I never understood the revived interest in Hilary Duff.
The star of TV’s “Lizzie McGuire” and “Younger” had had a minimal pop career, but it was over 15 years ago. Her most recent album was released in 2005.
Suddenly, Atlantic Records thought the 38 year old would make a huge comeback. They signed her to an album deal and a docuseries was announced.
Last week, Duff’s new album, “Luck…or Something” debuted and sold a respectable 78,000 downloads/CDs/stream equivalents. But no single track took off. And to be realistic, the album didn’t sound so good.
Well, the other shoe has dropped. Atlantic didn’t turn in numbers for the second week of sales to hitsdailydouble. On Luminate, you can see why. Physical sales dropped 94%, and all sales including streaming dropped 88%.
“Luck…or something” sold just 4,100 copies (downloads/CDs) and 10,300 including streaming. Radio ignored the album. Song sales were actually just 406.
That first week, the “Lizzie McGuire” fans came through with nostalgic excitement. But there was nothing more to back “Luck” up.
What happened? The album wasn’t very good, there was no buzz. The first two songs had lyrics about cunnilingus. Radio is modern, but not that modern. The only “going down” is to the corner store.’
The whole deal was a little strange, anyway. Atlantic jettisoned most of their staff and brought in new, hip people who were going to revive the famed legacy of the Erteguns, and even Jason Flom, Craig Kallman, and Julie Greenwald. They have a big hit with Bruno Mars, but he was there from long ago. With Duff, there was no there there.
Next up for Duff is a major tour that includes two nights at Madison Square Garden in August. Sales are decent if only because only half the venue is being sold. They might have been smarter to put her in Radio City Music Hall for a sellout. But no one asked for opinions.
