the emotion behind that song.

Michelle: HI Jessica! I just want you to know that I love your new album and I want to know how you feel being compared to other pop queens (britney, christina)?

Jessica Simpson: You know, I know that's going to happen because we're blond, but I think if you listen to our records you'll hear the differences. When I hear Christina I don't think of Britney. We all have something different and distinct to offer. Just because we're younger and we have blond hair, people will always compare us because we're pop singers.

diane: Hi, jessica I just want to say that you are my idol and I was wondering how I would go about getting into the music business because I am a wanna be singer.

Jessica Simpson: Sure! My advice to people out there trying to make it in the music business...just sing at every music opportunity they have - church, school, get in front of the public and sing. Also, take vocal lessons because if they're going to be a singer they have to learn how to sing properly so that you don't hurt yourself and that you can have a long career. It's important..never to strain your voice, certain notes I sing from my diaphragm because if I sang them from my throat I'd hurt my vocal chords. You can get vocal nodes on your chords.

Judy: I know what I think the major differences between "Sweet Kisses" and "Irresistible" are but how do you think you had grown and matured from the last album to this one?

Jessica Simpson: I think I've grown vocally because I've grown up, the music has a little more edge, In this album, I tell guys off a little bit, I have more attitude, in Sweet Kisses it was all about love and first love which is great but this one has a little more edge. I'm not dealing with just love I'm dealing with heartbreak. The real stuff.

amanda: jess, are you going to be touring in Michigan?

Jessica Simpson: I'm not sure, probably, I'm going to be all over the U.S., keep up with our website, jessicacentral.com, jessicasimpson.com, they'll have all the dates posted as soon as everything gets settled. Overseas and Canada? Check the website, I'm going to be in Europe and Japan for the next three weeks. I'll be doing all kinds of shows over there. TV shows and festivals.

Jordan Koupiaris: What's a typical day before a concert for you?

Jessica Simpson: If I'm on tour then I will be on the bus, have driven all night long, usually I get up and go to work out. Then I just hang out, relax before everything happens. Then I usually have to do some radio promotions, and meet the fans and then I perform. I always do vocal warm-ups, wall push-ups and sing while I'm doing that and then we always pray as a group, me and all the dancers.

darson simair : What were your inspirations for this album jessica

Jessica Simpson: I had a lot of different inspirations on different songs. Going through a lot of interesting things in my life, I take [experiences from] my own life, a lot of it came from Nick, my friends, my parents. I think in order to get it out right, I have to get myself in that situation and figure out how I would feel. [In order to get in touch with emotion of song.]

cathy: HI you're a great singer keep up the work! l was wondering where you see yourself in 5 years?

Jessica Simpson: Hi! Thanks for the compliment, I think I see myself in five years just doing what I'm doing, I want to continue to sing, I want my career to continue to grow. I want to do some movies. Maybe be married and have a child but I still see myself in the business for sure.

Anu: what is the biggest lesson that you have learned in your life??

Jessica Simpson: Wow, that's a big question. I think just to be happy, no matter what the circumstances. I believe in really finding peace within yourself. Somethings aren't always the way you want them to be but you can always get through it. I think just to trust your label, really trust the people around you that they have your best interests at heart.

Jessica Simpson: Good bye to everybody. Thanks for coming online. I wish I could answer everyone's questions. Go to jessicacentral.com to send in more questions. Thanks for coming out and being my fans. Hope you like my album, love you guys.



--AllPop

Jessica Simpson

Monday, February 18, 2002

Nick & Jessica in love again


Pop diva Jessica Simpson and 98 Degrees star Nick Lachey are engaged.

The high-profile pop couple started dating in the summer of 1999 when Jessica opened for 98 Degrees on tour. After recording a song together ("Where You Are") for Jessica's first album and posing for magazine covers and numerous publicity shots, they had a public break-up last April, MTV reports.


Before their split, engagement rumours followed the couple when Jessica started sporting a diamond ring that she told reporters wasn't "on the right finger".

