ALBUM REVIEW: Hilary Duff's "Dignity"

Last year Jessica Simpson tried a fun-filled album with 80s beats. It sold 101,000 in the first week and debuted at #5, and after 9 months it's only gone Gold (selling 500,000 units). Hilary Duff's "Dignity" also features 80s music. It sold 140,000 copies in the first week and debuted at #4. [Timbaland followed at #5]. Rolling Stone gave it 3 stars and Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+.

Duff is usually pegged as a pop star with goody-two-shoes songs about love and heartbreak, friendship and betrayal, etc., with lyrics preteens think are really deep. People her own age thought the songs were cheesy and immature. I'm not saying that her latest album is the stuff of a music prodigy, but she is taking a step in the right direction. There are still cheesy lines like in the track "Dignity" the chorus is:

"where's your/where's your/where's your dignity?/i think you lost it in the Hollywood hills/where's your/where's your/where's your dignity?/can't buy respect/but you can pick up the bill/pick it up/pick it up/that's all you got/that's all you got/pick it up/pick it up/cause money makes your world go 'round"

Most of the lyrics in this song are juvenile, but then there are some like

"run into your friend's ex/he's happy to be your next/she won't mind/tomorrow's papers coming out/so kiss him fast/watch the cameras flash"

which references all of those celebutards who steal their "best friends" boyfriends or reuse their exes like kleenex. They are just fun to listen to because how true it is. "Dreamer" is also about the Hollywood hype. She talks about how normal she really is in an non-obnoxious way and how nothing she does is that interesting. She talks directly to the paparazzi about their efforts to capture her on film: "don't you have better things to do with your life/than hang around/and stare at me/and complicate mine," but the lyrics could also pass for being about a guy who likes her.

The most impressive aspect of the album is the music composition. It's the way Simpson's 80s beats should've sounded—contemporary and relatable. Like Simpson, she tried different genres. In the slow carefree, r&b based "No Work, All Play", the hip hop/dj mixed "Burned", and the rock-inspired, 15-sec-riff-having "I Wish," she reflects the more mature Duff.

Looking for beach/driving-down-the-highway-on-a-sunny-day/cleaning-your-house music? Then listen to these tracks:
"Never Stop"
"Between You and Me"
"Dreamer"
"Outside of You": it's my favorite carefree song, even though it's about your lover never opening up to you.


My favorite track is called "Gypsy Woman," which is about another girl seducing her boyfriend. The beat is pop with touches of hip hop. It should be her next single. I also like "Happy", which mixes slow beats and fast 80s/techno. She talks about getting out of a bad relationship to be happy. But she doesn't sound like a hater and doesn't bash the guy:

"I'm finally getting over you/all the bitterness has passed/and I only wish you someone who/can do what I can't"

which is a pretty mature response after being dumped.

"Stranger" will be her next single. It kind of sounds like The Pussycat Dolls' "Buttons", except it's about finding out someone you love isn't who they say they are.


A lot of the critics are saying that her album sounds Gwen Stefani inspired, but I'm hearing more Paula Abdul [but not horrible] and Janet Jackson [except white]. It's a better album than the other three she released.
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