I Am (Hilary Duff song)

Infobox Single
Name = I Am


Artist = Hilary Duff
from Album = Hilary Duff
B-side =
Released = 2004 (U.S.)
Format = Radio single
Recorded =
Genre = Pop rock
Length = 3:43
Label = Hollywood
Writer = Diane Warren
Producer = John Shanks
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single = "The Getaway"
(2004)
This single = "I Am"
(2004)
Next single = "Weird"
(2004)

"I Am" is a pop rock song written by Diane Warren, and produced by John Shanks for Hilary Duff's third album, "Hilary Duff" (2004). Jeff Rothschild and Shanks mixed the song, [Unknown (2004). In "Hilary Duff" [CD liner notes] . United States: Hollywood Records.] and it was one of several tracks on the album made available to request on Radio Disney in the United States. [ [http://radio.disney.go.com/speak/request.html "Speak - Request A Song"] . Radio Disney.] It is an empowerment song in which Duff lists positive and negative aspects about herself; she has said it is about being comfortable "with all those feelings ... being who you are". [ [http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/D/Duff_Hilary/ConcertReviews/2006/01/22/1406148.html "Duff inspires magic moment from young fans"] . "London Free Press". January 21 2006. Retrieved October 27 2006.] During Duff's performances of the song on her concert tour in early 2006, images of victims of the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake were shown. [Stevenson, Jane. [http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/D/Duff_Hilary/ConcertReviews/2006/01/23/1406809.html "Hilary wows young Toronto fans"] . "Toronto Sun". January 22 2006. Retrieved October 27 2006.]

German band Die Happy covered the song for their 2005 album "Bitter to Better". Their version was released as a single in late 2005 (see 2005 in music), and it reached number seventy-five on the Germany singles chart, remaining on it for six weeks. [ [http://acharts.us/performer/die_happy "Die Happy - I Am"] . aCharts.us.]

Critical reception

Critics gave "I Am" mixed reviews. Ken Barnes of "USA Today", who criticised "Hilary Duff" for the preponderance of "hackneyed self-affirmation messages", named the song the "prime offender" in conveying such messages. [Barnes, Ken. "Hilary Duff". "USA Today". October 19 2004.] "Slant" magazine's Sal Cinquemani described "I Am" as "terminally sanguine ... what Alanis Morissette might sound like if she had a lobotomy (Duff is apparently a bundle of really cheesy contradictions)." [Cinquemani, Sal. [http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=510 "Hilary Duff - "Hilary Duff"] . "Slant". Retrieved October 27 2006.]

Todd Burns of "Stylus" magazine, in a negative review of the album, compared the song favorably to Ashlee Simpson's "Autobiography" (from "Autobiography", 2004); he said "clearly a candidate for the second single, ["I Am"] is the requisite celebrity "but I'm so much more than "that" plea, but as with Simpson's "Autobiography", it works quite well as a mission statement." Burns also commented positively on the song's neighboring tracks on "Hilary Duff", writing "The triptych of "Shine", "I Am" and "The Getaway", wherein Duff goes from love-struck girl to confused young adult to independent woman is breathtaking." [Burns, Todd. [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/hilary-duff/hilary-duff.htm "Hilary Duff"] . "Stylus". September 24 2004. Retrieved October 27 2006.]

Notes