Jessica Simpson Gets Vulnerable, Takes Viewers Into the Studio in New Video for ‘Blame Me’: ‘It’s a Strong Heartbreak Anthem’

Over two decades ago, Texas native Jessica Simpson was known for her pristine, sleek pop image — as the vocal purveyor of massive pop hits like “I Wanna Love You Forever,” “I Think I’m in Love With You” and “With You,” but also for her work as a fashion industry titan and a reality television star.

But her new music video, “Blame Me,” off her March 21-released, five-song EP Nashville Canyon: Pt. 1, showcases Simpson in a laid-back, creative mode, working with a cavalcade of writers and musicians to bring the song to life. She wrote “Blame Me” with Lucie Silvas, Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne, Teresa LaBarbera, and writer-producer JD McPherson (who recently toured with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant).

“Being in the studio, what you see with ‘Blame Me’ is really the process of me becoming the artist I’ve always wanted to be,” Simpson tells Billboard.

Nashville Canyon: Part 1 marks Simpson’s first new music in 15 years — and a project where she explores the nuances of healing after heartbreak, fusing her own written lyrics with elements of rockabilly and Americana. Following a split from husband Eric Johnson, she decamped to Nashville in late 2023, and found solace and strength through songwriting — chasing emotional connection rather than simply widespread audience consumption.

“We gave them a playlist of songs with artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sierra Ferrell, Fred McDowell, and we just said, ‘Anything you want off the playlist, let’s go with that vibe.’ Don’t say the word ‘single,’ don’t say the word ‘hit,’ we’re traumatized by the word ‘smash,’” Simpson said.

Many of the songs filling the EP are drawn from a notebook of what Simpson calls “Jessica’s Golden Nuggets”: an assortment of quotes, ideas and musings Simpson has jotted down throughout her days, which served as inspirations for the songs on the new project. “I’ve always journaled. If I don’t journal for a few months, I know there’s something I’m not wanting to confront, emotionally. So, I went to Nashville and was like, ‘Let the confrontation begin,'” Simpson says.

In “Blame Me,” knowing her own story and her own worth, she dares an ex-lover to go ahead with trash talking her to those around them and laying the responsibility for the fizzled relationship at her feet.

“I think it’s such a powerful song. I think it’s a strong heartbreak anthem that we’re all strong enough to go through whatever hand gets dealt and we can find power in the pain of things,” she says.

Simpson says more music is on the way, with part two of the project in the works. “We’re finishing that up in the next couple of weeks, which is exciting,” she says.

Simpson spoke with Billboard about the video for “Blame Me,” creating her new project in Music City and rediscovering herself as an artist.

The video for “Blame Me” features you and the musicians, your fellow creators, all in the studio together. Why was that so important for you to showcase?

When I walked into the studio with all the musicians, at first I thought I was going to throw up in my mouth. I was so nervous, but then it was just so welcoming and everybody just looked to me for direction, which I’m not used to as an artist. You would think I’d be used to that, but I’m so used to somebody else directing me.

To have other musicians that do this every day of their lives for all kinds of artists looking at me and wanting to really understand where I was at lyrically and understanding me as an artist, this just feels so authentically me. And it was important to show the process in such a vulnerable song. We have to feel to heal. It was the last song we wrote for EP One. We didn’t have a ballad and I really wanted to have one.

You wrote “Blame Me” with a few co-writers, including Lucie Silvas and Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne. What was that like?

We also did “Leave” on the EP with John and Lucie. They are incredible, and John — what a guitar player. He’s so incredible, I was just blown away.

You named the EP Nashville Canyon. Why was Nashville the right place for you to record this project?

I love Nashville so much because lyrically, it’s such a place where you can say anything and you can open up about anything without judgment, and you are just automatically connected to the other songwriters. It’s truly like therapy sitting in front of a therapist, yet nobody’s a therapist. It depends on what kind you go to. They can ask you questions that make you discover. And I feel like the way that writers do that, they talk you through things as well. They offer advice. A lot of people have gone through the same things and they’re so used to being so open.

You released Nashville Canyon independently. How has that been different?

I’m not with the record label. I don’t have money behind me. Everything you’re seeing is just my own change that I have. I’m not paying for radio. I do feel like a new artist all over again. But this time I have the reins. Early on [in her career], I never met the musicians behind any of my music, and I never even knew the songwriters. So, until I started writing with people… the first song that I got to write was actually my first huge song [2003’s “With You”]. I realized early on that people respond to who I am as a person, my work — they know when it’s real. They know when it’s authentic. I think I’ve taken such a long break that people are now discovering me all over again.

One of the last albums you released was the country album Do You Know. Last month, you played your first live show in 15 years, at SXSW, and Nashville Canyon: Pt. 1 went to No. 1 on iTunes’ country albums chart. How has that felt?

It was shocking that it went to number one on country. I was like, “Wait, I had a number one country album [in 2008 with Do You Know] and I was dropped that week, and I never understood it.” I just thought people didn’t want me singing country. [With Nashville Canyon: Pt. 1] I wanted it to be genreless. When you’re not focused on radio and you’re not focused on that type of thing, the music really can land wherever the people put it.

I was dropped [from her former label] in 2007, 2008. I had a record deal since I was 14 years old. It’s losing a part of yourself that you thought made you who you were. I didn’t really have a deep understanding of it until a bit later. But they also didn’t know that I was such a different artist than they were trying to push and I never got that freedom of discovery. I did another project, a Christmas project [2010’s Happy Christmas], but that was the last thing I’d ever done. My kids [Maxwell (12), Ace (11), and Birdie (5)] have never seen me perform still. I did the Rockefeller Tree lighting and the Macy’s Day Parade, but they have never seen me perform, so when they do, it’ll be such a beautiful moment for me.

What do you hope people take away from this record?

I wanted to give people a piece of me, and that is what art is: they watch it and they apply it to their own lives, and they know that I’m just like they are. Just like reality TV was important for people to take me off of a pedestal and not just be an unapproachable, pretty singer. It was important to show my personality so people knew that there’s some things in life I take seriously and there’s some things that I don’t. I definitely say everything that comes into my mind out loud. I have no filter and I don’t have a filter when it comes to music.

What is ahead for EP two?

We just recorded at a different place called The Bomb Shelter, which had different acoustics and vibes for EP two, but the sounds will be cohesive. We have steel guitar on there, but not steel guitar in how you would think country… it’s more like how Tom Petty or Neil Young would use a steel guitar player.