Hilary Duff

Even when Hilary Duff is at her most un-Lizzie McGuire-like, it's impossible not to like her, as she proves on this reinvention-themed, girl-grows-up album. Free her from the constraints of the teen-queen slumber party scene and she'll crank up the guitars and "Fly," as she does on the feel-good first single; give her a minute to reflect on life as a multi-hyphenate (in her case TV princess-movie star-pop goddess) and she'll come clean with "Underneath This Smile," an introspective winner not lacking--and yet not reaching--for sunshine, or "Who's That Girl," an unapologetic embrace of self-contradiction. Songwriters Diane Warren ("I Am") and Charlie Midnight, whose contributions to Duff's last album don't seem so yesterday as yet, pitch in, as does Hilary's star-in-her-own-right sister Haylie (the boyfriend-blasting "Mr. James Dean"). If there's evidence of the mixed-up lovable kook millions of teens once modeled themselves after here, it is only in the title: Hilary Duff may be the follow-up to the 5 million-selling Metamorphosis, but the real metamorphosis for Miss Duff takes place here. --Tammy La Gorce

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