Life is sweet – and getting even sweeter – for the pop world’s favourite girl-next-door. Sure, Hilary Duff starred in a monstrously huge TV show but that’s, like, so yesterday ’cause Hilary’s exercising her right to change her mind and act her age. No more trying to fit a circle into a square. With her first real pop-rock album, Metamorphosis, and the hit singles “So Yesterday” and “Why Not”,
Hilary is finally free to be who she wants to be. Being such a triple-threat talent, Hilary has become a music, film and television phenomenon thanks to an unbroken string of hits that began with her starring role in the Disney Channel Original Series Lizzie McGuire which would have made marketing a celebrity like Hilary that so much more exciting.
Marketing Products & Services through celebrity endorsements
These days using a celebrity to market, promote or endorse your brand is big business. Any Marketing Agency will tell you, that pairing the right product or service with the right celebrity and putting in place a well thought out marketing strategy can result in big gains for everyone involved. There are plenty of marketing agencies who specialise in celebrity endorsements. Whether it’s through lesser known influencers using social platforms and digital marketing or major names like the Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. Using a famous face is a sure fire way to outshine your competitor.
So who exactly is Hilary Duff?
Hilary Duff has become a music, film and television phenomenon thanks to an unbroken string of hits that began with her starring role in the Disney Channel Original Series Lizzie McGuire, the record-breaking #1 show in its timeslot. Hilary made her singing debut on that hit sit-com, lending her fresh vocals and sunny style to “I Can’t Wait” from the Lizzie McGuire Television Soundtrack. In her motion picture debut, Hilary co-starred with Frankie Muniz in action-adventure hit Agent Cody Banks. Next came singing and starring roles in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, in which Hilary played – prophetically enough – an American tourist mistaken for a huge singing star.
Proving that life imitates art, Hilary’s singing career is exploding on Top 40 radio, MTV and Top 40 pop charts around the world. In the US Metamorphosis – her amazingly appealing debut solo album of 13 songs –charted #2 on the Billboard 200 its first week of release. Its debut single, “So Yesterday,” became an instant #1 retail hit and stormed the pop singles charts, hitting the #1 spot after quickly making top-request waves at national Top 40 radio and on MTV’s signature program “Total Request Live,” where Hilary’s “Why Not” music video was the number 1 most requested.
Hilary was recently was a presenter at both the MTV Video Music Awards and the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, where she accepted the trophy for “Favourite TV Show” on behalf of Lizzie McGuire. And although there’s not one molecule of space left for another top award her shelf, “So Yesterday” has become the #1 most-streamed video on AOL.
“I’ve always sung, ever since I could talk,” says Hilary. “I’ve always sung, ever since I could talk,” says Hilary. “At home, at school, in the choir, everywhere. But about two years ago I decided to be a real singer, and started working with really cool singers, musicians and songwriters. Best of all, I started working in the studio, experimenting and putting material together. I’ve really fallen in love with the studio. I just know that a lot of my fans relate to the album.”
What kind of music can fans expect from Hilary on Metamorphosis? A chameleon-like variety of changing moods, from the romantic ballad “Where Did I Go Right?” to the ultimate break up song, “So Yesterday.” From the tough-talkin’ “Party Up” to the hard rockin’ “Little Voice.”
“The music on the album is a little different from the pop songs everyone’s heard from me before, because Metamorphosis has all the kinds of music I like to listen to,” Hilary explains. “There are a lot of different sounds, from rock to electronic – with a whole range of tempos from some deep, slow songs, to some high-energy rock songs to give me a boost. Everybody goes through different moods and different feelings and sometimes when you put on your favourite song it makes you feel a little bit better.”
The 13 pop-rock songs on Metamorphosis were produced, arranged, written and mixed by the very best in the business. The album’s behind-the-scenes-talent includes Charlie Midnight (Joe Cocker, James Brown, Joni Mitchell) who contributed to nine tracks; The Matrix (Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera), the producing masterminds behind “So Yesterday,” “Where Did I Go Right?” and “The Math”; Chico Bennett (Madonna, Usher, Destiny’s Child); Matthew Gerrard (Nick Carter); John Shanks (Michelle Branch); Kara DioGuardi (Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias); singer-songwriter-producer Meredith Brooks; plus some of the best pop-rock musicians anywhere.
It was important to me that all the songs we recorded really meant something special to me personally. “Can I tell you how awesome everyone’s been to work with? They are the very best writers and producers and musicians ever, and they’ve been so open to my opinions,” Hilary says. “It was important to me that all the songs we recorded really meant something special to me personally. I got to talk with some of the writers and say, ‘You know, I feel like this . . .’ and they really got it, which is so cool. I loved the whole process. It’s so exciting. I love that the whole album really relates to me and my life.”
Two songs were special contributions from Hilary’s number one idol: her talented big sister, Haylie Duff. “Since she knows me better than anyone else in the world, Haylie wrote ‘Sweet Sixteen,’ a really fun song that totally relates to my life right now. She also came up with ‘Inner Strength’ and it’s really beautiful. Very empowering and uplifting.”
Speaking of idols, here’s what another one has to say: “Hilary is just completely a light to the world,” no less an authority than Britney Spears told Popstar! magazine. “So beautiful and so incredibly sweet. Her music is amazing . . . she should just be herself and never change.”
It’s difficult to comprehend all that Hilary Duff has accomplished in her life. Prior to Metamorphosis, Hilary had already sold 2.2 million albums, spent six weeks in the Billboard Top 10 and earned two platinum album awards. She has starred in one #1 television series, two hit movies, and has already made two more major films (20th Century Fox’s Cheaper By The Dozen with Steve Martin, and Warner Bros.’ A Cinderella Story) to be released later that year.”
Hilary’s Marketing campaigns
Hilary herself has had some major partnerships with international brands such as DKNY and Candie’s as well as being the face of the 2006 Got Milk campaign. Add to that her two perfumes and you soon start to realise that Hilary is a marketing agencies dream come true.
Where is She Now?
Hilary Duff continues to stay busy in her work life, being apart if How I Met Your Father, the spin-off of How I Met Your Mother, which will debut on Hulu. As for the Lizzie McGuire reboot we all wish to see, talks of this airing were scrapped in 2020 due to creative differences.
On March 24, 2021 Hilary Duff and husband Matthew Koma’s daughter was born, named Mae James Bair. Mae is Hilary Duff’s second child with husband Matthew Koma, following her daughter Banks. Hilary Duff also has a son Luca from her previous marriage to Mike Comrie.
Shortly after this in August 2021, Hilary Duff revealed on her Instagram Story that she had tested positive for the Delta Variant of COVID-19. She wrote “That delta… she’s a little b****. Symptoms: bad headache. No taste or smell. Sinus pressure. Brain fog. Happy to be vaxxed.”