Photo credit: Hollywood Records
9/10
Project Information:
Release Date: 07/12/05
Genre: Pop
Label: Hollywood Records
Follow Hilary Duff
Share this:
Let’s list some straight-up facts about Hilary Duff. Hilary Duff has released 16 singles in her time as a musician. Hilary Duff has released four studio albums in her time as a musician. Hilary Duff has released three separate Greatest Hits collections, her first one at the ripe age of 17.
On this day in 2005, Hilary Duff. released her single “Wake Up” from her first greatest hits collection “Most Wanted” (yes, I said ‘First’). Duff’s previous self-titled second album peaked at #2 on the US Albums chart but failed to generate any ‘buzz-worthy‘ singles. As a result, the collection was scrapped for international release.
From here there are a couple of ways to look at it. In the United States, ‘Most Wanted’ was released and marketed as a “greatest hits” collection, featuring tracks from her first album (2003’s Metamorphosis) and the aforementioned self-titled second album. Internationally, the album was marketed as her second album.
Everything kind of kicked off when Hilary began dating Joel Madden of Good Charlotte. Joel and Benji and Hilary wrote three new tracks for Hilary including
“Wake Up”, “Beat of My Heart”, and “Break My Heart”.
Everybody’s watching like it’s some kind of show
“Wake Up” is an energetic and upbeat pop-rock track that showcases Hilary Duff’s transition from her earlier pop sound (‘So Yesterday’ / ‘Come Clean’) to a more mature and edgier style that will easily translate into what comes next (‘With Love’ / ‘Play With Fire’ from her follow-up album ‘Dignity’).
The track is kind of notable because it is the first time we ever get to see into the mind of Hilary and what she is going through. Keep in mind 2005 was the peak of fame, in addition to recording new music Hilary also released two films ‘The Perfect Man’ and ‘Cheaper By The Dozen 2’. She additionally tour the album from July 2004 to April 2005 and then again from July of 2005 to September 2006 (for a total of 150 shows).
Needless to say, Hilary was at the top of all the gossip websites about who she was dating, what she was doing, and generally questioning why is Hilary so skinny. Hilary’s lyricism really hits the nail on the head with “There’s people talking, they talk about me. They know my name, they think they know everything, but they don’t know anything about me”
The song did perform respectably in the charts coming in at #29 on the US charts, #7 in the UK, #5 in Scotland/Norway/Ireland, and #2 in Italy. It was the 40th best-selling song of 2005 and the 23rd best-selling song of 2006 in Italy! The parent ‘Greatest Hits’ album peaked at #1 in the US, selling over 1,000,000 copies.
It’s also fun to see her perform this song ‘live‘ (just a side note).
Does Hilary Duff “Wake Up” Stand-Up in 2023
The answer simply is yes. Unlike tracks like ‘Fly’, ‘Wake Up’ is certainly a song that is not skipped when it comes on shuffle. That is not saying “Fly” is bad – it isn’t – but it just sounds very… 2004.
If you missed out on this release, fret not, as you have 2006’s ‘4Ever Hilary’ and 2008’s “The Best of Hilary Duff” on it’s way to you!
