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Dignity (album)
Encyclopedia
Dignity is the fourth studio album
by American recording artist Hilary Duff
. The album was released on April 3, 2007 by Hollywood Records
. Between the releases of her previous studio album, Hilary Duff
(2004), and Dignity, she had an eventful personal life; she was stalked by a man who threatened her life, her parents separated and she broke up with her boyfriend. Instead of mainly selecting songs and only writing a few, as she did with her previous records, she contributed to the writing of all but one song, and often collaborated with songwriter Kara DioGuardi
, who had previously written for her.
Duff was musically inspired by indie rock band The Faint
and pop singers Beyoncé Knowles
and Gwen Stefani
. In contrast to the pop rock themes of her prior releases, Dignity takes on more of a dance sound, which she said was not her intention while writing the album. The lyrics reference the events Duff experienced in the years leading to the album's release, and the album's songs contain influences of rock and roll and hip hop music.
Critical response was mostly positive; while Duff's weak singing voice was noted, the album was praised for its songwriting and her new musical direction. Upon release, Dignity debuted at number three in the US, a lower peak than Duff's previous albums and with lower sales, which Billboard
attributed to the loss of fans during her musical evolution. Despite the relatively poor performance of the album, it produced Duff's highest-peaking US single to date, "With Love
" (number 24), and two US number one club hits. The album has reached the top ten in several countries and was certified Gold in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA).
(2004), received generally unfavorable reviews. Despite peaking at number two on the Billboard 200
, its commercial performance was modest: it exited the chart after 33 weeks and sold 1.8 million copies in the United States.
Between the releases of Hilary Duff and Dignity, Duff's personal life was eventful. In October 2006, she and her boyfriend, Joel Madden
of punk rock
band Good Charlotte
, claimed that they were being stalked
by Russian emigre Maksim Miakovsky and his roommate, paparazzo David Joseph Klein. According to a restraining order
filed by Duff, Miakovsky came to the United States solely to pursue a relationship with her. He was later arrested after threatening to kill her. In November, she ended her two-year relationship with Madden. Around the same time, her parents Robert and Susan separated after 22 years of marriage following an affair between Robert and another woman.
She stated that with Dignity, her increased songwriting output was a breakthrough for her. "That hadn't really been part of my process on previous records, except here and there. It was important this time," she said. She co-wrote all of the album's songs, with the exception of "Outside of You", written by Pink
, Chantal Kreviazuk
and Raine Maida
. In an interview, Maida stated that the song was written for a Pink album but did not make the final cut. When Duff expressed interest in the song, she recorded it. Duff explained of her writing process:
Much of Dignity was written in Duff's own home, as she felt "comfortable and free" there. She said that she knew from the beginning that she wanted to write the album with the assistance of songwriter and producer Kara DioGuardi
, due to their previous work history on songs such as "Come Clean" and "Fly
". Another reason that Duff wished to work with her was that she found her lyrics were complemented by DioGuardi's melodies. She added, "I helped with the melodies, but that's not my strongest suit. Coming up with the lyrics was mainly [what I did]. I'd tell her this is how I want it to go, and she would help with the lyrics, too, sometimes. She'd say, 'This doesn't really fit,' and if I was adamant, we'd make it work."
band The Faint
and pop singers such as Gwen Stefani
and Beyoncé Knowles
, while critics compared her musical style with Stefani, Depeche Mode
, Madonna
and Justin Timberlake
. Duff felt that the album's dance-pop
themes were a deviation from the pop rock
of her previous albums. "I didn't necessarily plan the album to sound like this, but it was so easy to write to," she said. Critics have noted that Dignitys musical style is dance-rock, New Wave
and electropop, with influences of hip hop
, rock and roll
and Middle Eastern music
. According to Duff, the album is a combination of dance, electro and rock music.
