Dignity

Duff's previous studio album, Hilary Duff , received many negative reviews. ^{[11] [12]} Despite being second in the Billboard 200 , commercially, the album was not so successful, leaving the chart after 33 weeks with sales of about 2 million copies in the United States. ^{[13] [14]}

Over 2 years in Hilary’s personal life, many changes have occurred. In October 2006, Hilary and her boyfriend Joel Madden , a member of Good Charlotte , reported that they were being pursued by Russian émigré Maxim Myakovsky and his friend ^[15] . According to a police report, Myakovsky came to the United States only to start a relationship with Duff. After threatening to kill Hilary, they were detained. ^[16] In December 2006, she broke up with Joel, after 2 years of relationship. ^[17] At the same time, her parents divorced after 22 years of marriage after the betrayal of her father. ^{[17] [18]}

Hilary said about the title of the album: “I’m older and more mature than when I recorded the previous album. Dignity is what you have been working on all your life. I strive to see dignity in people and in myself. I believe that it always exists with me. ^[19] This is not something that you can acquire or give, you yourself create it. It is something that you must constantly work on. " ^[20] She also stated that while working, she took control of everything for the first time, as it was important to her at that time. ^[19] She participated in the writing of all the songs on the album, with the exception of "Outside of You," written by Pink , Chantal Krevyazyuk and Rain Mayda. In an interview, Maida stated that the song was written for the Pink album, but she did not record the final version. When Duff showed interest in this track, the song was given to her. ^[21] Hilary talked about recording an album: ^[22]

There is me in the whole album. I have never recorded such an album before. I used to choose music, but this time it was like this: I sat down and thought what happened to me yesterday or today, and I just wrote about it. I was shocked at how easy it is to be honest in songs about yourself, how easy it is to sing things that affect you. This is a dance record, but I wanted the album to be serious. I wanted to talk about serious things, but to the music to which you can stand up and dance.

Most of the album was written at Hilary’s house, as she felt "comfortable and free." ^[23] Hilary said she initially knew that she wanted to record an album in collaboration with Cara Dioguardi, with whom she had worked previously, including on the singles Come Clean and Fly . ^[23] Another reason for the collaboration was the fact that Hilary believed that her poems would be perfectly complemented by Dioguardi's music. Duff said: “I helped with the music, but it was not my main duty. I mainly wrote lyrics. I told her if I liked something, so she wrote music, and sometimes helped me with the lyrics. Sometimes she said, “It doesn't work at all,” and if I was adamant, then we would make the music work. ” ^[nineteen]

The first sessions for the album were held back in 2006, during the filming of the film Material Girls . For the soundtrack of the album, Duff recorded 3 songs, among which was a cover of Madonna’s song Material Girl and the song Happy, which sounded in one of the trailers. After the commercial failure of the film, the soundtrack never came out. Soon after, Hilary returned to the studio and thoroughly began recording a new album.

As musical inspirers, Duff named the indie rock band The Faint and pop singers Beyoncé and Gwen Stefani , critics also noted references to music by Janet Jackson , Depeche Mode , Madonna and Justin Timberlake . ^{[14] [24] [25]} Duff felt that the dance album would deviate from the line of pop rock music on previous discs. "I didn't plan an album like this, but it was so easy to write," she said. ^[26] Critics noted that Dignity's musical style is dance rock , new wave and synth pop , with influences of hip hop , rock and roll and Middle Eastern music. ^{[2] [3] [10]} According to Duff, the album is a combination of dance, electronic and rock music. ^[20]

The lyrics of several songs relate to events from the life of Duff between the releases of Hilary Duff and Dignity . The songs " Stranger " and " Gypsy Woman ", despite the suggestion that they were written about Madden's new girlfriend Nicole Richie , were actually written about Duff's cheating. ^[18] She said that "Stranger" was written from the perspective of her mother. " Stranger is a song about my mom’s feelings about dad," she said. “I wrote it so that I could think that the song is about my former relationship, because I didn’t want people to know about my parents. But I realized that many people could be affected by what I went through. ^[18] The title track of the album was also reported to be about Richie, although Duff did not deny these rumors. " Dignity is a song written about people from Hollywood," she said. "I would not say that it is definitely about her, but this song is about such people who do as it is, and act in ways that it acts ". ^[27] The song" Danger "was written about relationship one-quarter th of Duff friends with an older man. "I understand that feeling of wanting is dangerous," she said. "You can understand that on the part of morality is something wrong, but you can not help it." ^[19] She stated that the song "Dreamer" was written about a mocking stalking ^[28] and partly about the situation with Myakovsky. ^{[7] [29]}

