In honor of Hilary Duff‘s 24th birthday, The Prophet Blog compiled a list of The Top 10 Best Hilary Duff songs. This is extremely relevant to my interests. Let’s take a look at some of their choices, shall we?
9. Holiday
The Ryan Tedder-produced “Holiday” — in which Hilary likens the end of a relationship to a vacation, singing sadly over a tropical R&B synth-pop beat — was originally set to be a single off a re-released version of the brilliant Dignity album, but with Hollywood Records being the total jerk-offs that they are, the re-release was scrapped, and the song was delegated to a bonus track on one of Hilary’s many Best Of compilations. Given that Hilary’s popularity as a singer was beginning to wind down at this time, “Holiday” probably never would have been a hit anyway, but the melancholy jam could’ve easily become one of her most cherished songs to date if more people had actually gotten the chance to hear it at the time.
[Note: “Holiday” is my favorite Hilary Duff track and one of the most under appreciated / overlooked in the H-Duff catalogue. Nice one, Prophet Blog.]
2. Wake Up
After a hit-and-miss sophomore album, an increasingly-gaunt and exhausted Hilary returned to destroy your faves with her first greatest hits compilation, Most Wanted. People gave poor Hilary a lot of flack for releasing a hits compilation with only two albums under her belt, but they still went out and bought it thanks to the strength of the irresistible lead single, “Wake Up”. Co-written by Hilary and produced by Benji & Joel Madden’s Dead Executives, “Wake Up” serves as one of the greatest feel-good ‘fuck-my-problems-I-just-wanna-dance‘ pop anthems ever. And just like it’s international lyrics, the song was a hit around the world, and still stands as one of Hilary’s most successful singles to date.
1. So Yesterday
Prior to Metamorphosis hitting stores, Hilary had already dabbled in music with a few Lizzie McGuire-related tunes, but it was the infectious “So Yesterday” that truly turned her into one of the biggest teen pop stars of the decade. Written and produced by The Matrix — who were on a high at the time thanks to their work on Avril Lavigne’s Let Go — “So Yesterday” was the perfectly catchy kiss-off to an ex-lover that everyone from five-year-olds to their middle-aged parents could sing-a-long to. Everybody likes, or has liked, this song in some capacity at some time, and any fan who says they haven’t accidentally sung the “If you wanna” line at the wrong spot before is lying. Nine years after this was originally released, and “So Yesterday” still serves as the perfect go-to pop song for anybody getting over a breakup.
See the full top 10 list here >