The lyrics of several songs relate to Duff's experiences between the releases of Hilary Duff and Dignity. The songs "Stranger
" and "Gypsy Woman", despite speculation that they were written about Madden's then-new girlfriend Nicole Richie
, were actually written about Duff's father's affair. She said that "Stranger" was written from her mother's perspective. "Stranger is a song I wrote about how my mom must feel around my dad," she said. "I made it seem like it was about a relationship I was in, because I didn't want people to know about my parents. But I've realized that so many people can relate to what I've gone through." The album's title track has also been reported to be about Richie, though Duff did not deny rumors that it was. "Dignity is a song that is definitely about people in Hollywood
," she said. "I wouldn't say that it is about her specifically but it is about people that kind of do what she does and act the way she acts." The song "Danger" was written about one of Duff's friends' relationships with an older man. "I understand that feeling of wanting to be dangerous," she said. "You may know morally something's not right, but you can't help yourself." She has stated that the song "Dreamer" was written about a stalker in a tongue-in-cheek
fashion, and it has been speculated that it was written specifically about Miakovsky.
began airing the two-part documentary special, Hilary Duff: This Is Now
. The documentary followed Duff as she prepared for the release of Dignity by attending photoshoots, interviews, wardrobe fittings, rehearsals and a trip to Europe. In addition, Duff hosted Total Request Live
for the week of March 26, made several appearances at retail outlets and on television, and was given massive online coverage on MySpace
and Yahoo!
.
Accompanying Duff's new musical style, the record label began promoting her with a more mature image. Duff dyed her hair dark and "sexed-up" her image. According to Duff, she wanted to "try new things", but the image change "just happened. It is not like a conscious change. People think it is so different because they have watched me grow up but that is just what happens in life." Entertainment Weekly
described Duff's new look as comprising "dark mane, dental veneers, luxe and vampy fashions". In mid-2007, concurrent to the preparation of the radio release of "Stranger", Duff was featured on the July covers of the magazines Us Weekly
and Shape in a bikini, and on the August cover of Maxim
accompanied by the declaration that she had gone "from the queen of teen to breakout sex symbol". The Associated Press
wrote that Duff's more provocative image would help her singles to garner mainstream radio play. Guy Zapoleon, a radio consultant and former programmer for Top 40 radio, explained that "radio has a stigma about playing [Disney] acts, considering them teen and preteen in their appeal", and that Duff's provocative image would "definitely have a positive effect on the attitude of programmers, who are mostly male, as Disney tries to mature her image". A bonus EP
containing five bonus remixes was released exclusively to U.S. WalMart stores as a package with the album.
, it was her first single to chart on the magazine's Hot Dance Club Play
chart, peaking at number 34. Second single "With Love
" became her highest-peaking single on the Hot 100 when it reached number 24. The single reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The final single, "Stranger", peaked at 97 on the Hot 100 and also reached the top of the dance charts.
gave the album a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of a select 13 critical reviews—of 61, signifying generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone
gave a positive review of the album, feeling that Duff's attempt to make an adult-oriented dance-pop album was successful. About.com
called Duff "as likeable as ever" and praised the songwriting and production contributions of Richard Vission
and will.i.am
. Allmusic noted that the album was firmly based on "sturdy, hooky, and memorable" songwriting. The review claimed similarities between Dignity and Justin Timberlake
's FutureSex/LoveSounds
(2006), noting that Duff was musically fashionable but not a trendsetter. At the same time, the review criticized Duff's thin vocals, calling them "not at all like a woman". Billboard
called Duff's decision to make a dance-pop album daring, considering the unpopularity of the genre at the time. The review continued, "It's practically something straight out of the United Kingdom for all of its poppy goodness." Entertainment Weekly
noted that Duff's break-up with Madden brought out her personality, which the magazine felt was lacking in her previous work. "She's never sounded less eager to please or more messily human," the review claimed.
