Bittersweet World - Background

Background

In November 2006, after completing her run as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago, Simpson said that she was going to meet with record executives soon and begin working on her third album. Geffen chairman Ron Fair said in early December 2006 that working on Simpson's next album would be "very tricky" because of press scrutiny and "prejudices", but that Geffen would work with her to overcome that, "because she deserves to be heard and she deserves a shot." MTV reported on March 6, 2007 that Simpson's next album would have "a more soulful sound", and Simpson said she was writing with many different people. On March 22, 2007, EW.com reported that her father and manager Joe Simpson revealed she had been writing with Kenna and Chad Hugo. She also was said to be working with Timbaland, Linda Perry, Pharrell Williams, will.i.am, John Legend, and Tim Rice-Oxley. It was reported at that Simpson was working on a collaboration with The Cure's frontman, Robert Smith, although in July Smith said that he had not worked with her and did not think it was likely that he would do so in 2007; he did, however, give a positive appraisal of Simpson's 2006 performance in Chicago. In September, Simpson said that, although it would be "a dream" to work with Smith, it had never happened and she had been embarrassed by the rumor.