# 59: Hilary Duff - Holiday

Hilary Duff is the perfect example of how good Disney can be, if they like you enough.

Hilary shot to fame as Lizzie McGuirre and later branched off to a massive music career, but she did it waaaaay better than Miley. She had a very distinct pop/rock and a bit of techno here and there(Beat Of My Heart..?) for her first few albums and she was making good music. Not exactly huge hits, but the songs were good.

Then she made a huge leap to all this dance stuff, which kind of matched her voice, it removed a bit of the childish voice she has, and the songs were strong, they could've all been singles.

So this year, we got a GH collection from her. What that collection came Holiday, one of my favorite songs this year. Holiday is the perfect cross between her old Disney pop sound and her new dance-y sound. And her voice is in top condition here, which I'm really pleased to see.

New Music!

What's been going on these past few days? Quite a lot, actually.

• The new Christina Aguilera album is out, but the only track I'm really addicted to is Keeps Gettin' Better. Oh well.
• The new Hilary Duff album is out as well, and I'm seriously loving Holiday! It's the perfect combination of her old, teen pop sound and her new dance sound(ala-Dignity). Brilliant! Plus, the melody's just amazing, so that's an even bigger plus!
• The new Beyonce album is also out, and it includes a track called Halo. Simon Cowell wanted it for Leona Lewis, but she was too busy to record it. The song sounds very generic, any R&B artist can sing it, but I can't imagine Leona singing it. There are some parts in Beyonce's vocal that I hear hints of JoJo in it, and the song would really, really fit JoJo's voice. Maybe she can record something that sounds like Halo for her new album?
• It's Mariah week on The X Factor. I wonder how Daniel will murder another song for the fifth week in a row and not get eliminated. I'm excited to see what JLS and Rachel did, but Diana couldn't perform! I hope she gets well soon, but she did get in to next weeks show, which is good! Eep!
• WHEN will I ever get to hear the new Same Difference single in full? It's driving me nuts!
• Archuleta's album is out as well. I don't like it, but I don't hate it. Sounds like a pathetic excuse for an album. Seriously? Right now I'm confused as to who Archuleta really is as a singer. I loved him during the early stages of AI, so why didn't I hear anything like that on his album? I wonder how Cook's album turns out.
• Well, Taylor Swift's new album is out this week! I'll be continuing The Countdown to Fearless sometime today or tomorrow. I've got homework! Gar.
• There's a new Deluxe Edition of Alicia Keys' album, but I haven't had the chance to listen to the new tracks yet. Will do in the next few days..
• Strange. The Popjustice X Factor Playsheet hasn't been posted yet, and the show already aired. I wonder why.. 
• It's been out for ages already(I've seen it like a million times..), but the trailer for Westlife's new DVD(shot in front of 80 THOUSAND PEOPLE! Practically the pinnacle of their career) is amazing! Out on November 24! Eep!

• I've adored Bayje since I heard about her(can you believe I actually thought this was a JoJo song? That's what one of my favorite blogs said..), and I really, really adore this song! Have I mentioned that it's got a brilliant middle-8? Brilliant, sounds very Ne-yo - ish with a JoJo edge.

New Music...

So after even more back-to-back releases and the battle of the Girl Groups coming to a close this week, let's catch up on all the new music that's been circulating around the internet these past few days, shall we?

• Well, the version of Hero by the X Factor top 12 that they performed on the results show last Saturday was released earlier this week. It's actually not that bad, although Diana could've sung more, like in the live performance but all in all, it's a not bad version. If I was in the UK, I'd buy the single!
• Britannia High premiered last Sunday in the UK, and I'm slowly getting addicted! It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, and I'm loving the song Lauren and Claudine sang right after the principal asked Lauren if she was gonna give up or carry on with the whole thing. Lemme guess, the title is You Just Wait(or something to that effect..). I just hope it's on the soundtrack!
• Carrie Underwood has a new Christmas EP out and I love it. I'm particularly adoring the arrangement on her version of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, but one every song, her voice is just flawless and really, really smooth. Amazing stuff!
• Taylor Swift has a new song out called You're Not Sorry. The song is strong, it's got a nice melody but the album cover is just all messed up, she looks nothing like herself and her feet look huge in the picture!
• Another David A. song is out in HQ, Angels. I haven't had the chance to listen to it yet, but I'll get to doing it sometime this week. EDIT: I've only realized now that the song is the Robbie Williams cover he did for Idol Gives Back week. Garr, and here I was thinking it was an original. OK cover, but not so hot about him recording a song he did on Idol.
• And the new Hilary Duff song, Reach Out, is also out in HQ. When I heard it in medium quality, it was so-so, but now it's kind of growing on me. It sounds a lot like a cross between Girls Aloud song back in 2003, The Saturdays' Set Me Off and something else, though. That something else it at the very tip of my tongue, but I just can't put my finger on it, garr. I've heard it before but I can't remember!
• I'm loving Amy Pearson right now. After one of my favorite blogs posted about her, I dug up her album from my collection(another one of those albums that I have but never listened to) and played it form start to finish. I love the album, she's like a cross between Stacie Orrico and Christina Aguilera, both vocally and stylistically.
• Westlife's Miss You Nights was covered by an American boyband(thanks to It's About Music) recently and it's not that bad. Still not as amazing as the original(with Shane's flawless, smooth vocals), but good enough. I just hope that if they become successful with that song, it doesn't become another FWW(Flying Without Wings, Ruben of AI 2 stole the song, then murdered it, but it was still a hit in the US..)..
• Ever since the Carrie Underwood Christmas EP came out, I've been looking around for classic Christmas songs with arrangements are gorgeous as hers but I can't seem to find any. Any suggestions?
• And finally, the new Take That video is out, I love the song but the video reminds me too much of Westlife's Fool Again! Still, the song is amazing, when can we get it in HQ? Gar.

I can just die and go to heaven!

OK, a lot of new music has come out from my absence... let's get this rolling! I have a video to edit and homework to do!

• The new Hilary Duff song is very, interesting. Less of the heavy dance and more of the pop she used to do, but you can sense in the song that it's an older, more mature Hilary. I personally don't like it that much, but it might grow on me with time!
• I ADORE the b-side to the Sugababes' 'Girls' better than the single itself. BUT, listening to 'Girls' and then 'Don't Look Back' is very cool. After the weight of 'Girls', with all the sampling, heavy instrumentation and compressed vocals, it's a nice balance to hear 'Don't Look Back'. This just goes to show that they thought about this single. Amazing!
• Popjustice put up a clip of Same Difference's new song earlier today and may I just say, IT'S AMAZING!!! Let's just put it this way, the last time I heard pop like this, or even remotely like this, was last year, when the Sugababes released 'About U Now', but nothing as sugary-sweet as this. It's almost or certainly HSM-level pop, and by today's industry standards, it's a heck of a lot of pop.
• And finally, Craig David's new song is proving to be one of my favorites this year. It's a lot like 'Forever', but let's face it, Craig David does R&B better. I mean, 'Forever' is, and always will be an amazing song, but Chris Brown lacks the consistency Craig David has had. I mean, 'Fill Me In' was and is still his best song for me, 'What's You Flava' showed everybody that he was versatile without loosing his style, 'Unbelievable' is a strong ballad-ish song and 'This is the Girl' grew on me. I'd give Chris Brown a few more years, and a few more 'Forever'-ish songs and the comparison will be equal but for now, I still think Craig David has the advantage. Plus, the song is DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS, and it has those standard Craig David verses before kicking into an amazing, addictive chorus. Genius.

Well, I'll post more when I get some more new music... so watch out!!