The Guardian
praised Duff's decision to opt for a more electronic dance
sound as opposed to the teen pop
of her previous work, despite the questionable marketability. They argued that some of the album's strongest tracks rivaled some by Kylie Minogue
. Sputnikmusic
's review noted various flaws of the album, such as what they felt were a lackluster guitar solo on the song "I Wish" and Duff's childish, uncharacterized vocals throughout. However, they continued, "For all its inadequacies, Dignity is a solid, cleverly-constructed pop album. Like all albums of the genre not written solely by the performer, it's never quite clear which parts, if any, are Duff's words and which represent the feelings of the under-appreciated co-writer, but in Dignity we at least have an album where it's worthwhile listening to the lyrics." They praised the songwriting of every track except "Play with Fire", which they felt was a poor choice for a lead single.
IGN
gave a more mixed review of Dignity. They praised what they felt was Duff's more mature image, but ultimately claimed, "Duff is still Duff and her music is still running the standard pop line." PopMatters
noted that the synthesizers used on the album's tracks failed to disguise Duff's speak-singing. The website believed her vocals were not on the level of her pop music peers such as Kelly Clarkson
and Mandy Moore
. "Nevertheless," they added, "thanks to the miracle of processing, reverb effects, and multi-tracking tricks to beef up her vocals, Duff's voice is still sweetly candy-coated enough to make the medicine go down." Slant Magazine
said, "Duff is mostly just an anonymous voice for an assemblage of producers and songwriters. Which is perfectly acceptable for a self-proclaimed dance album, but Duff's voice is nondescript and her delivery is blank; the impish, quirky, or coolly disaffected vocal characteristics and sex appeal that make other dance-pop divas viable performers is nonexistent." The website's review claimed that the album was not very adventurous, and noted that the pop rock "Outside of You", which they felt was the catchiest song on Dignity, was not a dance song like the others.
, selling 140,000 copies in its first week. The debut was lower than those of Duff's previous three albums, each of which entered at either number one or two with opening week sales of around 200,000 copies. Billboard wrote that Duff's "continued evolution in sound and image ... may have resulted in her losing some of her much younger fans." The album debuted at number twenty-five in the UK with first-week sales of over 8,000 copies. The album spent three weeks in the top seventy-five of the UK Albums Chart
. Dignity broke Duff's streak of consecutive number-one debuts in Canada
, entering the albums chart
at number three with 20,000 copies sold. In response, Duff said she "couldn't be happier" and felt lucky that Dignity sold the amount it did, noting the state of the marketplace and the moderate sales figures for other albums that week. The album debuted at number seventeen on the ARIA Albums Chart in Australia
, selling roughly 2,300 copies in its first week. The Herald Sun
referred to it as "dead in the water" in its second week on the chart. In Italy, Dignity received a Gold certification from the FIMI for shipments to stores of more than 40,000 copies.
(^) denotes additional producer
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American recording artist Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff
Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...
. The album was released on April 3, 2007 by Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
. Between the releases of her previous studio album, Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff (album)
Hilary Duff is the eponymous third studio album by American recording artist Hilary Duff. The album was released on September 28, 2004 by Hollywood Records as a follow up to the internationally successful, Metamorphosis . Duff cited the album as being more mature than her previous, stating...
(2004), and Dignity, she had an eventful personal life; she was stalked by a man who threatened her life, her parents separated and she broke up with her boyfriend. Instead of mainly selecting songs and only writing a few, as she did with her previous records, she contributed to the writing of all but one song, and often collaborated with songwriter Kara DioGuardi
Kara DioGuardi
Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, composer and TV personality. She writes music primarily in the light pop-rock, dance, and R&B genres. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; her songs have appeared on more than 159...
, who had previously written for her.
Duff was musically inspired by indie rock band The Faint
The Faint
The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Jacob Thiele, Dapose, Joel Petersen and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst...
and pop singers Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
and Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
. In contrast to the pop rock themes of her prior releases, Dignity takes on more of a dance sound, which she said was not her intention while writing the album. The lyrics reference the events Duff experienced in the years leading to the album's release, and the album's songs contain influences of rock and roll and hip hop music.
