The Jessica Simpsonssance Is Here—& New Music Is Just the Beginning

2004 was a busy year for my CD player. At 13, my favorite (deeply embarrassing) bedroom ritual was to prop a T-shirt over my head in lieu of a wig and moonlight as an early aughts pop diva—sharp choreo and exaggerated lip-synching included. And when the holidays rolled around? Oh, man. The only record I kept on repeat was ReJoyce: The Christmas Album (Deluxe Version) by Texas’ finest, Jessica Simpson. ‘Tis the season for comforting holiday carols, and little miss Daisy Dukes has been on my mind lately as I reminisce over Christmas traditions. Mark my words: 2024 will be the year of the Jessica Simpsonssance.

Once labeled as a “Gospel Girl Gone Bad” (the misogyny popped…), Jessica has triumphantly evolved from Just Another Rising Star With a Boyfriend to one of America’s savviest business women, a fashion and entertainment entrepreneur so successful Google can’t help but auto populate the key phrase “net worth” when searching for her full name. (I have no clue what her finances look like, but judging by her proclivity for flying private and the deliciously luxurious Christmas tree she recently posed next to at home, she’s doing just fine. In fact, Jessica Simpson Collection was even once valued at $1 billion.) In discussing my love for Jessica recently, I asked Gen Z colleagues if they were familiar with Jessica Simpson, the person. Their adorable response? “That’s the lady with the shoes, right?” 1 for Jessica Simpson PR, 0 for “Chicken by the Sea.”

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Jessica’s career began in music. Firecracker albums like Sweet Kisses, Irresistible, and In This Skin kept her in the same sentence as Britney and Christina, and those breathy, outrageously-high vocals set her apart from a pack of pop princesses following a similar show-off-the-midriff-to-sell-albums formula. Her discography spoke for itself. But like any pop icon, her marriage to 98 Degrees frontman Nick Lachey (not to mention her amusing relationship with fellow pop-singer-sister Ashlee Simpson) kept her perpetually in headlines. With the 2003 release of Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica on MTV (raise your hand if you also own the DVD box set), she paved a way for reality TV stars that would find blockbuster success just a short few years later (hello, Kardashians). If no pop queen is as quintessentially Australian as Kylie Minogue, who else reps the good ol’ U.S.A quite like Jessica Simpson?

For the detailed version of what happened to Jessica Simpson after Newlyweds and the release of her fifth studio album, Public Affair, read Open Book, her deeply moving memoir that lives on my bookshelf alongside Tom Ford and Hedi Slimane coffee table books (It’s called taste!). The abridged version? She separated from and divorced Nick. Married former NFL player Eric Johnson. Devoted herself to mothering three children (Maxwell, Birdie, and Ace). Got sober. Bought back her namesake company and brand. And eventually found her groove.

Pop culture loves to ogle over the rise and fall of celebrity, and often, careful reinvention doesn’t quite land in the public eye. Yet, when it comes to Jessica Simpson, something exciting is on the horizon. Perhaps I’m biased as an editor, but magazine covers (to me) remain a big deal, an indicator of what’s considered cool and in the zeitgeist. In July 2023, Jessica graced the cover of Bustle, sitting down for a candid reflection of her decades at work alongside a racy, super modern photo shoot that had social media buzzing.

Just last month, Footwear News honored her with the Icon Award at the 37th annual FN Achievement Awards. And can we talk about her fashion? Working closely with stylist Natalie Saidi, Jessica has repeatedly served for the gawds in dynamic, colorful looks that, as the kids say, are driving old and new fans feral.

At a time ripe with nostalgia for all things Y2K, (hello, The Woman in Me), Jessica’s comeback-of-sorts feels kismet. Entrepreneur is most certainly one way of accurately describing Jessica, and I can’t wait to see what thrilling new projects she announces next. But for me, it all goes back to the music, to the real girl with her Levi’s on and an open heart. As she recently told FN, Jessica’s spending a ton of time in a Nashville recording booth, gearing to release hotly anticipated new 2024 music (and eventually preparing for a forthcoming tour!). If her new smashes are at all reminiscent of some of my Jessica Simpson favorites (“Irresistible,” “Sweetest Sin,” “With You,”), it’s time I invest in a real wig—not a T-shirt version.

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