How Soon We Forget…

 

When you reach the age of, say, 25 or so, you cross an invisible bridge of sorts. When you cross it, you begin to have difficulty relating to teenagers and remembering what it was like to be a teen. So, when someone like Ashlee Simpson, or any other currently annoying talentless poptart becomes all the rage in teendom, you start to think that either the world is going to hell in a handbasket, or that you’ve gone insane.

Apparently, the tide is turning in Ashlee’s favor once again; she’s no longer the fallen pop star, the overly manufactured vehicle of recycled bubblegum, the new millenium teenybopper Sheryl Crow– teens, who are as fickle as the wind direction, are beginning to forgive her, or at least, they’ve forgotten about the whole SNL/Orange Bowl debacle.

I suppose that an “artist” like Ashlee does give young people hope, because her success sends the message that mediocrity is okay, that you don’t have to excel at anything, or have any real talent to make it. Her rise to fame makes success look easy; you just have to have a good gimmick, and meet the right people, or at least, have some pretty dedicated people backing you up. When you look at it, who is the real talent here?

I think it’s her father, for making the Ashlee Simpson phenomenon happen, and for keeping his daughter in the limelight, despite all of the potentially career-wrecking disasters that she’s been through so far (and she’s been through quite a few, considering she’s only been in the spotlight for a couple of years). So, Daddy Simpson’s level of talent, as a relentless promoter, remains to be seen. The gauge of that talent will be the length of time he manages to keep Ashlee’s name out there. Of course, most of her teen fans will reach their invisible bridge one day, and they in turn, will disassociate from all things teen, and they’ll develop a distaste for all things Ashlee. There’s just the waiting…