Ashlee Simpson is in the competition of her life as her new “Bittersweet World” LP prepares for an April 22nd and a Billboard-battle with multiplatinum-selling singer Mariah Carey. Mariah will release her E=MC² on April 15th, just one week shy of Ashlee’s scheduled April 22nd premiere date.

“Ashlee needs to hit a home run with this album. She really had great success with her early work, but ever since the lip synching on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ she’s had something to prove. Her career literally depends on this album being successful.”

A spy tells MSNBC’s The Scoop: “Joe Simpson has every right to be nervous about Ashlee going up against Mariah. They (the Simpson camp) are backed into a corner with this release date since they already changed it once. Their only option in fighting the Mariah machine would be to create a way to make the album’s release less newsworthy.”