In defense of Vicky Valentine

Let me preface this with the fact that I don’t like Ashlee Simpson’s music. I think she and her publicity team have made major mistakes in the handling of her SNL appearance, her Orange Bowl performance, and her plastic surgery. I do not own one of her albums and, like many people, I am to a certain extent jealous of her relationship with Pete Wentz.

But I applaud her decision to bring out Vicky Valentine.

Let’s look at Ashlee’s history. The overshadowed younger sister of Jessica Simpson who watched her sister marry and then see her marriage destroyed by over-exposure. The girl who was the dark haired “rebel” of the Simpson family, marketed as the alternative to Jessica’s blonde bombshell pop-stardom, but as soon as the shine was off that diamond Ashlee’s blonde and feminine.

Ashlee has entered adulthood in the public eye, has had her career controlled by her father (and I refuse to believe it is easy dealing with a father who talks about his daughter’s breasts the way Joe Simpson has talked about Jessica’s) and has at times seemed to be pushed towards being Jessica-light.

Which is why I salute the idea of Vicky Valentine.

I don’t usually support Carl Jung‘s philosophy, mostly because I think he and Freud were mostly full of shit, but Jung did some interesting work with the idea of persona, or the mask we wear for the public. There’s a good chance Ashlee has never had the ability to explore her bad girl side, to really let herself be that girl. Maybe as Ashlee Simpson she can’t internalize that girl. But as Vicky Valentine, she can deal with that part of her. Identifying it and working with it, as Ashlee has on her album, is probably an indication that she is working towards incorporating “Vicky” into herself.

Other artists do it all the time. My Chemical Romance became The Black Parade. And as Gerard Way sings “You might wake up and notice you’re someone you’re not.” David Bowie became Ziggy Stardust. During the Zoo TV tour Bono adopted three different personas onstage: The Fly, the Mirror Ball Man, and Mr. MacPhisto. Yes, it’s a little insane, but hell, you have to be a little insane to be an artist and you have to accept your own insanity in order to become a whole person.

I can’t prove this is what Ashlee’s doing, and I can’t prove it’s entirely GOOD for her. But I do think it’s an interesting step for her and has made me curious about what her new sound is going to be like. So Ashlee I’m willing to give another try, and I’m looking forward to hearing Vicky for the very first time.

And if you’ve never put on a different persona and tried it, I suggest you do. Be the good girl gone bad, or the bad girl who makes good, find a name that suits you, dress up a little, even. Go out and see how it feels to be that part of you with no shame and no fear. Trust me, it’s more than a little liberating.