Ryan Cabrera Reacts to Ashlee Simpson’s Music Return, Vegas Shows

Ryan Cabrera is singing his praises for ex-girlfriend Ashlee Simpson’s new chapter of music.

“Everybody’s excited for that. I mean, all of my friends are hitting me up going, ‘Hey, I was gonna go to Vegas. Do you think we can go see Ashlee?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, I would love to see that show.’ Even my wife,” Cabrera, 43, exclusively shared with Us Weekly while celebrating the “On the Way Down” 20th anniversary single. “I messaged [her mom] Tina when I saw that was going on, and it made me say, ‘Oh my God, I want to revisit those albums.’”

Cabrera and Simpson, 41, dated in 2004 and documented their journeys in the music industry on MTV’s The Ashlee Simpson Show.

That same year, Simpson was featured in her then-boyfriend’s music video for his single “On the Way Down.”

While Cabrera eventually married WWE star Alexa Bliss and Simpson wed Evan Ross, there’s still plenty of respect between the exes.

“Ashlee was always an incredible performer, and I think she took a break just to be a mother and be a wife, and now she’s got the bug and realized it’s time to get on stage again and release those creative juices,” Cabrera told Us. “She’s crushing it from what I’ve heard. I haven’t seen the show. I want to, but she’s gonna do more, which is great, and she should be on stage and needs to be on tour and should make new music.”

In October, Simpson announced her I Am Me shows at Voltaire at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas would resume in the final two weekends of January 2025.

“I think she was an influence for a lot of female artists who are new today and looked up to her when they were younger,” Cabrera shared. “I bet she’ll do some collabs at some point in the new year. They’re going to be fire. I wish nothing but the best for everybody over there.”

As Simpson performs her biggest hits once again, Cabrera is celebrating one of his songs that never goes out of style.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of “On the Way Down,” Cabrera teamed up with Backstreet Boys member AJ McClean, ‘NSync’s Joey Fatone, Drake Bell, Walk the Moon’s Nick Petricca, Taylor Hanson and Nash Overstreet for an epic collaboration.

“We put together a team. You got the boy bands, the rock stars, the emo stuff. It was definitely a smorgasbord of eclecticness of artistry and creativeness, and they made the song what it was,” Cabrera said. “I remember being like, ‘Don’t do what you’ve heard. Don’t do what I would do. Do what you would do on this song.’ And I think they had fun with it too.”

While a lot has changed in 20 years for Cabrera — he’s now married with a daughter — the singer continues performing across the country.

“We’re continuing the Pop 2000 Tour, which is now going to be on year eight next year,” he said. “If people keep coming, we’re not going to stop playing.”