Hilary Duff

So yes, it was a teen scream fest last night at the Van Andel Arena as thousands of girls and their moms came out to see multi-media pop sensation Hilary Duff and her band in performance. I'm not at all sure that there's serious interest among readers of this blog on the artistic merits or cultural significance of Ms. Duff's efforts, but I'll carry on and let you decide if you want to follow me all the way to the end.



Basically, what we had here was a live incarnation of the Disney Channel's slick and shiny esthetics, purveying a safe, manageable and professionally delivered entertainment package that catered flawlessly to the desires of both parents and children as all parties involved have found their way to a common vibe, wavelength, sensibility, whatever you want to call it. Hilary, as you may know, established her reputation over the course of several seasons playing the character of "Lizzie McGuire" on a TV show (and later, a movie) of the same name. She's recently branched into other movie roles (most recent release being "The Perfect Man" which I haven't seen, nor do I plan to) and obviously, the pop music arena as well. She has released two albums on her own and has a third set for release next month (which everyone in the arena was reminded of a few times by her onstage, and numerous posters advertising the release, titled "Most Wanted", displayed around the arena.) She also has an older sister, Haylie, who's also in the entertainment biz, most notably in the role of Summer Wheatley in "Napoleon Dynamite," so I'm a bit predisposed to think favorably about the Duff clan.

She's had a bit of success, charting the single "So Yesterday" as her most prominent hit. Though her overall sales and notoriety haven't approached that of previous teen stars like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera, I'm willing to venture that Hilary will have a longer career than Britney, at least. She has chosen to stay closer to the clean image that makes her a family-friendly (but not hopelessly square) entertainer. I think that will play out better and generate much less backlash than what we saw happen with Spears and Aguilera. Duff's role model appears to be Mandy Moore, who was a contemporary of Britney and Christina, but who's moved on to become more of an actor and less of an object of interest to gossip columnists and tabloid photographers.

Musically speaking, it was a well-paced, crisp, toe-tapping affair that put the emphasis on Duff's still-squeaky and fairly thin but serviceable vocal talents. The girl does seem like a real teenager, even though she's fabulously cute and on her way to becoming super-model beautiful. I was able to get a few glimpses of her on stage, and from what I saw, she's not much of a dancer. She mostly stood still or ran from one spot on the stage to another, occasionally kicking her long thin legs a bit but otherwise, not presenting much of a challenge to her choreographer or the guys tracking her on the video cameras that put her image where the audience was used to seeing it: on screen. I don't even think she indulged in a wardrobe change either - she had the same red-and-white striped shirt and black pants on from the middle of the concert until the end. The most impressive feature of the stage show was a really big electronic video backdrop that produced a wide variety of images, light patterns and even a cascade of falling "Matrix" figures on one of her songs that I saw (I didn't get the connection though!)

Duff's lyrical messages are nothing all that complex - mostly the kinds of dilemmas familiar to teenage girls, from what I could make out. Fine, that's what she's about, and I can respect that! There was a bit of a girl power message, and some clear intentions on her part (and presumably her fans) to be taken seriously on terms that they can understand. Her last song before the "So Yesterday" obligatory encore, was "Rock This World" (at least, that was the chorus) and the very last song she performed was "Girls Can Rock" - so it's obviously important to her that we recognize that Hilary Duff rocks! OK, I'll agree - she rocks!

And back to the audience for a minute before I wrap up - I would guesstimate that the gender balance was probably 15 females for every 1 male, and just about all of those were either dads or brothers. I don't recall seeing any groups of just guys, as I might imagine could be drawn to a Britney or Christina show. The theme of the night was "Girls Night Out" and it was pretty cute to see all the moms'n'daughters make their way to the concession stand. Many of the girls were grade-schoolers, almost all were dressed up to some degree or another, and there was a lot of excitement in their faces in anticipation of seeing a girl who's been a role model and steady presence in their lives for several years now, growing up right along with them on TV.

And if you've ever heard the phrase "Mommy Hottest," well, the Arena last night was a pretty lively example of what that's all about! Hilary Duff definitely draws an attractive audience, of all ages!

So while it would be easy for me to take a more condescending approach to what could be considered a shallow, plasticized and predictably safe mass entertainment product put forth by the Svengali's managing Duff's career (and profiting handsomely along the way,) I will give more benefit of the doubt and give her an overall PoMoXian thumbs-up for spreading a little warmth and sunshine to a loveable bunch of kids who were, after all, much better behaved and focused on having a fun time than most of the audiences I serve in my capacity of concession-vendor at the Van Andel Arena!