Promotion and Saturday Night Live Controversy
The album and singles received considerable promotion in the US—where they sold the most copies—and other countries, and much of this focused on contrasting her with Jessica by highlighting her more rock-oriented image. This image distinction from Jessica did not mean that the two were not associated in publicity, however; the sisters appeared together in television commercials at around the time of Autobiography's release, for Pizza Hut and Ice Breakers Liquid Ice.
A key element of Simpson's promotion was The Ashlee Simpson Show, which debuted on June 16, 2004, and ran for eight episodes, achieving high ratings for cable television. Jessica's reality show, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, had debuted in 2003 and had proved highly successful, being credited with reviving her flagging music career; reality television proved similarly effective in helping launch Simpson's music career. It has been said that Simpson's father and manager Joe Simpson "redefined how you sell records" through his use of reality television to promote his daughters. Simpson said that she initially did not want to do the reality show but that her father persuaded her to do it because it would be about the production of her album: "...I thought that was kind of cool. You're actually seeing a deeper look into how this album got made." She also thought the show, by showcasing her own personality, would help to distinguish her from Jessica.
Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts, pointed to a combination of factors in explaining Simpson's success with Autobiography. He described Simpson as the "right thing at the right time" and said: "The MTV show is a huge catalyst, radio jumped all over the song, and her famous sister opened the door. If Jessica never happened, then Ashlee doesn't get her own show and this album doesn't happen." Zena Burns of Teen People, while noting the importance of effective promotion and Simpson's connection to Jessica, stressed the appeal of "Pieces of Me" in explaining her success: "Ashlee has an amazing promotional machine, and it doesn't hurt to have Jessica and MTV behind you, but she also came out with an insanely catchy pop single." From July 13 to July 20, the week prior to Autobiography's release, MTV.com's "The Leak" featured the album for streaming on its website. Autobiography drew 2.66 million requested streams during the time period, breaking a record previously held by Britney Spears' 2003 album In the Zone.
Simpson's publicity suffered when a performance on the October 23–24 edition of Saturday Night Live went awry. According to Simpson's publicists, her father and manager decided to use a vocal guide track because of problems she was having with her voice, beginning earlier in the day, that were caused by acid reflux. Although her first performance of the night—"Pieces of Me"—was successful, her second performance, which was supposed to be of "Autobiography" (at the time planned as her third single), went wrong: "Pieces of Me" mistakenly began playing, and Simpson's recorded vocals were heard when her microphone was not near her mouth. She subsequently walked off the stage and then apologized for the error during the show's closing. Some viewers accused Simpson of lip synching, and the incident received widespread coverage in the news. Simpson joked about the incident with a performance of "Autobiography" at the Radio Music Awards on October 25. Despite the low points of this period of the album's promotion, there were also significant successes. According to a Geffen press release, her December 6 AOL Music Live performance "had the biggest 1 week audience ever for AOL with 1.6 million plays."
Read more about this topic: Autobiography (Ashlee Simpson album)
Famous quotes containing the words promotion, night and/or controversy:
“Parents can fail to cheer your successes as wildly as you expected, pointing out that you are sharing your Nobel Prize with a couple of other people, or that your Oscar was for supporting actress, not really for a starring role. More subtly, they can cheer your successes too wildly, forcing you into the awkward realization that your achievement of merely graduating or getting the promotion did not warrant the fireworks and brass band.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)