Industry insiders believe Ashlee Simpson's camp may be responsible for leaking songs off Mariah Carey's new album in hopes of it creating less competition for the 23-year-old, whose album drops a week after the record-setting "diva." A source told MSNBC, "Joe Simpson has every right to be nervous about Ashlee going up against Mariah. They 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."

"Touch My Body," the first single off Carey's E=MC2, was released ahead of the album's April 15th launch, but other tracks have since popped up on the internet. "Touch My Body" debuted at number one on the Billboard chart and gave the singer her 18th chart-topper.

Simpson's Bittersweet World was originally set to be released in late 2007, but at the last minute was pushed back to April 22, 2008.

Simpson's rep denied concerns over Carey, "Mariah is a great artist, but the only album release Ashlee is focused on right now is her own."

source