Critical response was mostly positive; while Duff's weak singing voice was noted, the album was praised for its songwriting and her new musical direction. Upon release, Dignity debuted at number three in the US, a lower peak than Duff's previous albums and with lower sales, which Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
attributed to the loss of fans during her musical evolution. Despite the relatively poor performance of the album, it produced Duff's highest-peaking US single to date, "With Love
With Love (Hilary Duff song)
"With Love" is a song recorded by American pop singer Hilary Duff. The song was written by Duff, Kara DioGuardi, Vada Nobles and Julius Diaz, and produced by Nobles and Logic for Duff's fourth studio album, Dignity...
" (number 24), and two US number one club hits. The album has reached the top ten in several countries and was certified Gold in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA).
Background
Duff's previous studio album, the self-titled Hilary DuffHilary Duff (album)
Hilary Duff is the eponymous third studio album by American recording artist Hilary Duff. The album was released on September 28, 2004 by Hollywood Records as a follow up to the internationally successful, Metamorphosis . Duff cited the album as being more mature than her previous, stating...
(2004), received generally unfavorable reviews. Despite peaking at number two on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, its commercial performance was modest: it exited the chart after 33 weeks and sold 1.8 million copies in the United States.
Between the releases of Hilary Duff and Dignity, Duff's personal life was eventful. In October 2006, she and her boyfriend, Joel Madden
Joel Madden
Joel Rueben Madden is an American singer, record producer, actor, DJ, and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, best known as the lead vocalist for the pop punk band Good Charlotte.-Early life:...
of punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 1998, the band's constant members have been lead vocalist Joel Madden, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Benji Madden, bass guitarist Paul Thomas and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Billy Martin...
, claimed that they were being stalked
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
by Russian emigre Maksim Miakovsky and his roommate, paparazzo David Joseph Klein. According to a restraining order
Restraining order
A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
filed by Duff, Miakovsky came to the United States solely to pursue a relationship with her. He was later arrested after threatening to kill her. In November, she ended her two-year relationship with Madden. Around the same time, her parents Robert and Susan separated after 22 years of marriage following an affair between Robert and another woman.
Writing and development
Duff explained of the album's title, "I'm older and more mature now than I was when I made my last record, but I don't think I know it all. Having dignity is something you work on your whole life, in how you treat people and how you treat yourself. I hope I always strive to have it." She continued, "It's not something that you can be given or that you can just get or that you're born with. It's something that you have to work on."She stated that with Dignity, her increased songwriting output was a breakthrough for her. "That hadn't really been part of my process on previous records, except here and there. It was important this time," she said. She co-wrote all of the album's songs, with the exception of "Outside of You", written by Pink
Pink (singer)
Alecia Beth Moore , better known by her stage name Pink , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress....
, Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Jennifer Kreviazuk is a Canadian singer-songwriter of the adult contemporary music genre. She is also a classically trained pianist, and can play the guitar.-Albums:...
and Raine Maida
Raine Maida
Raine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...
. In an interview, Maida stated that the song was written for a Pink album but did not make the final cut. When Duff expressed interest in the song, she recorded it. Duff explained of her writing process:
[The album] has all of me in it. I never did my records like that before. I got to choose the music, but this time around it was, like, I'd sit down and think: 'What happened to me yesterday? What happened to me today?' and just write. It was very therapeutic, in a way. And easy – I was shocked at how easy it was to be honest about yourself and things that affect you. It is a danceDance musicDance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
record, but I wanted it to be serious. I wanted to talk about serious things, but do it in a not-so-serious way, with music that makes you want to get up and dance.
Much of Dignity was written in Duff's own home, as she felt "comfortable and free" there. She said that she knew from the beginning that she wanted to write the album with the assistance of songwriter and producer Kara DioGuardi
Kara DioGuardi
Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, composer and TV personality. She writes music primarily in the light pop-rock, dance, and R&B genres. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; her songs have appeared on more than 159...
