hilaryduff

Hilary Duff interview with Canoe?s JAM! Music:

Hilary Duff wouldn?t call her latest album her "breakup" album.

As in, it?s not mainly about the end of her relationship with Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden, who has since hooked up with Nicole Richie.

In fact, that characterization drives the singer ? who was in Toronto yesterday promoting Dignity, which is noticeably darker in lyrics and more dance-oriented in sound ? a bit nuts.

"I hate hearing that, it?s so annoying," said Duff.

"For the first time, I (co-wrote) my record and I?m really proud of this. And, yeah, I was in a relationship for two and a half years and I?m 19, and that was a huge part of my life, so there?s definitely songs on the record about Joel.

"It?s a big mixture of things and it was just what I was feeling at the time. But nobody wants to talk about the good songs that I wrote, like Never Stop. It?s my favourite song on the record and it?s all about being in a relationship and being so happy.

"Of course, everyone wants to focus on the songs that are supposedly about his girlfriend. So it?s hurtful. I don?t have anything against Nicole Richie. I don?t know her. And I care about Joel and I want them to be happy."

Still, the title track on Dignity does frown upon the so-called "young Hollywood crowd," of which Richie is a part, with a chorus of, "Where?s your dignity? / I think you lost it in the Hollywood Hills."

"I don?t think it?s a positive thing," said Duff of behaviour ranging from panty-less outings to trips to rehabs. "People have to learn for themselves, I guess. But being in this business (brings) a responsibility to certain people, and not just young girls. Older girls look up to younger girls who are famous.

Duff, who on the track Dreamer addresses having a stalker "in a tongue-in-cheek way," said she much prefers her close relationships with family and friends.

"I don?t want that kind of (negative) attention. I guess I think it?s just kind of not real and that?s why I wrote (Dignity). I stay out of it because I don?t like it. People that party all the time, I don?t want to be around that. It?s a total game that a lot of them play. I know stories of people who call paparazzi on themselves. Who would want to do that? I don?t know, it?s just strange."

As for the bizarre head-shaving-to-rehab road that fellow pop star Britney Spears has recently travelled, Duff has a lot of empathy for her.

"I like Britney Spears. I?ve always liked her music and I think she?s really talented and I feel horrible for her. Where she lives in L.A., there?s like 40 paparazzi cars all day long, all night long. And when she leaves her house, every single one of those cars follow her.

"I would go crazy. I mean I don?t think she?s crazy, but if you could never leave your house without having that, I don?t know, I just feel for her."