Hilary Duff’s ‘Metamorphosis’ Turns 20

The 2003 charmer still feels as fresh as if it were released (so) yesterday.

As with so many pioneers, Hilary Duff doesn’t get enough credit for blazing trails. Nowadays, it seems obvious that any telegenic young TV star can transition into music. (Sure, you had Annette Funicello, Christina Aguilera, and Britney Spears, but their shows were already focused on music.) So every Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande owes a cosmic debt to Duff, who wrote the modern blueprint for how it’s done. (Although if the world were truly fair, even more credit would go to iconic foremother Raven-Symoné. And maybe a sympathy vote for Lindsay Lohan for this bop.)

Leading the early-aughts tween tsunami thanks to her endearing star turn as the one and only Lizzie McGuire, Duff dipped her toe into music with her 2002 album, Santa Claus Lane, a sort of holiday answer to the spiky-pop she-rock revolution Avril Lavigne had kick-started a few months earlier with her debut album, Let Go. But Duff really broke through with her second album, released August 26, 2003.

Metamorphosis may have stung critics like a bee, but it floated like a butterfly with fans, topping the Billboard album chart and eventually selling more than 5 million copies worldwide. A charming and vibrant capsule of the era, Metamorphosis is the kind of underrated gem that may have seemed disposable at the time, but in retrospect showcases the care that went into crafting a set for a specific star that feels age-appropriate, organic, and even adventurous. Somebody call Gordo, and let’s give it a relisten.

Coming hard for Lavigne’s crown, Duff kicks off the album with a kiss-off track so powerful and crunchy, it boggles the mind to realize it only reached No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100. (At least it went to No. 2 in Lavigne’s native Canada.) Written and produced by the mightier-than-Neo production team the Matrix with an assist by Charlie Midnight, “So Yesterday” is the ultimate anthem for someone exiting a relationship that, in retrospect, isn’t worth crying over. A song about maturely accepting heartbreak and disappointment by moving on with clear-eyed wisdom may not be something you’d expect from a 15-year-old, but it works, and damn if it doesn’t still hit hard today.

And here comes the monster hit that helped define the era for millennials — “Come Clean” may have risen to only No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it received ubiquitous radio, MTV, and cultural play, including serving as the theme song for the iconic Laguna Beach. A dramatic pop-rock power ballad about stripping yourself down to your deepest emotional truths so that you can be reborn for a fresh beginning — young Hilary was going through it, apparently — the song also featured a popular video meant to showcase a more mature depiction of Duff, emoting from inside her house while a storm pours outside. If you were a certain age during this era, the opening notes have been ingrained into your DNA.

Alternating between world-weary diva (“Some days I start off dragging my feet,” our songbird laments) and anthemic shouting (“Hey, hey!”), Duff shows on this track one of the reasons the album is so fascinating. Duff seems to be more interested in a rougher sound that reflects more of a complicated worldview than most pop songs, including the sugar-rush confections many of those who followed in her musical footsteps released. Just check out her iconic spoken word interlude: “It’s hard enough to be what you are/and harder to be what you’re not/hard to know what you need to get/harder to know what you’ve got.” That’s deep, baby!

Things get a little psychedelic as Duff snarls, sneers, and smiles through some impressively twisty lyrics on this jam that’s way more complex than anything you’d expect from teen-pop offerings then or now. Something of a spiritual granddaughter to Madonna’s 1999 hit “Beautiful Stranger,” this uptempo song is so punchy and fun, it’s surprising it hasn’t caught on as a karaoke favorite or TikTok cover yet — you can hear its scream-and-smile-along potential just bursting to be rediscovered.

The drama builds on this dark jam as Duff shares all her relatable foibles — and her surprise that they haven’t driven away a wonderful new love interest. This is another song that, as enjoyable as it is in its present form, could really draw some modern-day attention with a more mature voice performing it with a spare arrangement. (Not to get too wild here, but this has wedding-song potential if the right artist reinterpreted it.) This song is a testament to how thoughtfully Duff and her team assembled this album to ensure that it seems like both a true reflection of the artist as she was and how she’d like to be — that perfect relatable/aspirational sweet spot that we all look to pop stars to provide.