, due to their previous work history on songs such as "Come Clean" and "Fly
Fly (Hilary Duff song)
"Fly" is a song by American recording artist Hilary Duff. The song was written by Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks, and produced by Shanks for Duff's self-titled third studio album, Hilary Duff . The song received mixed reviews from music critics, comparing the song to her previous single, "Come...
". Another reason that Duff wished to work with her was that she found her lyrics were complemented by DioGuardi's melodies. She added, "I helped with the melodies, but that's not my strongest suit. Coming up with the lyrics was mainly [what I did]. I'd tell her this is how I want it to go, and she would help with the lyrics, too, sometimes. She'd say, 'This doesn't really fit,' and if I was adamant, we'd make it work."
Composition
As inspiration for the album, Duff cited indie rockIndie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band The Faint
The Faint
The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Jacob Thiele, Dapose, Joel Petersen and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst...
and pop singers such as Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
and Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
, while critics compared her musical style with Stefani, Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
and Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
. Duff felt that the album's dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
themes were a deviation from the pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
of her previous albums. "I didn't necessarily plan the album to sound like this, but it was so easy to write to," she said. Critics have noted that Dignitys musical style is dance-rock, New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and electropop, with influences of hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and Middle Eastern music
Middle Eastern music
The music of Western Asia and North Africa spans across a vast region, from Morocco to Afghanistan, and its influences can be felt even further afield. Middle Eastern music influenced the music of India, as well as Central Asia, Spain, Southern Italy, the Caucasus and the Balkans, as in chalga...
. According to Duff, the album is a combination of dance, electro and rock music.
The lyrics of several songs relate to Duff's experiences between the releases of Hilary Duff and Dignity. The songs "Stranger
Stranger (Hilary Duff song)
"Stranger" is a song by American recording artist Hilary Duff. The song was written by Duff, Kara DioGuardi, Vada Nobles, Derrick Harvin, and Julius "Logic" Diaz, and produced by Nobles, Harrvin, and Logic for Duff's fourth studio album, Dignity...
" and "Gypsy Woman", despite speculation that they were written about Madden's then-new girlfriend Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie
Nicole Camille Richie is an American fashion designer, author, actress, singer and television personality. Her father was Peter Michael Escovedo, a musician who played for a brief time with Lionel Richie, and her mother Karen was the executive assistant for Sheila Escovedo...
, were actually written about Duff's father's affair. She said that "Stranger" was written from her mother's perspective. "Stranger is a song I wrote about how my mom must feel around my dad," she said. "I made it seem like it was about a relationship I was in, because I didn't want people to know about my parents. But I've realized that so many people can relate to what I've gone through." The album's title track has also been reported to be about Richie, though Duff did not deny rumors that it was. "Dignity is a song that is definitely about people in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
," she said. "I wouldn't say that it is about her specifically but it is about people that kind of do what she does and act the way she acts." The song "Danger" was written about one of Duff's friends' relationships with an older man. "I understand that feeling of wanting to be dangerous," she said. "You may know morally something's not right, but you can't help yourself." She has stated that the song "Dreamer" was written about a stalker in a tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
fashion, and it has been speculated that it was written specifically about Miakovsky.
Marketing and promotion
To promote the album's release, Duff "worked tirelessly with the whole Hollywood Records staff to market [the] record." On the day of the album's release, April 3, MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
began airing the two-part documentary special, Hilary Duff: This Is Now
Hilary Duff: This Is Now
Hilary Duff: This Is Now is a two-part MTV documentary television special about singer Hilary Duff, broadcast in April 2007 . It followed Duff during a promotional tour for her album Dignity in Spain, and her first performance of her single "With Love" in Europe. It showed Duff participating in...
