Jessica Simpson’s back in the studio this week — but she’s not leaving the drama of her divorce behind.

The singer’s long-delayed album, And The Band Played On, was originally due in November but was pushed back shortly before the news of her split from husband Nick Lachey was announced. Up to that point, Simpson planned on making the album a country-club combo. But now that she’s gone through so much, she’s reconsidered what kind of statement she wants to make.

“I think that with my music, you can’t help but tell people a story about your life,” Simpson said. “I believe that every artist, that’s their artistry — it comes out of them naturally, through lyrics, through music, through instrumentation. So with this next record, you will see and hear a lot of things I’ve been going through. And if that can offer any inspiration to anybody else going through the same situations, so be it. That’s why I’m here.”

So far, Simpson — who’s executive producing the project -— has recorded with a host of producers known for their hits in R&B: Corey Rooney, Scott Storch, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

The latter pair are collaborating with Simpson on about seven songs, she said. “They are angels, they are amazing, they’re so talented,” she gushed. “You are in awe just sitting next to them and being able to write with them. And Janet Jackson, who I absolutely adore, is down the hall. She’s such a sweetheart, and they’ve got such a great vibe. We’ve had a great time working together.”

Having Janet down the hall helped inspire the sound of one track, called “Back To You.” “It’s a ballad that reminds me of Janet,” Simpson said. “It’s a really raw, stripped, kind of naked song that’s just honest.” Despite all the current things Simpson could be writing about, the song is a flashback about her first boyfriend in high school, inspired by rereading old journal entries.

“When you persevere through so much, when you go through so much, you want to show that in your music,” Simpson said. “Music is my soul, and when I ever want to express myself, I’m either writing or singing. I can’t imagine not having music be a part of my life.”

And The Band Played On is due by the end of this year, Simpson’s rep said.

As far as some of her business associates are concerned, Jessica Simpson is not exactly the employee of the month.

The “In This Skin” singer has been sued for $100 million by an apparel company that claims she failed to promote their product as promised, the Smoking Gun Website reports.

According to the complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court by the Tarrant Apparel Group, Simpson inked a multimillion dollar three-year licensing deal in December 2004 to launch a line of low-priced jeans and clothing.

Under the terms of the agreement, Simpson was supposed to be “actively involved” in promoting the garb, including wearing items from the line at “public events, shows, and appearances” whenever “reasonably practicable.”

However, it seems Simpson attended precious few events she deemed suitable for trotting out the affordable duds, leading the company to gripe that she “simply failed to provide the promised support.”

The company contends that Dukes of Hazzard star even refused to be photographed wearing items from the JS by Jessica Simpson and Princy collections, and that when asked by the press to name her favorite brand of jeans at an event last year, she replied “True Religion,” rather than “Princy.”

Princy jeans, which are named after the nickname given to Simpson by her father, retail for around $60, while True Religion jeans can set the denim connoisseur back upwards of $350.

Tarrant claims that Simpson’s unwillingness to back the line crippled its marketing plan and caused it to lose valuable contracts with retailers.

According to its court documents, the company has already shelled out $2.2 million in licensing fees to the singer-actress and has agreed to another $6 million in guaranteed payments.

The ex-Newlyweds star, who’s already balancing a jam-packed schedule, had not yet responded to the suit as of Friday.

In addition to her ongoing divorce proceedings from Nick Lachey, Simpson is currently in production on the comedy Employee of the Month opposite Dane Cook and Dax Shepard, and recently signed on to star in Major Movie Star, about an actress who hits rock bottom and enlists in the Marines. She is also rumored to have landed a role in the big-screen adaptation of Baywatch.

Meanwhile, she has also been in the studio working on her upcoming album, And The Band Played On, which is expected to released via her new label, Epic Records, sometime this year.

As if that weren’t enough to keep a soon-to-be single girl occupied, Simpson has reportedly been channeling her inner Angelina Jolie by looking into adopting a baby sometime in the future, as well as possibly funding her own orphanage, her rep confirmed last month.

Jessica is back in LA and with a brand new shorter hairstyle. She looks so cute.
Enjoy the pictures <3

// Jessica Simpson back in LA with new shorter hairstyle
// Jessica Simpson leaving the Ivy and heading to club

Busty US singer-turned-actress Jessica Simpson could be poised to follow in the footsteps of similarly endowed stars Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra by landing a role in Baywatch.

According to reports, the 25-year-old blonde has been singled out by producers making a big-screen version of the cult California lifeguard series, who believe she would be perfect for the role of leading lifeguard.

Apparently, Simpson caught the producers’ eye with her ‘performance’ in the 2005 Hollywood remake of another classic TV series, The Dukes of Hazzard, despite the film being universally panned by critics.

“Jessica really caught the eye in The Dukes of Hazzard film last summer,” a source told the Sun.

“She was the unanimous choice for the Baywatch role. Jessica has all the assets to make Pammy’s part her own.”

No doubt her assets were thought ideal for Baywatch’s legendary title sequence, which features slow-motion shots of the lifeguard team jogging along the beach.

As well as harnessing the Texan blonde’s considerable assets, the producers are also reportedly hopeful that Baywatch original and cult legend David Hasselhoff will also appear in the film, reprising the role of Mitch Buchannon that helped catapult him to international stardom.

