With Love (Hilary Duff song)

"With Love"
Single by Hilary Duff
from the album Dignity
Released January 25, 2007 (2007-01-25)
Format Airplay, Mainstream
Recorded 2006
Genre Dance, electropop, electro rock
Length 3:03
Label Hollywood
Writer(s) Hilary Duff, Kara DioGuardi, Vada Nobles, Julius Diaz
Producer Vada Nobles, Logic
Hilary Duff singles chronology
"Play with Fire"
(2006)
"With Love"
(2007)
"Stranger"
(2007)

"With Love" is a song recorded by American pop singer Hilary Duff. The song was written by Duff, Kara DioGuardi, Vada Nobles and Julius Diaz, and produced by Nobles and Logic for Duff's fourth studio album, Dignity (2007). The song features heavy elements of dance music and electropop, in contrast to most of Duff's previous material, and it is a love song about a relationship in which one party appreciates criticism and advice from the other.

The single was released to U.S. radio on February 20, 2007 (see 2007 in music)[1] and as a digital download on March 13,[2] and it attracted positive comment from sources such as Billboard magazine and The New York Times. "With Love" peaked at #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 making it Duff's highest peaking single in the States.

The song is featured in the online Nexon America multiplayer dance competition game Audition Online and was used in the television commercial for it.[3] It won in the category of Choice Music: Love Song at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards.[4][5] Although, for her work on the song she received a MuchMusic Video Award, a Teen Choice Award, and was nominated for a MTV Latin America Video Music Award.

Contents

Composition

"With Love" is a moderately fast song that has a 4/4 time signature and a tempo of 120 beats per minute, and it is in the key of C minor.[6] Billboard magazine described it as "a beat-happy track that delivers a propulsive, guitar-laden, bleep-heavy hook",[7] and About.com wrote that the song comprises "[e]lectronic bleeps with hand-clapping and finger-snapping beats", Duff's "adult pop vocals" and an "attack" of a "[c]runchy, dance-rock guitar [that] underlines the hook".[8] The vocal range required for the song is E3 to C5.[6] According to Duff, the song is about having a "crazy job" but being kept "sane" by "that one person" with whom they are in a relationship, "and letting that person know that you appreciate criticism or advice because you know it comes from a place of love."[9]

Remixes

Dance music producers Richard Vission and Dave Audé, Joe Bermudez and Francis Preve, Josh Harris (under his alias "Big Woodie") and Bimbo Jones have each remixed "With Love".[10] The New York Post wrote of another remix, by Castillo, "Duff finds her dance groove on this terrific sexy slink ... Its layered production makes it the kind of track that gets better with plenty of volume and some room to shimmy-shake."[11] A hip hop remix of "With Love", the Play-N-Skillz remix, premiered on March 27 and features rapper Slim Thug;[12] it was released to U.S. radio stations on a promotional single.[13] Speaking with Complex Magazine, Thug said that he had wanted to expand his horizons with his participation in the remix:

I was at Play-n-Skillz' crib, listening to beats, smokin'. He said, "I'm doing this remix for Hilary Duff, you wanna jump on it? They got that Disney bread over there." I said, "It's done." I wrote the sh--, they picked it, and that sh-- already on TLC. Sh--, whatever, TRL I mean.[14]

Reception

Critical response

"With Love" received a positive review from Chuck Taylor of Billboard, who stated that the song "serves to reinvent the appealing singer as a boogie diva. It's a daring approach, and one that sets Hils apart from so many rhythmic acts homogenizing the pop airwaves."[7] It was also well received by Bill Lamb of About.com, who said "on "With Love", [...] style and elegance combine with an irresistible hook to make a record difficult for pop radio to ignore"; Lamb continued that the single "looks poised to break down the [pop radio] walls" for Duff and reach the top ten, and that "Duff sounds like a Kylie Minogue disciple in the making."[8] The song was ranked sixty-seventh on About.com's "Top 100 Pop Songs 2007" list.[15] A review for the UK television program Newsround called it a track that "Kylie or Madonna would love to have on their next album" and predicted that it would be a top twenty hit.[16] Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times described the song as "a tart dance track",[17] and TeenHollywood.com said it "has a Gwen-Stefani-in-a-rah-rah-skirt feel to it."[18]

Chart performance

"With Love" premiered on the Los Angeles radio station 102.7 KIIS-FM on January 25, 2007 and was released for airplay on mainstream contemporary hit radio stations on February 20.[1][19] It became the most added song to U.S. top 40 radio station playlists in mid February, and it was Duff's highest peaking song on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 radio chart since "Come Clean" (2004).[20][21] "With Love" was released as a digital download in the U.S. on March 13.[2] It debuted at number forty-two, the highest debut of the week, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in late March 2007; it sold 32,500 downloads that week.[22] In mid-April, the song reached number twenty-four and was the greatest digital sales gainer of the week with sales of 57,500.[23] Duff's highest peaking U.S. single release, "With Love" remained on the Hot 100 for nine weeks.[24][25] The song became Duff's first to top the Hot Dance Club Play chart and her first to reach the top ten on the Pop 100 chart.[21][24] It was ranked twenty-seventh on the year-end Hot Dance Club Play Tracks chart.[26] In the United Kingdom, a week before its CD single release, "With Love" debuted at number sixty on the singles chart. The song reached number twenty-nine the following week, where it peaked. It is Duff's lowest peaking single there. The single performed less well than most of Duff's previous singles in Australia, reaching number three.[25] The single has sold 1 million single worldwide . as of this , Duff has sold 55 million singles worldwide .