. The documentary followed Duff as she prepared for the release of Dignity by attending photoshoots, interviews, wardrobe fittings, rehearsals and a trip to Europe. In addition, Duff hosted Total Request Live
Total Request Live
Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...
for the week of March 26, made several appearances at retail outlets and on television, and was given massive online coverage on MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
.
Accompanying Duff's new musical style, the record label began promoting her with a more mature image. Duff dyed her hair dark and "sexed-up" her image. According to Duff, she wanted to "try new things", but the image change "just happened. It is not like a conscious change. People think it is so different because they have watched me grow up but that is just what happens in life." Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
described Duff's new look as comprising "dark mane, dental veneers, luxe and vampy fashions". In mid-2007, concurrent to the preparation of the radio release of "Stranger", Duff was featured on the July covers of the magazines Us Weekly
Us Weekly
Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment...
and Shape in a bikini, and on the August cover of Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
accompanied by the declaration that she had gone "from the queen of teen to breakout sex symbol". The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
wrote that Duff's more provocative image would help her singles to garner mainstream radio play. Guy Zapoleon, a radio consultant and former programmer for Top 40 radio, explained that "radio has a stigma about playing [Disney] acts, considering them teen and preteen in their appeal", and that Duff's provocative image would "definitely have a positive effect on the attitude of programmers, who are mostly male, as Disney tries to mature her image". A bonus EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
containing five bonus remixes was released exclusively to U.S. WalMart stores as a package with the album.
Singles
Three singles were released from the album. The first, "Play with Fire", was considered by Duff to be a "tease" of Dignitys musical sound. Although she felt it was different from the album's other songs, she saw it as embodying the dance/electro/rock combination of the album, which influenced her decision to release it as the lead single. Duff opted to release the single well in advance of the album "to give listeners a chance to get into my new sound". Though it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, it was her first single to chart on the magazine's Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
chart, peaking at number 34. Second single "With Love
With Love (Hilary Duff song)
"With Love" is a song recorded by American pop singer Hilary Duff. The song was written by Duff, Kara DioGuardi, Vada Nobles and Julius Diaz, and produced by Nobles and Logic for Duff's fourth studio album, Dignity...
" became her highest-peaking single on the Hot 100 when it reached number 24. The single reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The final single, "Stranger", peaked at 97 on the Hot 100 and also reached the top of the dance charts.
Critical response
The critical response to Dignity was generally positive. MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the album a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of a select 13 critical reviews—of 61, signifying generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
gave a positive review of the album, feeling that Duff's attempt to make an adult-oriented dance-pop album was successful. About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
called Duff "as likeable as ever" and praised the songwriting and production contributions of Richard Vission
Richard Vission
Richard "Humpty" Vission is a house music producer, remixer and DJ born Richard Gonzalez in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California....
and will.i.am
Will.i.am
William James Adams, Jr. , better known by his stage name will.i.am and occasionally by his other stage name Zuper Blahq, is an American rapper, musician, songwriter, singer, actor and producer...
. Allmusic noted that the album was firmly based on "sturdy, hooky, and memorable" songwriting. The review claimed similarities between Dignity and Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
's FutureSex/LoveSounds
FutureSex/LoveSounds
In 2005, Timberlake felt inspired to record songs again. Motivated by the "sad state" of pop radio, he decided he needed to experiment with music. Reportedly, it was not until Timberlake turned to producer Timbaland "that he figured out the direction he wanted the record to take"...
(2006), noting that Duff was musically fashionable but not a trendsetter. At the same time, the review criticized Duff's thin vocals, calling them "not at all like a woman". Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
called Duff's decision to make a dance-pop album daring, considering the unpopularity of the genre at the time. The review continued, "It's practically something straight out of the United Kingdom for all of its poppy goodness." Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
noted that Duff's break-up with Madden brought out her personality, which the magazine felt was lacking in her previous work. "She's never sounded less eager to please or more messily human," the review claimed.
