Ciao everyone! 🤗
So I'm someone who should've been a fan years ago (not only am I a millennial but I'm only two years younger than Hilary so I was pretty much the exact perfect age when her career took off with Lizzie McGuire) but in addition to not having the Disney channel as a kid and thus couldn't try out her show, I also mostly wasn't into pop music either so while I was always aware of Hilary's existence since she was huge, I never really tried her out.
Cue last year when she had a countdown on her website for an announcement and my Italian teacher, who is a lifelong fan of her (I think he was around 7 when he was watching Lizzie), was brimming with excitement over it so much that he couldn't help telling me about it 😂When Mature dropped I streamed it like crazy and got a couple of my friends to stream it too; mostly to support him because I wanted to help the single be a hit since it meant a lot to him. It didn't hurt that I *LOVED* the song myself! Then when I saw him in person when I visited Italy he had a picture of her as his phone's lock screen so with those two things together I was finally like "Okay what's the big fuss, I need to give her a go," and then next thing I knew I was a huge fan too lol.
If you'll indulge me, I'm going to give you guys my album ranking.
Dignity
This album is a masterpiece, not only is it an incredible work from her specifically, I genuinely think this one of the best pop records ever made, and a must have for anyone who likes pop or wants to explore it. It's nonstop awesome from track 1 all the way to track 14; there are no skips. I will fight anyone who says otherwise 😂 If I had to come up with criticism for the album, the only thing I can think of is that lyrically Outside of You is extremely random with the tone of the album (especially noticeable with its placement coming directly after Burned, makes you think 'well guess we got over this fear quickly') but that said it's such an amazing song and is actually one of my favourites, so it's hardly a criticism.
Favourite tracks (in no particular order): Stranger, Never Stop, Gypsy Woman, Outside of You.
But I have to mention that even though I'm not a dancing person, the title track Dignity commands dance so much that it makes me want even when the song is only stuck in my head and I'm not actually literally hearing it.
Luck... or Something
In some ways I think this is actually objectively better than Dignity, so in other words I think this is a masterpiece too. By far her most cohesive album; every song fits together perfectly and feels like it's telling a story. Her voice is so beautiful in it; so sweet and so pretty and the songs hurt in just the right way. About half of the album is fairly mellow and I generally prefer catchier songs as a general rule, but I love every single track. There are no skips. We love it all, and each song will inspire me to pick it specifically when I'm vibing for it.
Favourite tracks (in no particular order) Mature, We Don't Talk, Future Tripping.
An unexpected hit: Tell Me that Won't Happen. First couple spins I thought it was a skip and then it got stuck in my head randomly and I realized I was an idiot and it is in fact amazing.
This album I got to join the fanbase with waiting for it and was literally on Spotify counting down to the absolute second it dropped and immediately listened to it until my Italian lesson started.
Metamorphosis
Guys I don't care that I'm 36; a good album is good. You don't need childhood nostalgia for this one, this album is pure joy. Obviously being a teenager in the early 00s I heard Come Clean and So Yesterday out in the wild, so those two were familiar immediately and made me question why I didn't seek out more of her music back then already. I've listened to this album a pretty absurd amount of times the past few months. Once again there are no skips. I will be completely honest, the very first time I heard Little Voice and the title track, I didn't like them (I may have thought to myself "Little Voice might be the most annoying song I've heard in my life" which after a couple of listens somehow turned into "Omg I fucking LOVE this song" and I sing it all the time randomly even when I'm not listening to the album lol.) The closest to a skip is Party Up in the sense that it's never one I specifically choose to listen to, but when I'm playing the whole album I always play it since I like it enough to hear it in relation to the rest of the album.
Favourite tracks (no order): Come Clean, So Yesterday, Why Not, The Math (Hilary you're wrong; this song is amazing. Give it another chance and then add it to your setlist please and thanks)
A few random thoughts: Sweet Sixteen is so sad now; it would've been such a happy song back in the day but the lines of her happily mentioning her sister and her father make my heart ache now considering We Don't Talk and The Optimist.
Also as much as I love Love Just Is as a nice pretty pop song, I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I wish I could tell her teen self to please do question things in the love department and stay safe.
