More Than This Provincial Life is a feature at YA Indulgences where I share non blogging or book related things. Generally this feature will focus on movies, music, tv shows, etc. Anything not book or blogging related basically. 🙂
You all knew this was an inevitable post right? I mean, I’ve clearly given enough warning on Twitter about my Hilary Duff obsession. Of course, none of you knew until you saw me going insane over Hilary’s new music this past month. But I did mention that snippet of “Sparks” in a past post and then the full song in another.
Not that any of you needed a warning? Right? Right? Wrong?? Well then.
Maybe I should give a little preface about this Hilary Duff addiction so you all aren’t shell shocked. 😉
It all started with
Which is just a no-brainer. Am I right? I am! I’ll spare you all the details about how when I was seven and eight I totally thought it’d be so cool to be 13 and how awesome life would be when I was that age…
Oh my gosh, I just discovered I was actually around her age in this series! What in the world? How did I not know this? I was ten when this premiered. That’s kind of close to seven….
And I was 13 when it ended! Go figure.
Moving on!
Yeah, nothing very interesting happened to me in middle school! Like, at all! The only vaguely interesting thing that ever happened to me was when like, a ‘friend” put nail glue all over the room!
She got us in trouble, we didn’t get to go to the school party (in the gym) and like, I took the fall for her because she guilt tripped me! So yeah, the highlight of my eighth grade year did not involve meeting Aaron Carter.
Or dating Frankie Muniz,
And it certainly didn’t involve getting mistaken for an Italian popstar.
This also was not the highlight of my 8th grade summer.
My life was pretty much like this:
Just singing into a brush (not well, I might add).
But never mind about me and my life! This post is about HILARY. Let me just point out the foreshadowing between her singing at the beginning of the Lizzie Mcguire movie and then ending up with the, well, the picture of her with the purple lights.
After Lizzie Mcguire, I fell in love with Cadet Kelly! This was one of my most anticipated Disney Channel movies EVER. I remember being so excited about seeing the clothes (in a wardrobe background snippet) they would use in the movie. Haha. 🙂 <3
This inevitably lead to me falling in love with her music! Metamorphosis being the first album<3 “So Yesterday”, “Come Clean”, and “Why Not” hit me first, being her three most successful songs. A little later I got hooked on “Sweet Sixteen” and “Metamorphosis”.
In high school, after watching A Cinderella Story, I fell in love with Anywhere But Here. Finally, “Where Did I Go Right”, “Workin’ It Out” and “Little Voice” got me. As for the others? Er, I have to admit I still haven’t really listened to them (The Math, Love Just Is, Party Up and Inner Strength). Oh well!
Then I self-titled album came out which I really listened to in high school and fell in love with Who’s That Girl, Dangerous To Know and The Getaway which all hit so close to home for me. I found them very relatable, I’d replay them a lot<3. I was into Fly, Jericho and Someone’s Watching Over Me after watching Raise Your Voice. I fell out with her after that album though and missed the greatness that was Dignity.
In between all that, Hilary was in A Cinderella Story and The Perfect Man. Oh, A Cinderella Story<3 I had a giant replicated (I’m guessing) movie poster on my bedroom door for years! I loved that movie. A Cinderelal Story made me fall in love with “Now You Know”. It, once again, hit very close to home Now You Know is not on anyalbum! Which is a crime, I don’t even think the one in the movie. I think that was sung by Kara Dioguardi. . .
This past year I discovered Hilary in The Perfect Man which I watched. Every. Single. Time it came on HBO/Starz (one of the two). Literally. Every single time. Multiple times a day. I love that movie. SHE’S A BLOGGER IN THE MOVIE. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? AND IT’S LIKE YOU’VE GOT MAIL. I JUST LOVE IT.
Then a month or two ago I discovered I had the movie on one of those compilation dvds, but never watched it when I bought that. Last year. Oops.
Now, you’re probably asking “Amber, why are you so enthusiastic about Hilary Duff?” Well, clearly I love her. Obviously. And…
BECAUSE MY DEAR FRIENDS/FOLLOWERS/FIRST TIME READERS (HI! DON’T LEAVE!), SHE CAME OUT WITH THIS:
This is what I would like to call, the album of summer.
Seriously.
Now I will go into detail about each and every single song! YAY!
Sparks:
I was not completely sold on this song when I first heard it. However, it’s grown on me! It’s grown on me quite a bit. I love the whistling part and it makes me sad that I am without that capability. I cannot whistle, thus, I cannot do the whistle parts. Sad day.
You can promise castles, treasures, babies,
I don’t care
’cause for now you’re just enough for me
I want you near.
Like a fairytale to feel your breath right on my neck,
you remember what I love so baby take me back.
My Kind:
Screw teams, I want to meet “one of my kind”.
Think you’re one of my kind, You’re one of my kind
One In A Million:
That chorus guys, hear that chorus! It freaking slays.
I’m one in a million (million, million, million) I’m one in a million (million, million, million) And you’re going down without me You’re wishing you had someone like me I’m one in a million (million, million, million)
Confetti:
This is the song that almost sent me over, it really did. I almost died. I blame the
“You happened and I tripped headfirst,
your heaven is a place on earth”
Belinda Carlisle sample of sorts she used there! That was just, ugh, amazing! I freaked out.
And the first verse. And the chorus. This is one of my favorites.
Breathe In Breathe Out:
And this is the song that completely unraveled me, which you can see from my above tweets. Ha!
This song needs to just smash this summer.