A total of three singles were released from the album. The first, “ Play With Fire, ” according to Duff, was the first “teaser” of the new musical style. Although the song was different from the rest of the songs on the album, Duff believed that the song perfectly describes the dance / electronic / rock sound of the new album to become the title single. ^[20] Hilary explained that the song was released long before the album was released, "to give listeners a chance to understand my new sound." ^[30] The single was released on US radio stations in August 2006. The video for the song was shot by Alex and Martin. The clip was the first for Hilary, not broadcast on the Disney Channel. However, due to the lack of promotion and physical release, the single did not hit the main US chart, reaching only the top 40 dance chart. ^[31]

“ With Love ” was released in March 2007 as the second single. The song became a big hit for Hilary in the USA, having reached the 24th position there, in addition, the song became her first No. 1 hit in the dance chart. ^[31] The music video was directed by Matthew Rolston. The video starred Kellan Lutz . Hilary won the People's Choice Award for Best International Artist for With Love video. The premiere of the clip took place on TRL on February 8, 2007. A week later, the video became No. 1.

“ Stranger ” - in June 2007 came out as the third single from the album. The song reached the top of the dance chart ^[31] , but reached only 97th position on the Billboard Hot 100 . In the UK, the single was also due to be released, but was canceled along with the European part of its tour. Fatima Robinson - video director. Hilary believes this is the best video of the period.

Canceled Releases

Like during the release of the previous album, Hollywood Records did not implement many of the plans for the album. “Never Stop” was originally announced as the first single from the album exclusively for Disney Radio. Subsequently, the release was canceled, as Hilary did not want her to have anything else to do with Disney. “Dignity” and “Gypsy Woman” were released for North American radio stations. The song "Gypsy Woman" was soon released exclusively for the iTunes Store . There was no commercial release. “Danger” - after the cancellation of the European release of “Stranger” by many editions it was announced as the second / third single.

For the album’s promotional campaign, Duff "worked tirelessly with a whole staff of Hollywood Records." ^[32] On the day of the album's release, April 3rd, MTV introduced the 2-episode documentary Hilary Duff: This Is Now. The documentaries followed Duff as she prepared for the release of Dignity, attending photography, interviews, dressing rooms, rehearsals, and trips to Europe. ^[33] A little earlier, on March 26th, Hilary was the host of the show Total Request Live. As part of the album’s promotion, she attended a number of television shows; massive album support was also provided by MySpace and Yahoo! . ^[32]

Accompanying Hilary's new musical style, the recording studio began to promote her more mature image. ^[32] Duff dyed her hair dark and supported her look sexy. According to Duff, she wanted to “try new things,” but the image change “just happened. It wasn’t a conscious change. People think I’ve changed so much because they watched me grow, but that’s just what happens in our ordinary life. " ^[34] Entertainment Weekly described Duff's new style as a combination of "dark hair, porcelain teeth, luxury and vamp fashion ." ^[35] In mid-2007, in parallel with the preparation of the Stranger radio release, Duff appeared on the July covers of Us Weekly and Shape magazines in bikini, as well as on the August cover of Maxim , accompanied by the headline that she changed the image of the “Queen of Teenagers to Sex” character ". ^{[36] The} Associated Press wrote that a more provocative Duff image would help her singles gain dominant radio rotation. Guy Zapoleon, a radio consultant and former Top 40 radio DJ, explained that “radio stations have the stigma of Disney music; it’s believed that this is music for teenagers and pre-teens,” and Hilary’s provocative image “will definitely have a positive effect on DJ attitudes who are mostly men because Disney is trying to make her look mature. " ^[36] The bonus EP , containing five remixes, was released exclusively at Wal-Mart's US stores as a gift for the album. ^[37]

After weak sales of the album, Hollywood Records ceased to support any promotion for the album. So, they canceled the European part of its world tour, a number of releases, including DVD and CD versions of the tour. In 2008, a deluxe version of the album with a different design and a DVD with interviews and clips was released. There were many plans to reissue the album, but later this release was canceled.