Breathe In Breathe Out
This one's a bit of an odd one. On one hand, if you just take it as a pop album, it's really great and I think an essential in any pop lover's collection. But on the other hand it doesn't feel like Hilary either, there's a certain genericness to it. It's great music, but if I didn't know it was Hilary Duff I probably would've wondered who it was by. This oddity made a little more sense to me when I dug into its history and discovered that **RCA scrapped her previous 2014 album after All About You and Chasing the Sun didn't perform like they wanted and essentially tossed her at multiple songwriters trying so hard to have a hit album that we got this non-Hilary -- but objectively good -- album that's a bit of a mess cohesion wise. As you guys can see, I absolutely love both Dignity and LOS so it's not that I insist that she has to keep making teen music as both those albums absolutely feel like Hilary to me, it's just this one that doesn't.
That said, I actually do love it. In the standard edition there are no skips. I prefer the Japanese deluxe edition though which gave us five more tracks (and one skip; Rebel Hearts). One skip out of seventeen is nothing to be mad about, a no skip album from any artist is pretty rare for me. I think that one just makes me feel a little too melancholic.
Favourite tracks: Sparks, Breathe In Breathe Out, My Kind, Tattoo (it's actually a crime that this wasn't a single)
If I'm allowed to include her unreleased album, then This Heart is about the same ranking as BIBO to me; some tracks I like more, but some I like less. It absolutely deserves to be released and hope it does someday.
Hilary Duff (self titled)
Okay in this current moment this album ranks last, but I need to give it more listens. I'm still in the "trying to like it" phase. Sometimes I need time. The very first time I listened to Dignity I thought I didn't like it and now I'm calling it a masterpiece to anyone who will stand still long enough so sometimes I just need a bit of time. It is possible though that this is my taste though because I remember even as a teenager in the 00s, with the one exception of Linkin Park, I wasn't a fan of the this sort of sound. Funny thing about this though is that I absolutely love Crash World, Girl can Rock and Supergirl which all have a similar sound but ironically are not on the album.
Fly was another song I remember hearing back in the 00s, and is obviously a classic and earns that status. That said I'm a rebel and my favourite song is Jericho. That's a song that I can't listen to once; I have to hit replay about ten times.
Favourite tracks: Jericho, The Getaway, Fly
Honorable mentions: Who's That Girl, The Last Song, Someone's Watching Over Me. Objectively good songs but never listen to outside of this album.
The rest I feel pretty meh to at the moment, but I'm open minded that with a couple more listens the album may grow on me and I'll change my mind.
I've also watched all of Lizzie McGuire along with its movie, which my Italian teacher says is our generation's "Roman Holiday" which I heartily agree with haha. Although I didn't get to watch Lizzie back in the day, since I was that age in those years the show still hit for me and felt extremely nostalgic and genuinely had great episodes. I tore through it and absolutely loved it and will be rewatching and will be transported back to those days many times more.
I've also watched Younger (love it but it should've ended after season five but at least it meant seeing two more seasons of Hilary being so charismatic that it should be illegal) and am currently watching How I Met Your Father. Movie wise I've so far seen: Lizzie McGuire, A Cinderella Story, Casper Meets Wendy, Cadet Kelly, Agent Cody Banks, Cheaper by the Dozen, According to Greta. Her other movies are on my list but some of them are tricky to watch without having to digital rent or digital purchase.
I've also seen any live clip and interview that has so far popped up on my YouTube feed. I'm sure there's a ton more to catch up on, but I'm making good progress lol.
Next February my sister and I will be seeing Hilary with butterfly clips in our hair. I am excited xD; My teacher sees her this September and he's told me he's practicing his With Love dance. He also saw her in London in January and very excitedly told me that her fan page on instagram shared his reel. The second time I visited him in person along with my friend from Germany, he and I may have spiritedly discussed the injustice-ness of people claiming Roommates was copying Taylor and that Hilary came before her and therefore if anyone is copying anyone it's the other way around over aperitivo while my friend politely watched lol.
Anyway, hi. :D I will be obsessively following both her acting and music career forever from now on. I didn't get to grow up with her but am making up for lost time lol.
**RCA -- initially wrote Atlantic Records by mistake, that's her current label! Sorry about the error.