It reminds me of The One That Got Away by Katy Perry and Someone by Kelly Clarkson.
In other words, it’s so so so lovely.
No more rain or shine,
well I guess this is goodbye,
I made a top ten list
of all the things I missed
your lying eyes and lips,
they didn’t make it
and when I’m cold at night
I know that I’ll survive,
but until I feel alright,
I’m going to fake it.
Breathe in. Breathe out…
I seriously almost cried and I was just like “Oh my gosh, she’s here!” But I didn’t! Because that’s weird. . .
Lies:
It is just pop hit after pop hit for the first seven songs. Seriously.
We’re falling apart, we’re falling apart
like a house of cards
and I know in my heart,
I know in my heart,
that this has gone too far
I’m done with your
lies, la-la-la-lies,
lies, la-la-la-lies
I’m done with your
lies, la-la-la-lies
<3
Arms Around A Memory:
This is in my top three favorite songs for this album. Which is more like top five. Which is actually more like top SEVEN. This album is a pop goldmine!
You’re reaching for a hand that’s in the past. . .
So will you remember to forget me?
You can’t put your arms around a memory.
A memory. . .
Slay slay slay.
Is she not perfection? She IS!
Stay In Love:
This is the third song to really click with me. I love the first verse of it so much. The chorus is pretty great too.
Remember when I said I’d die for you?
Every single day pretend it’s true.
Remember when I said I’d die for you?
Holding on just for the weekend.
…
X Marks the spot where we left our hearts
and x marks the spot where we fell apart. <3
I love the short phrases that the verses take. They’re seriously some of my favorite lines of the album.
Passion washed away,
fake it, fate today,
please give up and just say goodbye.
Brave Heart:
I find this song just super inspirational. <3
Gotta let go even though I’m scared to death,
out here alone but I’ve still got one thing left,
I’ve got a brave heart, I’ve got a brave heart,
I’ve got a brave heart…
This is where her album takes a bit of a folky sound which was a jarring change in the beginning, but it’s definitely grown on me. I don’t think it’s such a huge “leap” anymore from her previous sound. It goes great with the “Breathe In.” “Breathe Out.” of the album.
Tattoo:
Look at this amazing acoustic performance! It tears me apart! APART.
And I know,
you’re under my skin running in my bloodstream. These scars are the way that you loved me. I guess that you had to leave a tattoo on my skin running in my bloodstream, These scars are the way that you loved me I guess that you had to leave a tattoo to remind me.
This is one of the songs that just really makes me want to write more like I used to. Oh! I made this comment on Twitter and I’m going to say it on here, if you have watched Friday Night Lights and seen Lyla and Tim’s relationship of sorts, do you think this song is very relative to them? I don’t know if it’s the folky sound or the lyrics, but it just screams “LYLA AND TIM” to me. Someone please watch and confirm me.<3
Picture This:
I just really love this song.
t’s not how I pictured this,
it’s better than it but we regret the things we said. Picture it getting better than this,
let it live inside our head,
let our hearts cross the line, it’s time I pictured this, it’s better than it, let’s leave it where we’ll both be missed
Night Like This:
This song FINALLY clicked with me the other day. For the longest time (you know, a whole WEEK), I was just not into it. Then after I kept regularly visiting this Hilary Duff thread on Popjustice (go on there!), I discovered someone listing out some lyrics and saying how they liked them. After realizing how the lyrics were, I fell in love. Hard.
[Hilary Duff:] It’s so hard to get a cab in midnight on Friday [Kendall Schmidt:] Where you going? [Hilary Duff:] Downtown [Kendall Schmidt:] So am I Sit right here where it’s dry And if said you’re going my way [Hilary Duff:] Well maybe we should share a ride
<3 I love love love this song now. It’s really a great album closer and before I was just like “Eh” and now I’m like “YES, MY SUMMER ANTHEM, I WANT THIS TO HAPPEN FOR ME.”.
Cause anything can happen on a night like this,
a night like this.
Our hands fit just the right way,
our legs tangled up in the small place
the world outside feels far away
as I get to know you.
So that is the regular album for you! I LOVE IT SO MUCH THAT I WILL RANK MY TOP SEVEN FAVORITE SONGS FOR YOU.
1. Breathe In. Breathe Out.
2. Stay In Love
3. Arms Around A Memory
4. Confetti
5. Night Like This
6. One In A Million
7. Lies
<3 I JUST LOVE ALL THE SONGS. HERE ARE THE BONUS TRACKS NOW.
Belong:
Cause we’re the young, brave hearted ones And we can leave our story like nothing ever told Until we taste our glory, we’ll bare our skin and bones This is our territory, it’s all we’ve ever known We’re right where we belong
. . .
When was the last time you did something for the first time? When was the first time you did something for the last time? Let’s find a million things that we could do the first time You never know, oh, this could be the last time.
And this is the second most inspirational song on the album. I will admit that the “hey, hey, hey, hey” part reminds me of What Dreams Are Made Of (The song with Hilary & purple lights above!) #NotComplaining.
Rebel Hearts:
Let me just say that I love all the “heart” references! There are at least three and I freaking love it so so so so so so so much.
We’ve got those rebel hearts.
<3
And here is my third most inspirational song. Such a shame they’re only on the deluxe version, I know! “Amber! How did you not buy the deluxe version?” It’s only available at Target and I bought mine online!
I suppose this is it for my blog post. Moral of this post?
GO LISTEN TO BREATHE IN. BREATHE OUT. AND THEN BUY IT AND THEN FLAIL WITH ME ABOUT IT.
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