The lyrics on Ashlee Simpson's infectiously spunky, chart-topping "Autobiography," the singer says, "are exactly my story up until the point that I was at when I wrote the record. I wanted to say exactly who I was and what I was going through and kind of where I was at that point."

Joe Cavarett, Associated Press "I honestly didn't think it would be as big of a deal," Ashlee Simpson, here performing at the Radio Music Awards, says of her now infamous "Saturday Night Live" lip-syncing incident. "... There are artists that get away with that every single day that are our favorite artists." Click photo for larger image. Ashlee Simpson With: Pepper's Ghost and the Click Five. Where: Benedum Center, Downtown. When: 7 tonight. Tickets: $38.50; 412-456-6666.

A lot has changed since then, of course, as Ashlee points out with a nervous laugh.

And no, by that she does not mean the triple-platinum status of her breakthrough album.

Or the time it spent at No. 1.

Nor does she mean the thrill of having joined her older sister, of "Newlyweds" fame, in the ranks of reality television icons.

No, she means the incidents that all but Ashlee's biggest fans now think of when they hear her name.

In October, the singer was busted using pre-recorded vocals on the set of "Saturday Night Live" when a tape of her singing started playing at the wrong time. Clearly panicked, Ashlee called on years of no experience and proceeded to dance a bizarre little jig before fleeing the stage.

It was not pretty.

Then, in January, her Orange Bowl performance was famously heckled and booed by a crowd of as many as 72,000 football fans -- who, one could argue, don't exactly constitute the target demographic she and her producer were seeking with "Autobiography."

"Going in now to write a new record," she says, "is interesting because it's such a different place. I've grown up a lot in this past year. I've always been a pretty confident person, but now I've really grown into myself. I mean, I think I even kind of shocked myself with how I reacted. There were so many negative things and I realized that that's really not that big of a deal to me. I've learned that there are people who try to be negative and tear you down, and what I've learned is that as long as you keep yourself together and keep your head up, that's all that matters."

She knew the "SNL" appearance hadn't gone well. But she couldn't have dreamed how hostile or how lasting the public reaction would be.

"I didn't really know what to expect," she says. "But then, every channel I flipped, it was on and I was like, 'Oh no.' "

She says "Oh no" exactly how you'd think a 20-year-old who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar would say it. And then, she laughs the nervous laugh she's more than likely laughed a lot these past few months.

"I honestly didn't think it would be as big of a deal," she continues, "because, as everyone knows, I wasn't the first one to do that. There are artists that get away with that every single day that are our favorite artists."

Which is true, of course.

Keeping it fake is the industry standard, whether that means cute girls using pitch correctors in the studio and pre-recorded tapes on stage or thugged-out rap stars who surround themselves with bodyguards and Kevlar vests to back up their cartoonish public beefs. You'll find more fairy dust than sweat on almost any recent chart success. The bar's been lowered so far I can't even do the Limbo anymore without hurting my back. But somehow, someone somewhere has decided Ashlee Simpson needs to take the fall for the sins of an industry that's been churning out fake since before she was born.

Even Avril Lavigne, fake punker that she is, weighed in on "SNL"-gate with a sneer you know she practices, publicly chiding her friend with "That's what you get for lip-syncing."

Well, sure. Either that or a lengthy, successful career if your name is ... oh, let's say, Madonna.

Simpson and Lavigne have made their peace since then, like 50 Cent and The Game. As Simpson says, "I saw her out, and she was like, 'I want you to know that that comment wasn't directed at you. It was just how I felt about that whole thing.' I was like, 'I don't care. It's not a big deal.' There were a lot of people who came to my defense as well. People were calling me, saying, don't listen to any of this. But she's my friend, so it's cool."

Looking back on the "SNL" debacle now, she says, "I don't regret that happening. I'm really glad that it did because it made me stronger. And when you have everybody trying to ask you questions about it and kind of tear you down about it, it helped me grow as an artist because I was finally like, 'I don't care. I'm young. I'm 20. And I'm learning. I'm a new artist. I'm just doing my thing.' "

As for the Orange Bowl, Simpson says, "Well, there were definitely people who were negative. But my fans stood by me. That's why this tour is so important to me. I co-wrote my whole record and all that matters at the end of the day is that my fans like it and that they come out to my shows. And if a bunch of people who watch football games don't like me, that's fine. Those aren't the people coming to my shows."

She pauses, then adds, "I don't think you have to like everybody."

If Ashlee seems unnaturally OK with everything that's happened in the past few months, it may have helped to have a really famous yet supportive sister who's "already dealt with people being really mean."

She is aware, of course, that there are those who write her off specifically because of whose sister she is and how that more than likely opened certain doors on her career path, to which she responds with a nervous laugh that, yeah, she's heard that kind of talk, "but everybody has to have something to say."

One subject people rarely mention in their Ashlee-bashing diatribes since "SNL"-gate is her record, which is probably among the better triple-platinum albums of the new millennium, a spunky, tough-chick album in the proud tradition of such spunky, tough-chick artists of the early '80s as Pat Benatar (without the vocal chops or leotards) or Sue Saad and the Next (a more fitting example that practically no one remembers). Ashlee calls Alanis Morissette "my first love," and her vocals are a less abrasive spin on Morissette's patented sneer. But even that sounds kind of early '80s as filtered through Ashlee, recalling both No Doubt and Gwen Stefani's heroes from those post-punk days when pretty girls with attitude were being marketed as New Wave.

The '80s comparison meets with much enthusiasm from the Ashlee camp.

"I love that era," she gushes. "I was born in '84 so I didn't fully get to experience it, but I listen to '80s music all the time. It's my favorite. In my show, I play three covers from Blondie, the Pretenders and Madonna."

She's also been covering Hole, although she swears it's not because she finds herself relating to the often savaged Courtney Love in the wake of her recent travails as America's latest pop-cultural lightning rod.

She's more about brushing it off and getting on with life.

"I'm definitely excited to write my new album," she says. "I've been through a lot of emotions so I'm really excited to get back in the studio and try to write."