Let's celebrate for the 1st year anniversary of Hilary's latest album, Dignity!
DIGNITY International/US
DIGNITY Deluxe Edition
DIGNITY Japan 1
DIGNITY Japan 2
A look back:
Hilary Duff started recorded her third solo album in June 2006. Throughout the process, she released three music videos, broke up with an ex boyfriend, dealt with a divorce between her mother & father, dyed her hair black, then brunette, among other things. Hilary worked on this album for 7 months (taking a month & half off of recording, to film a movie) & co-wrote 13 of the 14 tracks that made the album cut. Her goal was simple, she wanted to do music that she loved & just grow up. She did just that.
An early "heater" or "promo" single for "Play With Fire" was released on August 15th. The video while not very original, was the start of the "new, grown up" Hilary. The song did absolutely nothing on the charts, seeing as how it was not released to radio.
On January 25, 2007, Hilary recorded her last song for the album, "Gypsy Woman." A fan favorite, this song was set to be a future single, but was unfortunately canceled. That same day she premiered the full "With Love" song, which had already been heard of in a one minute clip version for her perfume. The song received great reviews & was one of her highest peaking singles on the Mediabase radio charts, reaching the top 30 respectively. The song was also her highest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #24. The video made it's full length premiere on February 8, 2007. US & Europe promotion commenced. On March 27th, a remix featuring Slim Thug & Playz-N-Skillz premiered, the song helped propel Hilary up the rhythmic charts for a while, but with no video to back it up, it couldn't reach it's full potential.
On April 3, 2007, "Dignity" was released in the US to great reviews. Many critics praised Hilary for trying to break out of the "pop tart" mold & she received comparisons to Kylie Minogue, Madonna & other famous dance acts. The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts selling over 140k in the first week. By it's one year anniversary, the album passed 415k & has been certified gold in the US. Worldwide, the album will pass 1 mil on either the week of the anniversary or the week after. The album, while a critical success, struggled to sell a third of the worldwide sales that her previous compilation album "Most Wanted" sold. This was understandable considering the lack of promotion for the project worldwide.
On May 31, 2007, Hilary's second single from her album, "Stranger" was released. The video completed the grown up stage & showed a very gorgeous Hilary in a very serious situation involving a man cheating on her. She also showed potential in belly-dancing. The song peaked in the top 80 on the Mediabase Charts without going for adds, 3 months after the video's release.
The video, was an internet favorite, with many praising Hilary for "growing up." There were only two appearances for promotion, both over a month after the video had released, & came from nowhere. The song peaked at a dismal #97 on the Hot 100, thanks to ONE high profile performance & minimal to no radio play.
Nearly four months after the release of "Dignity," Hilary Duff went on tour to promote her music. While the venues were considerably smaller from her previous outings & not 100% full, Hilary proved that she still had a fanbase eager to see her. A European & Asian leg of the tour was planned but to the dismay of her fans in those continents, they were canceled. Her Mexican leg of the tour was very successful, selling out at three of the four venues. The last venue being nearly there as well. In Brazil, she received her greatest support, as seen by youtube concert videos. The endless cheering & singing a long at those dates especially, even had Hilary tearing up. The Australian leg was considerably successful as well.
Along with touring, Hilary did many performances of her songs on TV shows & a couple of award shows!
The MuchMusic Video Awards & the MTV Latin American Awards, where she performed a remix of her hit single "With Love."
In September/October 2007, it was announced that "Dignity" would be rereleased with a couple of new tracks & the album completely remixed & remastered. "Reach Out" was the planned first single, & the song, which was earning praise from the fans on tour, was her most adult song yet. In January 2008, it was announced that the rerelease was canceled & some songs Hilary had worked on throughout that period of time were canceled.
Not only was a rerelease canceled but a planned DVD, confirmed by members at Hilary, whom had been at the concert where it was filmed, was also canceled. Fans were outraged & started a petition to have it released. Hollywood Records have still not changed their mind, although 9 songs were previously released to the AT&T Blue Room.
There were many disappointments throughout this album era, & considering the lack of promotion & support for the album, you could have said this was a goner from the beginning. Not only this but the fact that Hilary had grown up, & didn't want to be viewed as her ex Disney Channel character Lizzie McGuire helped caused the difference in sales, among other things. One thing we can say is that Hilary truly delivered. Her album, while not completely written by herself, had been very largely contributed to by Hilary, herself. She set out to make a dance/pop record & that's what she did. Not only that, but she started her transitioning phase into a full adult artist. This is only the beginning & we expect great things from Hilary in the future.
Written by: Luis (from Hilaryfan)
You set them up for that one!
