As predicted in our last review, as Hilary Duff goes forward in time, the sexual pressure increases. This album ups the romance culture quotient. However, it is still not as trashy as music by Britney Spears or J Lo and Hilary Duff rocks just a tad more than her competitors.

This is another album that takes the experiences of the typical middle class persyn and sells them back to him/her. There's nothing in these songs that is not completely mainstream. As far as Hilary Duff goes is to tell a boyfriend to get on his way in "Mr. James Dean."

Meanwhile, she sings a convincingly emotional song about a trite emotion--cattiness. "Who's That Girl?" is about somebody who takes her place with a boyfriend. Then she turns the tables in "Haters" where it seems that others want her boyfriend even when they have their own.

Buy This CD

"Metamorphosis"
Hillary Duff
Buena Vista Records
2003

reviewed by MC5, November 2003

With Britney Spears becoming definitively adult and her teeny-bopper days receding in memory the capitalists decided there was room for another younger one. So they created Hillary Duff (spelled "Hilary") .

In the formula for the creation of a pornopop diva, the teenager or 20ish singer has to have a sweeping popularity among teens. After the albums that a teenager can turn out are done, the pop star turns to more adult themes when it becomes necessary.

That's why this album is titled "Metamorphosis." The emphasis is on the teenager becoming the adult.

For those young people in love with Hilary Duff or her music, it will be difficult to understand that she is nothing new. We do not mean that by any way of persynal insult (and we do not know Duff at all, so there could hardly be anything persynal about it) as that is standard for the industry raking in the millions.

For the young persyn, his or her awakening to music or rock in particular may be new and a profound experience. That does not make Hilary Duff new. She is just playing the exact same role played by others before her. Rock coming out in the 1950s and early 1960s was "new." There is nothing new lyrically or musically in Hilary Duff's 2003 album.

The instrumental background is much more involved and a faster kind of rock than what will come later in a J. Lo type album. It reflects energy, awakening and vitality. The lazy lounging aspect of sex as in much pornopop where we hear only a drum beat accompanied by what could be misconstrued as phone sex is not here in Hilary Duff's "Metamorphosis."

As is fitting for someone with a Disney contract, "Metamorphosis" is low on the pornography quotient relative to Amerikkkan standards; although even so, it will be too much for many Third World parents thinking about their teens.

"So Yesterday" sounds pretty innocent, but it could be construed to be about a boyfriend who left and now she is keeping his pants, which makes you wonder how she got them. There is no definitive answer and that is the point in this album. If there is any sexual innuendo, it is indirect.

"Come Clean" seems to be about strivings for change and going out--young people socializing. "Workin' It Out" is moody flightiness: "Some days I want to fly/Some days it all makes sense to me/Some days I just don't want to know why."

"Little Voice" is about the power of her interest in a boy that appears like a voice in her head. Apparently they've broken up and "there are some things a girl won't do."

The same thing occurs in "Anywhere But Here." "Trying to catch your eye . . . When you look at me suddenly it's clear."

"Metamorphosis" is basically about teenage girls with interest in boys. As many Amerikkkan parents are oppressively afraid of gays/lesbians, they often hope that their teenage daughters will have a social experience like that promoted by Hilary Duff. Some of these same backward parents would be the first to say that public discussion of homosexuality is "pushing" homosexuality, while constant airplay of songs like Hilary Duff's are not "pushing" heterosexuality. For MIM, the truth is that heterosexuality is "pushed" much more and from an early age than gay/lesbian lifestyle.

Overall, there is not much to say about this album positively or negatively. While Iraqi teenagers are figuring out how to kill wealthier and technologically superior U.$. troops occupying their country, most Amerikkkan teenagers are like Hilary Duff singing, "Sweet sixteen/Gonna spread my wings. . .Drivin' down to the club where we go to dance. . . Bright stars shine above me/My blonde hair is everywhere." Although change is the subject of the album, it is the contented sort distracting youth from real challenges that require their energy.

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