Okay, I admit
it. I looked at Ashley Alexandra Dupré’s MySpace page. But I’m not alone. As of
this morning, the girl who will go down in history for having a $4,300 tryst with
now former governor Eliot Spitzer has been peeped by over 6.7 million people.
While I empathize for Spitzer’s wife and three daughters (who will have to live
with this blight on their family’s legacy for the rest of their lives), I now
feel for Ashley (aka Kristen and Ashley Youmans) as well.

If her profile
is accurate, Ashley, 22, left a broken family and abuse at 17 for the bright lights
of New York City’s music scene. She writes that she’s been broke and homeless,
and after getting a sense of the city’s club scene she is more determined than
ever to making music. “It’s all about my music. It’s all about expressing me,”
she writes. “I can sit here now, and knowingly tell you that life’s hard
sometimes. But, I made it. I’m still here and I love who I am. If I never went
through the hard times, I would not be able to appreciate the good ones.
Cliché, yes, but I know it’s true. I have experienced just how hard it can be.”

As for her
music, well, that’s another story. “What We Want” (“It’s really about trust,
something my past has made very difficult for me to feel. This one was inspired
by a guy, who taught me not to confuse my dreams with the sounds of the city…”)
is a sappy, under-produced and forgettable R&B affair (pardon the pun).

And
I’m not sold on her influences (Frank Sinatra, Christina Aguilera) and voice, either. However, Ashley seems to subscribe to
the what-doesn’t-kill-me-makes-me-stronger school, so it will be interesting to
see the professional direction 25th Street’s newest celebrity takes.
What are the odds of a Playboy shoot happening this year?

Today I decided to cut Ashley a break and think of her as another victim of our dysfunctional culture.
Can you?