After launching her third studio album Hilary Duff (2004), she experienced an eventful personal life, including a stalking incident, her parents getting divorced and her breakup with her boyfriend Joel Madden after two years of dating.

Consequently, Duff assumed an integral position in its production, co-writing almost every track with longtime collaborator Kara DioGuardi instead of her previously-limited involvement.

In contrast to the pop-rock themes of her prior releases, Dignity takes on more of a dance and electropop sound, which she said was not her intention while writing the album.

The album reached the top ten in several countries and was certified Gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

[1][2] The album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, and its commercial performance was still successful: it exited the chart after 33 weeks and sold 1.8 million copies in the United States.

In October 2006, she and her boyfriend at the time, Joel Madden of punk rock band Good Charlotte, claimed that they were being stalked by Russian emigre Maksim Miakovsky and his roommate, paparazzo David Joseph Klein.

[13] She said that she knew from the beginning that she wanted to write the album with the assistance of songwriter and producer Kara DioGuardi, due to their previous work history on songs such as "Come Clean" and "Fly".

[23][24] The album's photography was done by Andrew Macpherson, in which a "newly brunette Duff wears grown-up black leather and diamonds," in line with its theme of "reinvention".

"[15] When asked by Westword if the artwork is a comment on how other celebrities should present themselves in the media, Duff stated: "The record cover is a big closeup of my face.

"[26] Its artwork for the Japanese release was done by Leslie Kee, who captured her youthful appearance and "sexy" side as she transitioned into adulthood.

"[28] On the day of the album's release, April 3, MTV began airing the two-part documentary special, Hilary Duff: This Is Now.

The documentary followed Duff as she prepared for the release of Dignity by attending photoshoots, interviews, wardrobe fittings, rehearsals and a trip to Europe.

[29] In addition, Duff hosted Total Request Live for the week of March 26, made several appearances at retail outlets and on television, and was given massive online coverage on MySpace and Yahoo!.

"[30] Entertainment Weekly described Duff's new look as comprising "dark mane, dental veneers, luxe and vampy fashions".

[32] The Associated Press wrote that Duff's more provocative image would help her singles to garner mainstream radio play.

"Play with Fire" was released as the first single on August 21, 2006 which Duff considered to be a "tease" of Dignity's musical sound.

During the tour, Duff premiered a new song, "Reach Out", which was originally intended to be featured on a planned re-release of Dignity.

[17] About.com gave the album four out of five stars, called Duff "as likeable as ever" and praised the songwriting and production contributions of Richard Vission and will.i.am.

The review claimed similarities between Dignity and Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006), noting that Duff was musically fashionable but not a trendsetter.

[15] Entertainment Weekly noted that Duff's break-up with Madden brought out her personality, which the magazine felt was lacking in her previous work.

"[19] The Guardian praised Duff's decision to opt for a more electronic dance sound as opposed to the teen pop of her previous work, despite the questionable marketability.

[18] Billboard called Duff's decision to make a dance-pop album daring, considering the unpopularity of the genre at the time.

"[46] Sputnikmusic felt that Duff's vocal performance on Dignity was indistinctive, but they also praised the songwriting on the album and said that it had a "fair bit of replay value".

[48] The debut was lower than those of Duff's previous albums, each of which entered at either number one or two with opening week sales of around 200,000 copies.

[49] Billboard wrote that Duff's "continued evolution in sound and image ... may have resulted in her losing some of her much younger fans.

[52] Dignity broke Duff's streak of consecutive number-one debuts in Canada, entering the albums chart at number three with 20,000 copies sold.

[53] In response, Duff said she "couldn't be happier" and felt lucky that Dignity sold the amount it did, noting the state of the marketplace and the moderate sales figures for other albums that week.