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
praised Duff's decision to opt for a more electronic dance
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
sound as opposed to the teen pop
Teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock....
of her previous work, despite the questionable marketability. They argued that some of the album's strongest tracks rivaled some by Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
. Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
's review noted various flaws of the album, such as what they felt were a lackluster guitar solo on the song "I Wish" and Duff's childish, uncharacterized vocals throughout. However, they continued, "For all its inadequacies, Dignity is a solid, cleverly-constructed pop album. Like all albums of the genre not written solely by the performer, it's never quite clear which parts, if any, are Duff's words and which represent the feelings of the under-appreciated co-writer, but in Dignity we at least have an album where it's worthwhile listening to the lyrics." They praised the songwriting of every track except "Play with Fire", which they felt was a poor choice for a lead single.
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave a more mixed review of Dignity. They praised what they felt was Duff's more mature image, but ultimately claimed, "Duff is still Duff and her music is still running the standard pop line." PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
noted that the synthesizers used on the album's tracks failed to disguise Duff's speak-singing. The website believed her vocals were not on the level of her pop music peers such as Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson came into prominence after becoming the winner of the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.In 2003,...
and Mandy Moore
Mandy Moore
Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer. Moore became famous as a teenager in the late 1990s, after the release of her teen pop albums So Real, I Wanna Be with You, and Mandy Moore. In 2007, she took an adult pop-folk direction with the release of...
. "Nevertheless," they added, "thanks to the miracle of processing, reverb effects, and multi-tracking tricks to beef up her vocals, Duff's voice is still sweetly candy-coated enough to make the medicine go down." Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
said, "Duff is mostly just an anonymous voice for an assemblage of producers and songwriters. Which is perfectly acceptable for a self-proclaimed dance album, but Duff's voice is nondescript and her delivery is blank; the impish, quirky, or coolly disaffected vocal characteristics and sex appeal that make other dance-pop divas viable performers is nonexistent." The website's review claimed that the album was not very adventurous, and noted that the pop rock "Outside of You", which they felt was the catchiest song on Dignity, was not a dance song like the others.
Commercial performance
Dignity debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, selling 140,000 copies in its first week. The debut was lower than those of Duff's previous three albums, each of which entered at either number one or two with opening week sales of around 200,000 copies. Billboard wrote that Duff's "continued evolution in sound and image ... may have resulted in her losing some of her much younger fans." The album debuted at number twenty-five in the UK with first-week sales of over 8,000 copies. The album spent three weeks in the top seventy-five of the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. Dignity broke Duff's streak of consecutive number-one debuts in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, entering the albums chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...
at number three with 20,000 copies sold. In response, Duff said she "couldn't be happier" and felt lucky that Dignity sold the amount it did, noting the state of the marketplace and the moderate sales figures for other albums that week. The album debuted at number seventeen on the ARIA Albums Chart in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, selling roughly 2,300 copies in its first week. The Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
referred to it as "dead in the water" in its second week on the chart. In Italy, Dignity received a Gold certification from the FIMI for shipments to stores of more than 40,000 copies.
Track listing
(*) denotes co-producer(^) denotes additional producer
Personnel
Credits for Dignity adapted from Allmusic.- Chico BennettChico BennettChico Bennett is an American record producer , musician, and songwriter. He created Zero 1 Entertainment, Inc., a music production company, in 2000. He has produced, remixed, and written for artists such as Madonna , Nelly Furtado, The Killers, Hilary Duff, Usher , and Destiny’s Child to name just...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Mateo CamargoMateo CamargoMateo Camargo is a Colombian-born songwriter, record producer, and guitarist of rock band Madina Lake.- Early life :Mateo was born on March 11, 1973, and grew up in the suburbs of Bogotá near a lake,and studied at Colegio San Carlos Colombia....
– producer - Kara DioGuardiKara DioGuardiKara Elizabeth DioGuardi is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, composer and TV personality. She writes music primarily in the light pop-rock, dance, and R&B genres. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; her songs have appeared on more than 159...
