--- description: The actress-singer's fifth LP will satisfy pop fans who don’t know the meaning of “guilty pleasure” title: Review: Hilary Duff's 'Breathe In. Breathe Out.' Is Mindless Pop Fun image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf330dac65f796e20/69885491cd1bba5a276fbd0e/hilaryduff.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Review: Hilary Duff's _Breathe In. Breathe Out._ Is Mindless Pop Fun  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 16, 2015 4:44 PM CUT  Hilary Duff, Breathe In. Breathe Out. Hilary Duff, Breathe In. Breathe Out.  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 16, 2015 4:44 PM CUT If you’re still wrapping your head around the idea of Hilary Duff as a pop star—why else hasn’t her flirty new single ([and shameless Tinder ad](http://time.com/3858673/hilary-duff-sparks-video-tinder/ "undefined")) [“Sparks”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpPXpHx9jO4 "undefined") lit up the Hot 100?—you’re about one decade and 15 million sold records behind the times. It’s been eight years since Duff released the underrated _Dignity_, which completed her [metamorphosis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphosis%5F%28Hilary%5FDuff%5Falbum%29 "undefined") from Disney star to grown-up diva and presciently signaled America’s incoming love-affair with dance music. Don’t sweat it if you stopped paying attention once you outgrew _Lizzie McGuire_, though—the 27-year-old with not one but _two_ greatest-hits compilations to her name picks up wherever you left her on her new album. _Breathe In. Breathe Out_, her fifth LP, splits the difference between contemporary club-bangers and mid-2000s pop that’s aged better than Duff or anybody else could have imagined. (“Come Clean” is _so_ not [so yesterday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt6PVVr4B04 "undefined"), as she [recently demonstrated](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7fMlj8nico "undefined").) A few days after another famous Hillary kicked off her campaign to take over America, Duff is [getting ready to do something, too](https://youtu.be/0uY7gLZDmn4?t=1m33s "undefined"): try and win the support of the masses with unabashed, least-common-denominator pop that won’t take no for an answer. Duff makes her ambition known a few ways. First, she ditched the folkier sounds of her [first few comeback attempts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj6MjDFD1Kw "undefined") in favor of more on-trend electro-pop. (R.I.P. [“All About You,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA1ZmHibs4w "undefined") now relegated to special-edition bonus track.) Second, she logged studio time with “Habits (Stay High”) singer Tove Lo, one of Sweden’s [sharpest songwriters](http://time.com/3341444/tove-lo-queen-of-the-clouds-album/ "undefined"), who co-penned three tracks here. The only way Duff’s hunger could have been more obvious is if she booked sessions with the now-ubiquitous Sia, but she probably knows those massive anthems are starting to get a little tired; also, nobody really wants those from Duff, anyway. If the high-energy, ballad-free _Breathe In. Breathe Out_ is going to get anybody hyperventilating, it’ll be the pop nuts who don’t know the meaning of “guilty pleasure”—the same listeners who worship at the altar of Kylie Minogue. The tunes themselves are as binge-able as [her charming new TV show _Younger_](http://time.com/3757144/hilary-duff-younger-new-album-interview/ "undefined"), but they’re also the equivalent of empty calories. After you’ve downed them all, you might look back and think, _what did I just do_? These songs don’t break any musical ground, and they require a few listens to crystallize: “My Kind” takes a page from [Gwen ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uo9oy-Eqo4 "undefined")[Stefani’s solo comeback](http://time.com/3524409/gwen-stefani-baby-dont-lie/ "undefined"), while the way “Confetti” quotes Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 hit “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” will only hasten [the Carly Rae Jepsen comparisons](http://time.com/3731717/carly-rae-jepsen-new-album-i-really-like-you/ "undefined"). The albumdoesn’t hide Duff’s vocal limitations, either, but _Breathe In. Breathe Out._ does poke holes in the notion that she’s just a vessel for corporate robo-pop. Duff’s at her best when she takes her own advice and slows it down just enough to catch her breath. Picture her taking one step closer to the listener for the half-whispered “Arms Around a Memory,” or suppressing a smirk on the deserving title track, a modern “I Will Survive” that more than makes up for its pesky punctuation. Sure, these could be anyone else’s songs. But when Duff hits her stride, you won’t be thinking about anybody else. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3921155/hilary-duff-breathe-in-breathe-out-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3921155/hilary-duff-breathe-in-breathe-out-review/"},"headline":"Review: Hilary Duff's Breathe In. Breathe Out. 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