Hilary Duff Tries to Maintain Her Dignity

Here's an interview where Hilary talks about a lot of things that i'm sure that you wanna know.

Topics include the title song from Dignity, her new CD, and how
much the tune is, and isn’t, about scolding misbehaving celebrities; the disc’s
jacket photo, in which its name is superimposed over a photo of Duff looking
like genuine royalty, as opposed to the kind that gets slimed on Nickelodeon’s
Kids Choice Awards; how songs about her parents breakup have been wrongly
assumed to be comments on the Madden-Richie match; her contributions to
Dignity’s songwriting, and her contention that the co-writing credits she
receives are fully earned; her fragrance and clothing lines; her resistance to
being seen as a brand as opposed to a human being; and War Inc., her forthcoming
movie, which actually sounds like something people will fully functioning brains
might want to see.

Westword (Michael Roberts): There’s been a
lot of talk about the title and the cover of your new CD, Dignity. Some people
have interpreted it as a comment about other pop stars and celebrities who came
into the spotlight around the same time you did. Has that been misinterpreted?
Or was that what you were going for?

Hilary
Duff: You know what? When I wrote the song, it wasn’t like… It’s funny.
I’d never really sat down and written a whole record before, like I did with
this one. And I took a lot of time off, where I wasn’t working on a million
other things while I was making the record, like I had done in the past. I was
spending a lot of time in Los Angeles and just kind of enjoying my time off and
seeing what came up and what experiences I had – for writing, you know. And I
think living in L.A. in general is really what that song is about. Yeah, maybe
it’s a little bit about celebrities and young people who run in the same genre
of work that I’m in. It is kind of a judgmental song. I’m really not that much
of a judgmental person. I’m not, like, bashing anyone in particular. But
definitely it’s a song questioning people’s dignity and what they think is okay
and what’s not okay, and the way Los Angeles is very superficial. That’s what
that song is about. And it’s not necessarily just celebrities. It’s people that
live there that think money can get you anything you want, and you think you
have the authority because you have money, and you’re treating people
disrespectfully. It’s about all of that, so I’d say it’s not necessarily
completely aimed at just celebrities.

WW:
Still, the image on the CD’s jacket: There’s a difference between the way you
present yourself there and the way we see fill-in-the-blank celebrity on TMZ.com
and Entertainment Tonight. Was that a message you were sending? Be dignified.
Don’t be the way a lot of people are being presented these days?

HD: On the cover of my record?

WW: Yeah.

HD: You mean the
picture?

WW: The picture, yes.

HD: I don’t know. I think it’s a very classy looking
picture. I just liked that it was my face, and it’s just me. It’s pretty much
like… I don’t know. The record was so personal for me. The record cover is a big
closeup of my face. So it’s not like I have no clothes on or I’m trying to do
something really edgy or provocative. It’s just me.

WW:
So for you, it wasn’t so much that you were trying to say with that photo,
“Everyone should be dignified as this,” or “I’m going to be dignified even if
other celebrities aren’t going to be.” It was more, “This is the real me.”

HD: Yeah. It’s not about anybody else. It’s my record
and I would not ever want to try and make someone like me or say this is how you
should be. I’m just saying this is how I am and this is how I want to be.

WW: It’s a very serious image, and there are some
series themes on the CD. But there are also a lot of lighthearted moments. Is
that something you want people to know – that it’s not only a somber record, but
an entertaining one as well?

HD: It’s funny. When I
have done some interviews in the past where people were like, “Explain this
song, and explain this song.” Well, all the songs are pretty serious. All the
subject matter is pretty personal. I had a pretty tough year last year, so, of
course, when you’re writing a record, the only things to write about are the
things you feel the most, you know? But even though it is serious, and the
subject matter, some of it is pretty deep, the music isn’t. The music is fun.
It’s like a total dance record. No matter what, you feel like moving and dancing
when you hear it. But when you listen to the words, it means something.

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