Well, hello! And welcome to the next installment of “Hey, You Know What Was An Amazing Song?”
Prompted by a Muuser pointing out that I accidentally wrote “Beat Of My Heart” instead of “Beat Of My Drum” in today’s NICOLA FUCKING ROBERTS post, I immediately stood up in shock and awe upon realizing what I’d just done: GAYGASP! Of course! Hilary Duff‘s brazilliant “Beat Of My Heart”! OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD. THAT WAS SUCH AN AMAZING SONG!
“Beat Of My Heart” was one of three newly recorded songs for Duff’s 2005 greatest hits compilation, Most Wanted.
Produced and co-penned by Jason Lee “Jay E” Epperson and Benji & Joel Madden–collectively known as The Dead Executives–“Beat Of My Heart” is sort of this incredibly gleeful, impossibly earnest moment of unassuming pop that makes you believe that love is real, ponies are dancing in the streets and everything is magical. The pop princess merrily skips along atop shimmering synth waves, stupid-happy electro blips and bleeps and just the right amount of rocky guitar strumming–all of which I imagine perfectly embodied the Duff-Madden union at the time. Also: That heartbeat at the beginning? PERFECT.
The song went on to be officially released in Europe and Australia, peaking at #17 in Spain, #13 on the Australia ARIA charts and #11 on Italy’s Singles Chart. Even stateside, Duff saw some success with the song as its video managed to top MTV’s Total Request Live countdown during December of ’05. (Awwww, man! Remember TRL?! Like, why doesn’t MTV play any music anymore?! OMG. Like, HELLO. It’s called MUSIC. TELEVISION. Death of music, amirite? BRB, making a million hilarious/nostalgic Tumblr .GIFs about old MTV shows and starting Trending Topics on Twitter now because no one’s ever thought these thoughts before.)
“Beat Of My Heart” was also the final single Duff released in 2005 before the transition away from the super-squeaky clean Disney Queen image of Metamorphosis/Hilary Duff into the more mature electro-pop pulsations of 2006’s incredible “Play With Fire”–a sound that would dominate her utterly legendary 2007 release, Dignity.
Dignity, of course, was (and is) the last of newly recorded material we’ve heard from the pop princess since 2007. Like all the boys and good music in my life, Duff’s fourth studio album (which I will revisit for a proper review one day) proved to be nothing more than a major cock-tease of flawless electro-pop that promises to call you back after a really good date but then doesn’t, so you’re like okay, I guess I’ll just keep checking his Facebook for a while and texting him over and over until you realize he’s seeing some douche-tard now and–wait, what? Oh. Right.
Since 2007, the Duffmeister decided to embark on a not-so-short hiatus, shacking up with some Canadian hockey player or whatever and send out horrifying “I’m perfectly content just being married, actually” TwitPics.
Luckily her grand return to the music scene appears to be all systems go for 2011 (and not a moment too soon!), as she’s now stated in several recent interviews that she plans to return to the studio this summer to record a new “pop/rock dance”-oriented album.
Never stop, Duff. Never stop.
“Beat Of My Heart” was released in 2005. (iTunes)