"Easier to access myself artistically": Jessica Simpson opens up about sobriety's impact on songwriting

Jessica Simpson is a well-known actress, singer, songwriter, and fashion designer. She had an early start in terms of her singing and songwriting career. Simpson released her first debut studio album titled Sweet Kisses in 1999 when she was just 17 years old. However, her professional and personal life has not always been peachy.

Over the years, Simpson battled alcohol addiction and was finally sober in 2017. Last year in November, Simpson celebrated being seven years sober. In a joint interview with her sister Ashlee Simpson conducted by The Cut, Jessica shared how her addiction and sobriety have different impacts on her songwriting abilities.

Jessica Simpson explained how she felt while writing songs after she stopped drinking,

"so much easier for me to access myself artistically." she voiced.

Keep reading to know more about Jessica Simpson's upcoming album.

---

Jessica Simpson will be releasing a new album titled Nashville Canyon, Part 1

During the interview with The Cut, Jessica Simpson was candid and shared her experiences with songwriting while she was still drinking. This was between 2016 to 2017. She said,

"I have songs from those times that I never released because they just didn’t feel like me. Every time I would write, I was a little afraid of myself. It was almost too much, especially because I was drinking at the time."

She also spoke about how she thought alcohol could improve her songwriting skills, but was wrong. She continued,

"I’d thought the more I drank, the more cool I could be and find cool words that would rhyme, that wouldn’t be so expected. I overthought it when I drank."

When Simpson came to a realization that alcohol would not help. She decided to put a stop to it. She also shared how all these fears she experienced while writing under the influence faded away when she became sober. Simpson expressed,

"But once I gave up the alcohol, the fears just diminished"

She goes on to say,

"I started pulling out my old journals, which eventually became Open Book. I now realize the power of words put to music."

After 15 years of taking a break from making music, Jessica Simpson is coming up with an EP titled Nashville Canyon, Part 1. It will be available to the public on March 21, 2025. She also just released one of her singles titled Use My Heart Against Me on February 21, 2025.

---

Ashlee Simpson, when asked about her older sister's EP described it as,

"delicious and yummy and honest."

She adds,

"I think the most important thing about being ready to strip your layers and be where you're at and meet yourself musically and as an artist, she's doing that and I'm very proud of her... her music is great, I'm very excited about it, yeah. And I think everybody will love it."