Music video

Background

The "With Love" music video was directed by Matthew Rolston and doubles as the television commercial for Duff's fragrance With Love... Hilary Duff.[27] It was filmed at City Hall in San Francisco.[9] Three versions of the commercial, each with a different length (fifteen, thirty and sixty seconds), entered rotation on U.S. television networks in November 2006.[27] Rolston said that he was asked to incorporate an element of intrigue and open-endedness into the commercial that could serve as a cross-reference to other facets of the With Love... Hilary Duff promotional campaign.[27] Rolston responded by including allusions to films in which "women use hair and makeup and wardrobe to change their identities", citing Vertigo (1958) and La Femme Nikita (1990) in that respect.[27] He also included a cliffhanger designed to generate discussion among young people—"It gives them something to blog about and be viral about", he said—and adult elements that would help to introduce Duff to an older audience.[27]

Synopsis

The video begins with Duff receiving a standing ovation for a performance. She goes backstage, where her entourage hands her a bag, coat and hat. A man (played by Kellan Lutz[27]) who was standing outside the auditorium follows her to a hotel. In the lobby, Duff sprays With Love... Hilary Duff perfume on her neck, reverses her coat and puts on a black wig, giving her hat to an old black man whose back is turned. Pursued by the first man, she walks up a staircase, throws the coat off the railing, tears off her white dress to reveal black, and rips off the lower half of the dress. The man smells the perfume on her coat and follows her into an elevator car, where she teases him by pulling his tie. The cables holding the elevator car break, causing it to fall down the shaft, and Duff and the man embrace, kissing passionately. The video concludes with a title card that reads, "...to be continued".

Release and reception

The music video premiered on MTV's Total Request Live on February 8, 2007. It debuted on the Total Request Live countdown the next day at number eight and reached number one on eight subsequent countdowns, eventually being "retired" from the show after forty days on the countdown.[28][29] In Canada, the video reached number one on the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown, the first video by Duff to do so.[30] For the video, Duff won the award for People's Choice: Favourite International Artist at the 2007 MuchMusic Video Awards.[31] Disney produced a separate version of the music video for airing on the Disney Channel and its online DXD service on the page for Radio Disney. This version of the video features Duff performing with her band in a studio and dancing. The video also aired on Family, in Canada.

The New York Times cited the song, music video and commercial's cross-promotion of one another as an example of corporate synergy, and Ron Rolleston, Elizabeth Arden's executive vice president for marketing in New York, called it "an interesting evolution in advertising [...] The commercial stands independently, and the music video stands on its own, and they enrich each other. That's what's cool about it [...] young people are engaged by different varieties and types of media". Rolleston said the campaign, the goal of which was to "[combine] advertising and entertainment", was "an interesting challenge [...] If video killed the radio star, advertising will save the video".[27] Entertainment Weekly called the video "femme fatale-ish" and "like Madonna's "Justify My Love" for the TRL crowd—steamy hotel assignations, wigs, etc."[32] Sharon Dastur, program director at New York City radio station Z100, said that her first reaction to the video was, "'This is exactly the kind of song she should be doing.' Hilary's more mature look completed the package. Her sound and image are a natural progression."[33]

Formats and track listings

Promotional CD+DVD single[34]
  1. "With Love" (Album version) - 3:03
  2. "With Love" (video)
US Remixes[35]
  1. "With Love" (Richard Vission vs. Dave Audé radio edit)
  2. "With Love" (Richard Vission vs. Dave Audé club mix)
  3. "With Love" (Richard Vission vs. Dave Audé instrumental)
  4. "With Love" (A. Castillo radio edit)
  5. "With Love" (A. Castillo radio instrumental)
  6. "With Love" (A. Castillo club mix)
  7. "With Love" (A. Castillo club mix instrumental)
  8. "With Love" (Big Woodie radio)
  9. "With Love" (Big Woodie club)

Europe CD

  1. With Love 3:03

Australia CD March 17, 2007

  1. With Love 3:03
  2. With Love [Richard Vission Remix] 6:08
  3. Play With Fire [Richard Vission Radio Mix] 3:10

UK CD 1 March 19, 2007

  1. With Love 3:00
  2. Play With Fire 3:00

UK CD 2 March 19, 2007

  1. With Love 3:07
  2. With Love [Houzecrushers Radio Mix] 2:51
  3. Play With Fire [Vada Mix] 3:16
UK Remixes [36]
  1. "With Love" (Houzecrushers remix)
  2. "With Love" (Bimbo Jones remix)
  3. "With Love" (Richard Vission Big Room Love mix)
  4. "With Love" (Houzecrushers dub)
  5. "With Love" (Houzecrushers radio edit)
  6. "With Love" (Bimbo Jones radio edit)
  7. "With Love" (Album version)

