Dignity (Dlx Ed) (W/Dvd) [Special Edition]

This is definitely my favorite of Hilary's three studio albums. It's dance/pop music at its best. Her voice may not be the best, but with every song's lyrics co-written by her, she is able to convey a more relatable sound to the songs. Highlights on the album include the two singles With Love and Play with Fire, Gypsy Woman, Happy, and Burned, but all the tracks are really good.

The DVD included in the deluxe edition is fantastic as well. It contains all nine of Hilary's music videos (Why Not, So Yesterday, Come Clean, Our Lips are Sealed, Fly, Wake Up, Beat of My Heart, Play with Fire, and With Love) and a 33 minute interview with Hilary at her home that goes through her entire career, and includes some commentary in the interview on her videos and albums.

The price is definitely worth it for this album. So go out and buy it!

Hilary Duff, whose popularity boomed mostly because of her Disney Channel show, "Lizzie Mcguire", decided to take a turn into being a singer as well as an actress. I remember when "Lizzie Mcguire" was the "it" thing back in the early 2000's, and I absolutely loved Lizzie. Some time had passed and I didn't like Lizzie AKA Hilary as much and was aware that she had albums out (mostly because they played her music videos nonstop on Disney Channel). Then a year or so ago, a new Hilary Duff music video was on Disney and it was for the song, "Beat of My Heart", a song many a person would be surprised to hear from Hilary Duff. Mostly because of it's 80's alternative rock sound. I know I was sort of surprised at the song, mostly because of the way the song sounded and the video period. She certainly seemed to want to take an 80's feel and look to her music career. And even though because of my dislike for her at the time, I really was annoyed that I actually liked the song. And that was only the beginning of Hilary Duff's growth.

Now coming to the present, Ms. Duff has taken a total 80's, Europop feel to her music. And that, to me, was surprising. As had been the single "Beat of my Heart". So now, since I watch Nickelodeon as well, I have been seeing her there a lot more often, which I find interesting. That's beside the point of this review though. So, my mom and I were listening to this, or should I say, she started listening to it first and heard most of the first song "Stranger" and said it was good. We listened to the whole album and found it was actually... good! So, Ms. Duff as you can hear from listening to her new material, has definitely grown. Although if you don't like the Europop 80's music or dance music, this is not your CD. So if you liked her old stuff there are a few songs that sort of go back to that, although most of it is 80's like dance stuff. And I can honestly say that I hope Ms. Duff continues to make decent albums in the near future.

This is the music Hilary should have been recording all along, though it took a bit of life experience to allow her to flesh out all of this material.

I've seen a few fan reviews dismiss the album as little more than 2001-era Kylie Minogue-esque Europop. Couldn't be further from the truth. There are a few hints to that sound, yeah, but it's just pure bubblegum dance pop for the most part. No dominant hint of that throbbing Kylie-esque sound, nor is there a dominance of vintage Hilary bubblegum-rock. There's a nice mixture of all of the above, put into a blender, and finished off with a great contemporary polish; some fresh HOT beats, STRONG melodic hooks, and some Ashlee Simpson-esque heavier guitar-oriented crunchy pop. Big ups to her producers for really getting Hilary in the mode where she individually shines like never before as a personality and vocalist.

Lyrically, it's typical territory compared to her peers' efforts, but new personal ground that Hilary has gained creatively, having obviously played a significant role in the development of all songs except one. Kara DioGuardi did an expectedly strong job taking Hilary's thoughts and emotions and translating them into proper songs, as she's done with other vocalists who have a story to tell. The lyrics work, it's a theme album that covers the gamut of what we know about her personal life lately (a lot of focus on the various stages of breaking up, potentially making up, dealing with loneliness, reaching a conclusion and regaining empowerment, bashing the ex's new girlfriend, partying / meeting new guys, etc). It's all fairly light-hearted, but feels kinda like a catharsis album - though that's not a bad thing, it tackles emotions that are perfect for pop music with a punch; very relateable.

Vocally, the flaws you'd expect are there (the vocals being overproduced and pitch corrected considerably more than most of her peers), but that's not even worth considering in the case of this album because it's a factor you go into a Hilary Duff album expecting and pitch is not what you admire from a Hilary vocal; you want some charm, some sincerity brought to the songs based on her persona(lity), some signature flair. She's always been pretty weak at most of those, but this album shows some huge strides and some natural growth as a young woman. She's starting to develop a signature sound vocally, some cool distinguishing vocal nuances. Good for her, and again, major props to those she's working with for helping mold her. She's got a ways to go here, because her singing voice might be the weakest among this era's pop stars (except for Lindsay Lohan, perhaps), but strides like this make for a great listening experience and a great sign that she's ready to make that ascent out of the Radio Disney depths into more legit contemporary pop.

The most significant thing about this album is that Hilary has finally recorded a bonafide great pop album. As I said before, this is exactly the best-case-scenario album from Hilary Duff; a strong pop album covering far more than her usual light pop-rock, and now with a more sincere heartfelt message this time. It's exactly what she had to do right now, and I hope she's rewarded with a lot of commercial success for this record.

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