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When Ashlee's album hit stores about a month ago, it bowed at No. 1 in the U.S., selling a whopping 400,000 copies in the first week -- a chart-topping achievement that so far has eluded Jessica.
A singer herself, Jessica has earned more renown in the past year for starring with hubby Nick Lachey in their Osbournes-like MTV reality series, Newlyweds, which airs in Canada on CTV and MuchMusic.
"I had no clue that my album would do that," Ashlee, 19, said yesterday in an exclusive Canadian newspaper interview at her Toronto hotel. "Everything was so shocking. But it was extremely exciting. Let me tell ya, I was dancing around the room."
REALITY TV SHOW
A large part of the album's success in the U.S. is due to Ashlee's own MTV reality series, The Ashlee Simpson Show, which documented the warts-and-all making of her record.
In Canada, where a broadcaster has yet to pick the show up, Autobiography debuted at No. 37 and sold about 3,000 copies in the first week.
Ashlee clearly has some catching up to do with Canadians.
"I want to come out here more," said the singer, who will sign autographs today starting at 6 p.m. at Sherway Gardens. "And I don't feel like they know me or know my record, obviously, yet."
In the U.S., Ashlee has been drawing as many as 8,000 people to autograph signings and 18,000 to mall performances.
She said it wasn't always obvious that two star singers would emerge from the Texas-based Simpson family. Jessica, five years older, wanted to be the singer. Ashlee aspired to be a dancer and actress, and actually was in the cast of the WB series Seventh Heaven.
"You know I was always, like, the younger sister," Ashlee said. "And she, like, sang since she was really young. So I danced and I was acting and all that stuff. And when I would sing, I would sing alone in my room."
Ashlee sang of these feelings in her song, Shadow, in reference to Jessica, whose lyrics include: "She was beautiful, she had everything and more. I was stuck inside someone else's life, and always second best."
'LOOK AT ME'
Yesterday Ashlee elaborated: "It wasn't like I was mad at my parents or mad at my sister or anything like that. But it was a feeling of being the second child and saying, 'Hey, look at me, look at me! I need attention!' And I'm so not like that now. I grew out of that about four years ago."
Ashlee, a dyed-brunette beauty with sexy, raspy vocals and a rock-pop sound, insisted she was never fearful of the inevitable comparisons to the blonder, bigger-voiced Jessica.
"I was frustrated by the comparisons," she said. "I was just like, 'God, this sucks.' Everybody's just like, 'Oh, are you and your sister -- are you guys jealous of each other? Do you feel like you'll ever be as big as her?' And those questions are like, 'Oh, God.' It's like, 'It's my sister. And we're five years apart. And we're so different. And we listen to different music.' (There should be no) comparison at all."
Sisterly advice
There's an upside to having an older sister who is a famous singer.
"It's so good, actually, that we're doing the same thing," Ashlee Simpson said yesterday of older sister Jessica, "because I have somebody that I can confide in, and she knows (what advice to give)."
How's this as a for-instance?
"I was at the Teen Choice Awards (airing tonight at 8 p.m on Fox) the other day and I called Jessica and I was, like, 'Oh my gosh. I know now why you want to leave (these events) so fast, because Hollywood people are retarded! They're ridiculous!' I'm like, 'Oh, I see. Girls get jealous. And they're mean.' "