So Yesterday

Hilary Duff was still finding her musical footing when she dropped "So Yesterday" in July 2003. Coming off the modest success of her debut album Santa Claus Lane, she needed a song that would signal she was more than just a Disney Channel star. The Matrix, the production trio who had just helped launch Avril Lavigne, delivered exactly that. Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards, and Scott Spock crafted a pop rock track built around a chugging guitar riff and a chorus designed to stick. Duff sings about an ex-boyfriend who is "so yesterday", a phrase that would become a catchphrase for dismissing anything outdated.

The single peaked at number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100, but its real impact was felt internationally. It hit number two in Canada, number six in Ireland, and cracked the top ten in the UK and Australia, where it went platinum. The music video, directed by Chris Applebaum, showed a mischievous side of Duff as she superglued her ex's credit card to a table and filled his car with popcorn. It became a regular on MTV's TRL and helped establish Duff as a bona fide pop star.

Critics were split. Billboard praised her "surprisingly assured vocal delivery," while Rolling Stone dismissed it as a castoff from Lavigne's Let Go. But the song's staying power is undeniable, it's been covered by bands like First to Eleven and remains a defining track of the early 2000s teen pop rock wave. The song even earned a Radio Disney Music Award nomination in the delightfully specific category "Best Song to Listen to While Getting Ready for School."[edit]