– producer - Hilary Duff – executive producer, leadLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
and backing vocalistBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Víctor González – producer
- Tim & BobTim & BobTim & Bob aka Funktwons, are Grammy Award-winning songwriting musicians and a Hip-hop/R&B pop production duo. Tim & Bob have discovered and or worked on some of the biggest artists in the music industry and has helped develop the Atlanta music scene as it is widely known for today...
- producer - Jason Groucott – mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Derrick Haruin – producer
- Richard "Segal" Huredia – mixing
- Alain JohannesAlain JohannesAlain Johannes Moschulski is a guitarist and, along with his late partner Natasha Shneider and drummer Jack Irons, a founding member of the band Eleven...
– mixing - Enny Joo – art direction and designArt directorThe art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
- Rhett LawrenceRhett LawrenceRhett Lawrence is a record producer and songwriter. He is originally famous for producing the Grammy Award–winning, Billboard #1 Hot 100 and #1 R&B single "Vision of Love" for Mariah Carey. He produced and co-wrote the Kelly Clarkson pop rock hit "Miss Independent” which was #1 for 6 weeks at Top...
– producer, mixing
- Logic – producer, mixing
- Raine MaidaRaine MaidaRaine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...
– producer - Manny MarroquinManny MarroquinManny Marroquin, born 21 September 1971 in Guatemala, is a Grammy winning mixing engineer. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was nine due to the Guatemalan Civil War....
– mixing - Andrew McPherson – photography
- FredwreckFredwreckFarid Karam Nassar, better known as Fredwreck is a record producer from Los Angeles, California. He got his big break when he became a producer for Dr. Dre's newly founded Aftermath Records label, and went on to work with Snoop Dogg's record label Dogghouse Records and became a known producer on...
– producer, mixing - Vada NoblesVada NoblesVada Nobles is a record producer and songwriter. He provided production on Lauryn Hill's debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill . He co-wrote the Rihanna song "Pon de Replay" and co-wrote and co-produced two tracks on Hilary Duff's 2007 album, Dignity.-External links:...
– producer, mixing - Andre Recke – executive producer, A&R, management
- Dave Snow – creative directorCreative DirectorA creative director is a position often found within the graphic design, film, music, fashion, advertising, media or entertainment industries, but may be useful in other creative organizations such as web development and software development firms as well....
- Ryan TedderRyan TedderRyan Benjamin Tedder is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the pop rock band, OneRepublic, though he has an independent career as songwriter and producer for various artists such as Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, Far East Movement, Jordin Sparks, Leona...
– producer - Richard VissionRichard VissionRichard "Humpty" Vission is a house music producer, remixer and DJ born Richard Gonzalez in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California....
– producer - Greg WellsGreg WellsGreg Wells is a multiple Grammy nominated musician, record producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Wells has produced and written hits with Adele, Weezer, Pink, Theophilus London, Deftones, Katy Perry, Rufus Wainwright, The All American Rejects, OneRepublic, Mika, Aerosmith, Burt Bacharach,...
– producer - will.i.amWill.i.amWilliam James Adams, Jr. , better known by his stage name will.i.am and occasionally by his other stage name Zuper Blahq, is an American rapper, musician, songwriter, singer, actor and producer...
– composer
Charts
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Argentinian Albums Chart Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers The Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers is an Argentine organization member of the IFPI, which represents the music industry in the country. It is a nonprofit organization integrated by multinational and independent record labels.... |
15 |
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
17 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
3 |
| Colombian Album Chart Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the... |
1 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
133 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
10 |
| Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
8 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
12 |
| Mexican Albums Chart | 22 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
31 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 12 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
64 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
25 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
3 |
| US Digital Albums | 4 |
Certifications
| Country | Certifications |
|---|---|
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Gold |
| Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
Gold |
| Ireland Irish Recorded Music Association Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:... |
Gold |