Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/Ashlee Simpson/archive1

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[edit] Critical intro

Ashlee Nicole Simpson (born October 3, 1984 in Dallas, Texas, although some sources put her place of birth in Waco, Texas) is a American pop rock singer, actress, and the younger sister of pop singer Jessica Simpson. Simpson's career began to take off when she landed a role as a regular in the tv series 7th Heaven, and she rose to prominence through her chart-topping debut album Autobiography and the accompanying MTV reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show. Later, she gained a great deal of notariety after she was accused of lip syncing on an episode of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). Throughout her career she has had great difficulty shrugging off allegations of being a "manufactured" singer and just riding the coattails of her sister's success.

[edit] Overthetopcriticism

Much of media claim that Simpson cannot sing very well and is a "manufactured" artist, in that she is a mediocre singer and that she was "phony" in her appearances on her MTV reality show. They cite such incidents as the SNL episode and the Orange Bowl performance as backup for their claims. Critics cite Simpson's carefully crafted image as the reason for her continued success more than her music. Many critics assert that Ashlee lipsyncs in all of her appearances and that the "SNL" episode was the norm rather than the exception, and compare the impact of the "SNL" incident to the incident Milli Vanilli had in November 15 1990, where they played a live performance on MTV, only to have the record skip.

Assuming she is a manufactured artist, much of the media speculate that Simpson was pushed to fame through the aggressive management style and contacts of her father, Joe Simpson, who is her manager and was the executive producer of her reality show on MTV. Quotes from her father, such as the statement in a GQ interview around December 2004 where he said "Jessica never tries to be sexy. She just is sexy. If you put her in a T-shirt or you put her in a bustier, she's sexy in both. She's got double D's! You can't cover those suckers up!" are often used to paint him outside the social norm. The argument is that he thinks of his daughters as products rather than looking out for their best interests.