Charts

Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[25] 22
Dutch Single Top 100[37] 91
Canadian Hot 100[25] 16
European Hot 100[24] 46
German Singles Chart[25] 91
Italian FIMI[25] 8
Irish Singles Chart[25] 26
Spanish Singles Chart[25] 6
New Zealand Singles Chart[25] 27
UK Singles Chart[25] 29
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[25] 24
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[24] 1
U.S. Billboard Pop Songs[38] 25
Preceded by
"Automatic" by Ultra Naté
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single
May 5 – May 12, 2007
Succeeded by
"Beautiful Liar" by Beyoncé and Shakira

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog
United States February 20, 2007[1] Hollywood Records Promo single
March 13, 2007[2] Digital download
Australia March 17, 2007[39] EMI CD
United Kingdom March 19, 2007[40] EMI, Angel Music Group CD

References

  1. ^ a b c "Available for Airplay - 2007 - 2/20 Mainstream". FMQB. Retrieved July 4, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c Hollywood Records. "Hilary Duff's Single 'With Love' Available Today; Single Soars Onto Top 40 Chart". PR Newswire. March 13, 2007.
  3. ^ Nexon America Inc.. "Hilary Duff to Contribute Latest Single to Nexon America's New Dance Game". PR Newswire. April 9, 2007.
  4. ^ "Teen Choice '07". Fox Broadcasting Company. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
  5. ^ ""Pirates" Big Winner At Teen Choice". Associated Press. August 26, 2007.
  6. ^ a b "Hilary Duff Digital Sheet Music: With Love". Musicnotes.com.
  7. ^ a b Taylor, Chuck. "With Love - Hilary Duff". Billboard. Retrieved February 12, 2007.
  8. ^ a b Lamb, Bill. "Hilary Duff - With Love". About.com. Retrieved March 2, 2007.
  9. ^ a b "It's a Won-Duff-Ful Life!". tvhits. May 2007, no. 210, pg. 24–5.
  10. ^ "With Love": The Remixes. eil.com. Retrieved August 9, 2007.
  11. ^ Shen, Maxine. "MPFREES - Hilary Duff, 'With Love' (Castillo remix)". New York Post. April 3, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  12. ^ "Hilary Duff feat. Play-n-Skillz with Slim Thug "With Love" remix". mixmatters.com. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  13. ^ "With Love - US - CD-R acetate - Promo". eil.com.
  14. ^ Dryden, Richard. "// Mantras // Slim Thug". Complex Magazine.
  15. ^ Lamb, Bill. "Top 100 Pop Songs 2007". About.com. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
  16. ^ "Single review: Hilary Duff - With Love". Newsround. March 16, 2007. Retrieved March 24, 2007.
  17. ^ Sanneh, Kelefa. "Hilary Duff maintains dignity on new album". The New York Times. April 15, 2007.
  18. ^ Husband, Stuart. "Interview: Hot for Hilary". TeenHollywood.com. April 5, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  19. ^ "Hilary Duff Calls Being Single 'Kind of Exciting'". Teen People. January 26, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
  20. ^ Hollywood Records. "Top 40 Radio can't get enough of Hilary Duff; First Single 'With Love' #1 Most Added!". PR Newswire. February 21, 2007. Retrieved March 2, 2007.
  21. ^ a b "Hilary Duff - Billboard Singles". Allmusic and Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  22. ^ Hasty, Katie. "Fergie Scores Second 'Glamorous' Week At No. 1". Billboard. March 22, 2007. March 24, 2007.
  23. ^ Cohen, Jonathan. "Timbaland Soars To No. 1 After Sales Explosion". Billboard. April 12, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  24. ^ a b c d "Hilary Duff - Artist Chart History - Singles". Billboard. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Hilary Duff "With Love"". aCharts.us. Retrieved September 8, 2007.
  26. ^ "Hot Dance Club Play Tracks - With Love". Billboard. December 31, 2007.
  27. ^ a b c d e f g Elliot, Stuart. "Woman of a Scent". The New York Times. December 18, 2006. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  28. ^ "The TRL Archive - Recap - February 2007". atrl.net. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  29. ^ "The TRL Archive - Recap - May 2007". atrl.net. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  30. ^ "MuchMusic Top 30". June 8, 2007.
  31. ^ "Billy Talent Takes Home Most Hardware with Three MMVAs". CHUM Television. June 18, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  32. ^ Greenblatt, Leah. "Keep The Change?". Entertainment Weekly. March 16, 2007. Retrieved March 24, 2007.
  33. ^ Taylor, Chuck. "Duff Gets Personal On Dance-Driven New Album". Billboard. March 23, 2007. Retrieved March 24, 2007.
  34. ^ Radio Promotional CD+DVD. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
  35. ^ http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=409986
  36. ^ http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=446289
  37. ^ [1]. Dutch Charts. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
  38. ^ http://www.billboard.com/#/artist/hilary-duff/chart-history/499349?f=381&g=Singles
  39. ^ "Hilary Duff returns with Love and Dignity!
  40. ^ "With Love"