The Ashlee Simpson Show - Season 2, Episode 4: Busy as a Bee

Previous on Ashlee: Ashlee celebrated her 20th birthday, cut her hair, and filmed the video for "La La."

Ashlee has a busy few weeks ahead of her, including rehearsals for her tour and performing "La La" on TRL. She gets in a car with boyfriend Ryan Cabrera, who's back from a radio promotional tour. They go to get gas, but neither knows which side the tank is on. That was thrilling.

Ashlee heads to a studio, explaining that they're changing the key on "La La" because it'll be hard to perform it high every night. Jordan, the president of Ashlee's label, asks if her band members can sing backup on the chorus. The band members, as usual, don't look thrilled. The guys sing, but they're so quiet and uncertain that I can't even hear them. They don't like how it sounds and say that they need to rehearse the backup part. Ashlee is excited about adding the backup vocals. She's open to change and thinks that this will give the song a fuller sound.

Lenny Kravitz's "Lady" transports us back to Ashlee's house. I hate that song. Ashlee has an interior decorator come over to look at the house, which is new and virtually undecorated. After talking with her and discussing what she wants, Ashlee is happy that the decorator gets what Ashlee wants to do.

Ashlee and her ever-present friends (who, by the way, are Lauren, Stephanie, and Stephanie) head somewhere to do Tae Bo with Billy Blanks himself. It's so hard being young and rich in America, isn't it? Ashlee wants to get in shape for her tour. She and her friends agree that Tae Bo will be harder than Pilates was. Indeed, the girls have a hard workout, but they seem to be having fun. At the end of the session, Ashlee tells Billy that she'll come back again.

Ashlee's not so thrilled, however, about the state of her house. She wanted it to be done by now. The decorator tells her it's getting there. Ashlee says it's frustrating, because when she comes home from being away, she wants the house to be comfortable. As people work on the house, Ashlee says that she's never done something like this before. Well, technically, you're not doing anything. You're paying other people to do it. But whatever. The house winds up looking okay, though there's way too much pink for my taste. Ashlee says it kind of makes her feel like a grownup.

Back at the studio, Ashlee decides to add a friend named Lucy to her band so she can have a backup singer. If things go well in the initial rehearsal, she may add Lucy to her TRL performance. Ryan is there to figure things out; Ashlee says that he has a good ear. Lucy has a nice voice, but she's off-key a little and the isolated track doesn't sound right. Lucy asks if Ashlee wants her to do a different harmony, but it looks like Ashlee's thinking about not using her at all. She says that dealing with this is harder than she expected.

Ashlee and her entourage travel to New York for TRL. She wants everything to go well because her fans are important to her. She has to wake up early for the show, and is obviously not happy about it. Before TRL, she does some radio interviews about her upcoming tour and movie. (I didn't know she was doing a movie; I had to look it up. It's called Wannabe, and it's about a bunch of people trying to make it in L.A.)

Of course, all of the interviewers ask her about the SNL fiasco. Afterwards, Ashlee is a little upset, and Tina comforts her. She says that this is similar to what Jessica goes through when people make comments about her being dumb - she has to let go of it and realize that now she can be free from worrying about making a fool of herself. Ashlee says that she's moved on, but people are still talking about what happened.

It's TRL time. Ashlee is performing with her original band, and the run-through goes well, which relaxes her. She says that she loves acting goofy before she does a performance. She can be calm because she's already made a fool of herself. After the performance, Ashlee says that it went well. Plus, her fans liked it and the band sounded good with the new backup vocals. This made her feel more confident.

Ashlee et al head to Detroit for a Thanksgiving show called the Hobnobble Gobble. Ashlee cracks herself up trying to say this. She greets a few people, including a girl who's incredibly excited to see her. Ashlee explains that this show is to raise money for Detroit's Thanksgiving parade. There's a slightly older crowd here, so her performance will be a little different. She gives a good show and is excited for the parade the next day.

On Thanksgiving morning, Ashlee is still excited, but is also happy that after the parade, she'll get to go spend time with her family. She says that she feels a little lonely in her family, now that Jessica's married. As the person who often goes to family gatherings without a significant other, I totally understand. Ashlee has to sit around for awhile until the parade starts, and she gets a little "loopy." She's happy that she doesn't have to wear a fancy dress like some other people in the parade.

Ashlee rides on the Target float. She likes parades because there are usually cute kids there. As she rides, a sound system plays "Pieces of Me." She waves a lot, saying that she mixed Nick's wave and Jessica's wave. Afterwards, she calls the experience "painless." Curly (I think) says that maybe next year she can be in a parade in Hawaii. Ashlee says that she's flying off to see her family and wishes the viewers a Happy Thanksgiving.

Next week: Ashlee talks about her movie. This is the biggest film role she's ever had. Ryan visits her onset. Ashlee does international interviews and has to answer some weird questions. She goes to Las Vegas for the Billboard Awards and wonders if she'll win one for Best New Artist.

Jenn Brasler is an aspiring writer from Falls Church, VA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. She's trying to decide whether to use her powers for good… or evil.

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