While not inspired by Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman — at least, we don’t think so — this cut feels like a fun summer road trip song, best listened to with the windows rolled down and every passenger singing along at the top of their lungs. Listened to on its own now, it’s pleasant and well put together but largely forgettable. While a likable vocalist, Duff has never had the type of pipes that can take charge of a song and lift it up, so the relatively straightforward nature of this tune doesn’t give her much to spark from. Still, as far as album tracks go, it’s a nice addition.

An enduring anthem trumpeting the need for more women in STEM masquerading as a clever “be my equal, and treat me respectfully or go away” jam, this rockin’ little number was obviously fun to write and sing. Filled with smart mathematical wordplay and an irresistible staccato delivery, this could have been a dark horse single in a different part of the Hilaryverse. All jokes aside, this would actually be a really fun track for the Foo Fighters to tear into, and here’s hoping they do. (Duff and Dave Grohl have collaborated before!)

The strain shows a little here as what could have been a soft, soaring ballad gets weighed down by awkward lyrics and the limitations of Duff’s sweet but thin voice. It’s still lovely, and she achieves a nice balance the further into the song you get, but the bones of a better song are so visible, it’s a little frustrating that this is where they stopped. This had the potential to be as airily beautiful as Kelly Clarkson’s 2004 version of the Avril Lavigne-penned “Breakaway” — and even sounds like it a little — but it just needs a more delicate touch and a stronger vocal. Maybe a duet could heal the tragic Lavigne/Duff rift at long last?

Co-penned by big sister Haylie Duff, this upbeat bop worked its way deeper into the cultural consciousness far beyond its appearance on this album because it was the theme for MTV’s uber-popular My Super Sweet 16. Running for 10 seasons over 12 years, this reality show made waves around the world — and let’s hope it helped further line the pockets of both members of the House of Duff. (The world would soon get to enjoy the sisters dueting on Go-Go’s and Madonna covers.) To anyone over the age of 16 — both then and now — it might be harder to make a case for this being much more than pleasurable fluff, but sometimes that’s what hits the musical spot.

Further adding to the surprising depth of the adult talent pool working on creating this album, this rock-flecked cut was co-written and produced by the baddest “Bitch” of all, Meredith Brooks. It’s thanks to that true matriarch of rock craftsmanship that the song works as well as it does, but it’s impossible not to feel that this version is giving a “little girl playing rocker dress-up” vibe. Forgive me, Mother Duff, but I have to say it: Sounding like a wild kissing cousin to 2001’s “Get the Party Started” by Pink, “Party Up” would not only have been a better song if that popstress had recorded it, but it also probably would have been a huge chart hit.

Duff earned her only songwriting credit on the set with this jangly ode to her own ongoing transformations and growth. With just a sprinkling of 1995’s “My Love Is for Real” by Paula Abdul and 1994’s “Confide in Me” by Kylie Minogue in the musical mix, this track hints at the future direction Duff’s musical career would take with her best-reviewed album, 2007’s Dignity, which positioned her to become America’s next dance music goddess. (In a just world, songs like “Play With Fire” and “With Love” would have made that a reality. Thankfully, her epic moves live on.)

Haylie Duff solely penned this incredibly spare number that clocks in at just over a minute and a half. Somewhere between a ballad and spoken word, it has the potential to feel like filler, but somehow it doesn’t. Maybe it’s the combination of the lyrics, which definitely feel like something written by an earnest teenage sister with the best of intentions to inspire, and Duff’s straightforward, unaffected vocal, but this may truly have been the most direct, honest pop music recording in 2003 — and maybe even beyond. It’s charming, poignant, and another sign that this album is something a little different and more substantial than most other music aimed at younger audiences at the time.

Included as a bonus track, this song originally appeared in a slightly different form as the lead single of The Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack, which went on to sell more than 2 million copies in the U.S. alone. (The movie, which served as a series finale for the TV show, made more than $55 million worldwide and earned Duff coveted Kids’ Choice and Teen Choice awards.) In addition to empowering those who dress in yellow to be brave enough to dare to dress in gold, this upbeat anthem is all big pop hooks and rushing-forward charm and proves to be something of a “snack cake” song to end the album — hardly groundbreaking or unforgettable, but sweet and satisfying enough to make you want more of that wonderful Hilary Duff.

Jonathan Riggs is a freelance writer and former managing editor of the LGBTQ+ lifestyle magazine Instinct.

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