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I think my strange obsession with Hilary Duff confuses some of you guys, so since it’s such a slow day today I thought I’d post her pop masterpiece Dignity for everyone, accompanied by my review.

Released in 2007 after her split with Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden, Dignity see’s the then 19-year-old Hilary Duff stepping away from the teen pop-rock of her earlier albums for a more mature electronica driven dance-pop sound, with a few vague urban influences throw in for good measure.

She also adds the title of songwriter to her resume, penning thirteen of the albums fourteen tracks with the help of Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. The result is a pop album that has just as much substance as it does style, which is often a rarity in the genre.

Things kick off with the autobiographical opener “Stranger”, which see’s Duff warning us that behind-closed-doors not all relationships are as perfect as they might seem on the outside. “There’s no kindness in your eyes, The way you look at me it’s just not right. There’s a stranger in my life” she sings over a dark and eerie Bollywood inspired beat. The song cleverly explores the pain and despair of a broken relationship, making it a depressingly perfect way to open the album.

Next up is the title track “Dignity”, in which Duff tries to set herself apart from her Hollywood contemporaries – and succeeds. “Where’s your, where’s your, where’s your dignity?” She chants on the hook “I think you left it in the Hollywood Hills”. Duff certainly has a smug attitude with her on this, sneering at the Lindsay Lohan’s and Nicole Richies as she quips “It’s not news when you got a new bag” before demanding them to “pick up the bill” because it’s “all you got”. The production is just as fiery and cracking as the lyrics, making “Dignity” one of the albums standout tracks.

“With Love”, which was released as the lead single, is a happy electro pop-rock thumper with Hilary declaring that she can handle anything harsh that her boyfriend may need to tell her, just as long as he does it “with love”. This is the kind of song that Kylie Minogue would kill to get on one of her albums.

The album continues with the hypnotic “Danger”, which seems like just another fun dance-pop song, but a closer listen to the lyrics reveals that Duff is actually singing about her attraction to a dangerous older man. “You intrigue me like no one before, It may be wrong to get to know you more” . With it’s cutting edge production and strong lyrical content, “Danger” really cements my previous claim of Dignity having an equally strong mix of both style and substance.

The next track “Gypsy Woman” is a fan favourite and it’s easy to see why. Duff shows off her spiteful side as she sings about the ‘other woman’ who was instrumental in tearing her parents marriage apart, and she does it over a futuristic beat that mixes together grinding electro with warped chants and key blips that come together to create a song that’s clearly in a league of it’s own. In fact if it wasn’t for the deeply personal lyrics “Gypsy Woman” could’ve easily ended up on Britney Spears Blackout.

After exploring the darker side of pop, Duff returns to the light with “Never Stop”, which is about nothing more than celebrating your love for someone. The song travels at a million miles a minute over an uptempo beat that sounds like it was dragged directly out of the 80′s, and feels like it was constructed specifically to bring on the feelings of fun and joy that come along with being in love.

The next song is often overlooked by many, but remains one of my personal favourites on the album. “No Work All Play” has a summery, almost island sound to it, and lyrically takes another turn as Hilary encourages everyone to embrace the pain and negatives of life in order to grow as a person. It’s another example of Hilary attempting to come off as a grown-up, which is both charming and sincere at the same time.

“Between You and Me” is an insanely catchy and boppy track in which Hilary tells a lovesick boy to leave her alone and go focus on a girl who is actually interested in him instead. A closer listen to the lyrics reveal that she’s grown tired of being hit on all the time by people who don’t know her beyond her celebrity status, showing a loneliness and frustration that is explored more thoroughly later on in the album.

The next track “Dreamer” is a quirky tongue-in-cheek look at a real life incident she had with a stalker, which required Duff to eventually get a restraining order. With sarcastic lyrics like “I go to bed and I wake up, isn’t that interesting?” the song could also double as a diss to the paparazzi.

Next up is “Happy”, which is the closest we get to the ‘old’ Hilary. The song wouldn’t sound out-of-place on one of her previous albums, and the lyrical content isn’t as original as some of the other songs on Dignity. It’s the only song that I could’ve done without on the album.

Now we finally get the closest thing to a ballad on the album, “Burned”. The production is minimal in comparison with the rest of the record, choosing to focus more on the lyrics. Duff’s fragile and girlish voice adds a vulnerability to the track, which reminds us that she’s not quite an adult just yet.

“Outside of You” is next and is actually leftover from one of Pink’s albums, which explains it’s rocky anthemic hook. Hilary musters up all of her courage over a powerful 80′s pop-rock beat and begs a scared and lonely crush to open up and let her in. Despite not writing the lyrics, the song comes across as surprisingly genuine when Duff tries to belt out lines like “See the funny thing is, you’re just as useless as me, I can make you better, if you would just let me in”.

“I Wish” continues both the pop/rock sound and the lyrical content of the previous track, though Hilary seems to switch roles and take the place of her self-destructive crush from “Outside of You”. “I wish that I could be like I was before. I was ridin high but now I’m feelin so low.” It’s another interesting track which fits in with the whole theme of the album.

Hilary ends things on a positive note on “Play With Fire”, defiantly flipping off the turmoil of previous relationships in favour of a new man who “keeps me safe, takes your place”. will.i.am surprisingly co-wrote the song, which was initially released as a buzz single in 2006 to signify Hilary’s new musical direction. Although the Richard Vission remix is far superior, this is still a great song and a good way to close the album.

Dignity reflects the sound of a young woman clumsily stepping into adulthood, which results in a fun, personal, endearing, and overall superb pop album. Dignity see’s Hilary setting herself up to be the next Kylie Minogue, and a much more interesting one at that. Hil was playing with the electro-pop sound well before Lady GaGa came onto the scene, and she manages to outdo GaGa’s The Fame in every way by adding depth, sincerity, and charm to her music.

With it’s innovation, forward thinking sound and sincere self-reflection, Dignity is like the electro little sister to Justin Timberlake’s Justified and Christina Aguilera’s Stripped, joining the pair as one of the best pop albums of the 2000′s.