Listen Carefully To What I Am About To Say

And then begin picking up canned rations and sterno, because a hard rain’s gonna fall. Ashlee Simpson’s new album is being (partially) produced by Timbaland:

Meanwhile, a new sound from Ashlee is banging on the speakers, a more tribal, dangerous, seductive sound, filled with beats and synth lines. “Here, in the dark, is where I find the light,” she sings, in a slow, slinky way. “I’ve got a monkey on my back, get it off,” she then sings in a near-rap. “I get away with murder,” she drawls. Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes sneaks in a rap about how she has “diplomatic immunity.”

“This is really fun for me,” Ashlee says. “I’ve always done guitar-based songs, and seeing what we can do with beats is so amazing.”

I’m guessing it goes something like “lardy drums, trancey squiggle riff, incongruous funny noise that gets irritating by the fifth listen,” but I wouldn’t want to suggest Mssr. Mosley is tracing a template these days or anything. But seriously: Ashlee Simpson?? Was this common knowledge? Have the Video Music Awards destroyed my short-term memory and I already knew this? Does the man have any standards left or did the creatine rot the part of the brain that controls aesthetic discernment? Who cries for Aaliyah? And really, I’m no Furtado fan, but Nelly should be offended by the MTV article even offhandedly making the comparison.

Ashlee Lets Bad Girl Alter Ego Take Over On New LP [MTV]