Critics' reviews on Dignity were mostly positive. Metacritic rated the album based on 13 selected reviews, 61, noting most favorable reviews. ^[5] Rolling Stone gave a positive review, feeling that Duff's attempt to make an adult-oriented album was successful. ^[8] About.com gave the album four out of five stars, calling Duff “as pretty as ever” and praising the contribution to songwriting and the work of Richard Vision and will.i.am. ^[38] Allmusic noted that the album was firmly based on lyrics. The review noted the similarities between Dignity and Justin Timberlake's FutureSex / LoveSounds , noting that Duff musically kept pace with fashion, but did not set musical trends. At the same time, Duff's weak vocals, called "not adult female vocals," were criticized in the review. ^[1] Billboard praised Duff's bold decision to change the style of the album to dance, noting the unpopularity of the genre at the time. "It's practically something straight from British music, perfected." Entertainment Weekly noted that Duff's breakup with Madden helped reveal her personality, which lacked her previous work. ^[3]

The Guardian praised Duff's decision to choose a more electronic sound as opposed to the teenage pop music of her previous work, despite dubious competitiveness. They claimed that some of the album's strongest tracks competed with Kylie Minogue's songs. ^[4] A Sputnikmusic review noted various flaws in the album, including criticizing the lackluster guitar solo in the song “I Wish” and Duff’s childish vocals on the album. However, they noticed, “Despite all the flaws, Dignity is a strong, smartly built pop album. Like all albums of this genre, not written exclusively by the artist, it is never clear which parts, if any, are Duff’s words and which represent feelings of the underestimated co-author; but Dignity, at least, an album with worthwhile lyrics. " They praised the lyrics of each track except “Play with Fire,” noting that it was a poor choice for the title single. ^[ten]

IGN gave a mixed review of Dignity with a rating of 6.9 out of 10. They praised Duff's more mature image, but ultimately, in their opinion, “Duff is still Duff and her music is still standard pop music.” ^[39] PopMatters noted that the synthesizers used on the album’s songs did not mask Duff’s weak vocals. The website believed that Hilary's vocals were not at the level of her peers such as Kelly Clarkson and Mandy Moore . "Nevertheless," they added, "thanks to the processing, effects and tricks of the multitrack that improve her vocals, Duff's voice is enough to not make him pay attention to his shortcomings." ^[7] Slant Magazine said: “Duff is mostly just an anonymous voice for producers and songwriters. It's perfectly acceptable for a dance album; however, the mischievous, quirky, or dissatisfied vocal abilities and sexual appeal that make other divas of dance music viable performers, Duff doesn't exist. " A website review claimed the album was not very interesting, and noted that "Outside of You" was the highlight song on Dignity. ^[9]

The album was released on April 3rd, 2007. He debuted in 3rd place on the Billboard 200 ^[40] with sales of 144 thousand copies. ^[41] This is the worst debut on the chart for Hilary, her previous albums were sold in more than 200 thousand copies in the first week and occupied the 1st or 2nd position. ^[42] Billboard magazine commented on this situation as follows: "The evolution of Duff in image and music ... led to the loss of some of her young fans." ^[43] In July 2007, the album was certified gold. In the UK, the album took 25th position with sales of 8 thousand copies. ^[44] In Canada, the album was the first for Hilary, who did not reach the top of the chart, reaching only the 3rd position with sales of 20 thousand copies. ^[45] In response, Duff said she “couldn't have been happier” and felt lucky that Dignity sold the final amount, noting the decline in the sales market and moderate sales of other albums that week. ^[46] The album debuted at 17th place on the Australian album chart with sales of 2,300 copies. Herald Sun compared album sales in the second week to "death in the water." ^[47] In Italy, the album received gold certification for sales of over 40,000 copies. ^[48]

Dignity Remix is an EP released for online download on August 6, 2007, and earlier as an exclusive CD for Walmart stores. It featured 3 remixes of Richard Vision for Duff songs from the Dignity album, as well as a dance remix for the song " Come Clean ". ^[52]

Tracklist