20 Years Ago, Hilary Duff Set The Blueprint For Miley Cyrus & Olivia Rodrigo
The year 2004 was a simpler time. The Simple Life dominated the airwaves, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were still together, and Hilary Duff soundtracked teens’ lives. Twenty years later, the singer’s impact is still felt, with Miley Cyrus and Olivia Rodrigo similarly following in her footsteps.
With her debut album Metamorphosis, released in 2003 while she starred on Lizzie McGuire, Duff stuck to Disney-friendly bubblegum pop and achieved mainstream success. Her hit “Come Clean” broke through to pop radio and became one of the defining songs of the early 2000s.
The success of Metamorphosis allowed Duff to make a significant — and edgier – pivot. Along with Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, and Ashlee Simpson, she became a crucial figure in the pop-rock genre with her self-тιтled sophomore effort, released on Sept. 15, 2004. She fully embraced the pop-punk atтιтude with a harder, guitar-driven sound and mature lyrics that dealt with crushes, breakups, and even death.
Singing about wannabe bad boys on “Mr. James Dean” and dramatically outlining a breakup plan on “The Getaway,” it was a far cry from the sun-kissed pop of “So Yesterday.” While Duff didn’t pull off the shocking antics of Cyrus’ 2013 Bangerz era (there was no twerking), her messy blonde locks, darker wardrobe, and evolved songcraft made a statement in 2004.
The album specifically made the genre accessible to Disney Channel stars while creating a blueprint for those young actors to shed their child-star image.
Rocking The Disney World
Once Duff left Lizzie McGuire and Cyrus became Hannah Montana in 2006, it didn’t take long for Cyrus to take up the pop-rock mantle. Her 2007 single “Start All Over,” one of her first non-Hannah songs, recalls Duff’s “Rock This World” with its electric guitar stabs and catchy hooks.
While Cyrus would pivot sonically at every turn of her career, from the electro-dance of Can’t Be Tamed to the country twang of Younger Now, she didn’t abandon Duff’s pop-rock blueprint. In fact, she doubled down on her 2020 album Plastic Hearts, with appearances from Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, and Billy Idol while keeping pop melodies and synths at the forefront.
Cyrus has acknowledged Duff’s impact on her career many times. Speaking to the star on her 2020 Instagram talk show Bright Minded, Cyrus recalled how she went to Duff’s concert at 11 years old and became inspired.
“The only reason I wanted [Hannah Montana] was so I could do whatever you did,” she told Duff. “So, really, I don’t think I gave a sh*t about being an actress or a singer. I just wanted to copy you no matter what. So I just wanted to say thank you again for just inspiring me. I would never be sitting here, being able to be a light if it wasn’t for you and you showing me how to do that.”
Duff’s Influence Carries On
Months after Cyrus released Plastic Hearts, Olivia Rodrigo was fresh off her Disney+ show, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, when she stormed the music world with her debut single, “drivers license.” Her subsequent album Sour and number one hit, “good 4 u,” proved that Rodrigo followed Duff’s post-Disney footsteps by bringing back nostalgia-inducing pop-punk.
Duff seemingly approves of Rodrigo’s craft, sharing her hit “deja vu” on her Instagram Story in 2021. While Rodrigo hasn’t directly credited Duff as an influence, Sour’s rockier tracks and her sophomore album, Guts, recall the defiant teenage angst of “Haters” and the awkward abrasiveness of “Weird.”
While Duff’s pivot paved the way for Rodrigo’s and Cyrus’ genre-bending careers, she did return to her roots with her next album, 2007’s Dignity — an underrated dance-pop masterpiece — before taking a break from music altogether to focus on acting and welcome her 12-year-old son Luca.
When she finally returned in 2015 with Breathe In. Breathe Out., it had nary a pop-rock trace. Rather, Duff kept experimenting and expanding her idea of pop, becoming one of the first artists to hop on the tropi-pop trend with “Sparks” and “My Kind,” while also showing more vulnerability on folksy confessional songs like “Brave Heart” and the тιтle track — which even Taylor Swift praised.
