Jessica Simpson reflects on the early days of her music career and her struggles to compete with her contemporaries.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the 44-year-old singer openly spoke about being in the shadow of pop girls Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, who were saturating the charts at the time.
"I was never gonna win because I had someone like Britney [Spears] and Christina [Aguilera] ahead of me, who were selling so many more records," Simpson admitted.
She also opened up about her record label's pressure to fit a particular image and sound.
"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."
A Newfound Creative Freedom
It was her songwriting that finally got Simpson a number-one single. Years later, she enjoys her artistic independence.
Simpson shared an excerpt from her Rolling Stone interview on Instagram over the weekend, where she opened up about how she got her voice back.
"At some point along the way, it occurred to [Jessica] that the music she liked to listen to and the music she could make didn't have to be different things anymore," the excerpt read.
"She owned her name, didn't have a label, and didn't have anyone (or more specifically, any man) asking her to sing a song that someone else wrote, while doing a little twirl someone else choreographed for her. And so, with a little Simpson-style cosmic urging from her kids, she came to Nashville."
The blonde bombshell released her first EP in 15 years, "Nashville Canyon," last week as part of the msignificantmilestone in her career. The record swiftly began its ascent up the charts, a milestone that Simpson took to social media to boast about.
This time around, Simpson chose to record with a live band rather than the usual studio approaches.
"I'd only worn headphones and had a track in my ear. I'd never [gotten] to feel the unearthing of a song and breaking it down," she explained.
Making Music Out of Heartbreak
The personal struggles Simpson endured — like her just-revealed divorce from husband Eric Johnson — were echoed in the ideas for her latest project.
In a behind-the-scenes video released on Monday, she discussed using her emotions as an inspiration for her writing.
"The reward of a broken heart is a ballad. You gotta feel to heal," she said.
Simpson confirmed her split from Johnson, to whom she was married in July 2014, in January. In a statement, she said, "Eric and I have been living separately, navigating a painful situation in our marriage."
Rumors that the pair had broken up had circulated since late 2024, when she began dropping hints about her music. In one post, she said, "Interviews in my Nashville music room where I unearthed my singular magic. This comeback is personal. It's an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve."
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