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Metamorphosis

by Hilary Duff

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She may have played a teenaged girl mistaken for a pop star in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, but after releasing a Christmas album in 2002, and crooning two songs on the movie’s soundtrack, Hilary Duff looks like she means business. The only trouble is, she doesn’t sound like it. Although dubbing her first album Metamorphosis, the disc is anything but. Her singing is as coy and kittenish as her on-screen persona and she mugs her way through most of the 13 songs with charm and aplomb, but little natural singing talent. But to her credit, the actress has managed to cover a multitude of vocal sins by hiring a team of crack producers, who double her voice whenever possible, giving many of the tracks the rather anthemic feel of a cheerleading squad. The best songs on the disc are the three masterminded by the Matrix, the same production team that oversaw Avril Lavigne's hit disc and they give the lissome actress’s singing some attitude and grit, like on the infectious and spectacularly bratty "So Yesterday," and the cleverly conceived "Math," complete with heavy metal guitar riffs. But Duff is not inhabiting that saucy jailbait territory staked by Britney Spears. At the ripe old age sixteen, she’s much more Barbies than bustiers. --Jaan Uhelszki