Idolator

Like the Timex Social Club, I spend a lot of time lamenting the rumors that surround me every day. How do they get started? And where do they get crazy? In Truthmongerer, I'll try to suss out the kernels of truth in the rumors that are taking up airspace in gossip columns, blogs, and our tips inbox.

THE RUMOR: Ashlee Simpson's camp is so nervous about Mariah Carey getting all the press—and the sales—when Ashlee's long-delayed album Bittersweet World comes out at the end of April that they've actually leaked E=MC² in an effort to make its release "less newsworthy."

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 20%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: "Joe Simpson has every right to be nervous about Ashlee going up against Mariah. They are backed into a corner with this release date since they already changed it once," a source told MSNBC. E=MC² leaked in full over the weekend, a week and a half before its release date, which is probably freaking out the suits at Island Def Jam.

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: The source continued: "Their only option in fighting the Mariah machine would be to create a way to make the album's release less newsworthy." Well, no. They could always, you know, try and figure out just what has turned Ashlee into someone people don't want to hear anymore, and why neither "Outta My Head" nor "Little Miss Obsessive" have really caught on with listeners. Or they could capitalize on their fake-redhead's tabloid stature by announcing that Ashlee got engaged!

Besides, does anyone think that Ashlee would still have a career at Universal Music Group if she'd been revealed to be leaking songs from the Mariah album, also known as "the album that killed the pop-music blogosphere?" Those copies of Bittersweet World would be sent to China for landfilling faster than you can say "Ay ya ya ya ya."

Ashlee's new album to go up against Mariah's [MSNBC via ONTD]