Jessica Simpson has shifted from Columbia, for which she’s recorded since 1999, to Epic Records. As previously reported, the artist is working on the follow-up to 2003’s “In This Skin,” which has sold 2.9 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The as-yet-untitled set is expected before the year’s end, but in the meantime, a source says an R&B-oriented first single is “not far away at all.” Among the producers contributing to the project are Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Cory Rooney and Scott Storch.

Simpson’s move from Columbia to Epic, both of which fall under the Sony Music umbrella, mirrors that of new Epic president Charlie Walk, who formerly was executive VP of creative marketing and promotion for Columbia Records Group.

“I love all my friends and supporters at Columbia. I will miss them as I start this new relationship,” Simpson tells Billboard. “Charlie Walk was my first hero at Columbia. He believed in me before I really even got to meet the rest of the company. I couldn’t think of anyone I would trust more than Charlie to present my new music to the world. Epic is in a new place with a new leader. It just seems the right place for me as I begin my new journey.”

Just four months after her headline-making split from Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson revealed she’s a changed woman. But it’s only for the better.

“From the last time I talked to you, I feel like I am a completely different person,” Simpson confessed. “But I’m only 25.”

On the New Mexico set of her new movie, “Employee of the Month,” Jessica opened up to “Extra” about escaping life in the Hollywood limelight. She revealed that being on location in New Mexico has helped her heal from the breakup with Nick.

“I had to go back to Los Angeles this weekend for an appointment, and it was so strange,” Simpson related. “It was 20 paparazzi following me to buy sweatpants.”

An unfaltering part of Jessica’s real life is her family and their foundation of support. Simpson said her family is helping her adjust to life after Nick. “My family and I have gotten closer over the past three months,” she said. “Maybe because I was living with them for about a month of that.”

“I was just with my sister the other night,” Simpson added. “And she’s such a woman. She’s giving me advice, and I love that. She’s just stepped up to the plate, and I am so proud of her.”

Professionally, Jessica is proud of her new-found success on the silver screen. “‘Dukes of Hazzard’ was really more about the body,” Simpson admitted. “So, this is actually a movie that has a lot of lines for Jessica, which is nice.”

When she’s not on the movie set, Jessica is working to set up an organization for orphaned children. “I just really want to bring awareness to interracial adoption,” she said. “Definitely I know that I will adopt. I want to adopt before I have my own kids.”

Jessica called Angelina Jolie and her adopted kids an inspiration. “I think that Angelina Jolie has done amazing, amazing things,” Simpson said. “And the international adoption rate since her has skyrocketed.”

Crusading for kids, a new movie in the works and a big smile back on her face — yes, it appears Jessica Simpson is getting her life back on track.

Jessica Simpson has been inspired to follow her adoption dreams by celebrity activist Angelina Jolie. The newly-single pop star once begged her father to let her adopt a Mexican orphan during a trip to Latin America when she was a teenager, and now she’s seriously considering giving a child a home and a better life.

And it’s all thanks to actress Jolie, who has adopted two kids and is carrying boyfriend Brad Pitt’s first child. Simpson says, “I think Angelina Jolie has done amazing, amazing things and the international adoption rate just since her (decision to adopt) has skyrocketed. It’s unbelievable. “I want to adopt and I plan to adopt before I have my own kids.” And Simpson is hoping she can inspire other wannabe mums to follow her example by urging politicians to help cut through red tape that prevents certain couples from adopting.

The pop star is planning to speak to President George W Bush about the issue, urging him to make it easier for interracial couples to adopt.

Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, singer-actress Jessica Simpson Wednesday turned down a invitation to meet with President Bush, a snub that left Republicans dismayed.

The apparent final word that Simpson would be a no-show at a major Republican fund-raiser with Bush and congressional leaders Thursday night came after a day of conflicting reports from her camp and organizers of the event.

The blond star of the film “The Dukes of Hazzard” still plans to visit Washington Thursday to lobby members of Congress on behalf of Operation Smile, a non-profit venture offering free plastic surgery for disadvantaged children overseas with facial deformities.

People close to Simpson said she declined a request to appear that same evening at the gala fund-raiser of the National Republican Congressional Committee — even after she was offered some private face time with Bush — because Operation Smile is a non-partisan group.

“It just feels wrong,” one Simpson insider told Reuters Wednesday, adding that the actress keeps her political views private. “She would love to meet the president and talk about Operation Smile … but she can’t do it at a fund-raiser for the Republican Party.”

NRCC spokesman Carl Forti said he was surprised at Simpson’s position.

“It’s never been a problem for Bono,” he said, referring to the U2 rock star who has met regularly with political leaders of all stripes to promote various causes, including Third World debt relief. “I find it hard to believe she would pass up an opportunity to lobby the president on behalf of Operation Smile.”

Although Simpson’s publicists insisted she never had planned to attend the fund-raiser, Forti said the actress initially accepted the NRCC invitation when it was extended on Tuesday night, only to change her mind the next evening.

Forti said the Republican group had even arranged for Simpson to dine at one of the head tables with House Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. The NRCC hopes the $2,500-per-plate dinner event will raise $7.5 million for Republican candidates in the congressional midterm elections in November.

Simpson, 25, a Texas native who started out singing in her church choir, became a star on the Christian music circuit as a teenager and crossed over to the pop mainstream with her major-label debut album “Sweet Kisses” in 1999.

She became an overnight MTV sensation in 2003 as co-star of a reality show chronicling her first year of wedlock with fellow pop vocalist Nick Lachey, but she filed for divorce in December after three stormy years of marriage.