"Yes, it is true that Nick and I aren't together," Jessica said last June during a live webchat with AllPop. "We talk everyday. And that's basically where it's at right now."

Jessica's spokeswoman didn't tell MTV when the pop couple had reunited, but did confirm that the marriage proposal happened last week.

--AllPop

Wednesday, June 13, 2001

Jessica in charge
 By KIERAN GRANT -- Toronto Sun

Jessica Simpson isn't a pop star who plays her cards close to her vest, as the saying goes.

 The Texas-raised teen diva was candid about both her Christian spiritual views -- and her belief in abstaining from pre-marital sex -- while rising to fame two years ago with her album Sweet Kisses.

 She was also open about her well-publicized relationship with 98 Degrees member Nick Lachey.

 The relationship ended two months ago, but Simpson is still upfront about it. There are even remnants of it on her new album, Irresistible, on which Lachey co-wrote a pair of tunes, Forever In Your Eyes and To Fall In Love Again.

 "It's a very positive thing," Simpson, who turns 21 next month, said of the break-up during a Toronto visit to promote Irresistible yesterday. "I'm at a point in my life where I don't want to have to depend on anybody for anything. Everybody goes through it. I want to stand alone, try to hold my own self up instead of leaning on (Lachey) for strength."

 She did say that she still talks to Lachey, who's 27, on the phone every day. But she's footloose to follow up the moderate success of Sweet Kisses, which went gold in the U.S. and Canada (selling 500,000 and 50,000 copies, respectively) shortly after it came out in the fall of 1999.

 "I'm a lot more confident this time around," she said yesterday. "I really knew the direction that I wanted to go. Tommy Mottola, the CEO of Sony, and Donnie Ienner, the president of Columbia, hand picked every song with me."

 And, while Simpson could have been cynically viewed last year as a sort of Royal Crown Cola to Britney Spears' Pepsi and Cristina Aguilera's Coke, she's stayed out of the diva wars with the intention of emerging in her own right.

 "I look at my career as a marathon more than just a sprint," she said. "You can't avoid the comparisons (to Spears and Aguilera), even though we can sit and laugh about it. I don't hear 60-piece orchestras on Britney Spears' record, and Christina Aguilera hasn't worked with (producer-songwriter) Rodney Jerkins. I tried to do stuff on this album that would really differentiate me from them.

 "If I feel like it's time to grow up, my music's going to grow up with me. I recorded my first record when I was 17 years old. On this record, there's a lot of stuff that's more edgy and more mature. I've grown. I feel like an adult. I still have young fans who want someone to look up to, but I want to reach out to an older audience."

 Simpson is also sporting a more mature image now, with shorter skirts and tighter-fitting garb to go with it.

 Still, she said, spirituality remains "the centre" of who she is.

 "I don't have to have songs that talk about religion, I don't have to have spiritual songs to be a positive role model. People are going to get that through my interviews or just through me chatting with them through fan-mail. There are ways of encouraging people."

--AllPop


Tuesday, January 30, 2000

Jessica Simpson hopes for super-success

Jessica Simpson wants to make it to the pop status of Britney and Christina.

The blond-haired pop star is known for her 1999 album "Sweet Kisses" and for her pop star boyfriend, 98 Degrees member Nick Lachey.

Although Jessica is a familiar face to pop fans and has graced countless covers of teen magazines, her debut album didn't reach the stunning level of success attained by Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Now Jessica is back in the studio and hopes her next album will be her breakthrough, Entertainment Weekly reports.

"I haven't had the success of the other girls ... This album is crucial," Jessica said. "It's either me staying where I am, or taking off to the top."

Jessica isn't the only one hoping to make her next album a smash hit. Sony Music's top executive Tommy Mottola is reportedly choosing each of Jessica's upcoming songs personally.

"It's not just me singing about being in love. I also have heartbreak songs and girls telling off guys songs," Jessica told EW about her upcoming CD. "It's going to take me a while to recoup [on] this album, because we spent a lot of money on it."

Jessica's CD, which features a 50 piece orchestra on two songs, will be out this spring.

--AllPop