Superficial is the debut studio album by American television personality and singer Heidi Montag.

Montag rose to fame on the MTV reality television series The Hills, and despite lacking the backing of a major record label, embarked on her music career in 2007.

She enlisted a number of notable writers and producers for the project, which is a pop album with lyrics that discuss topics including love, partying, and her reputation.

The album has retrospectively received more positive reviews, with many critics suggesting that Montag's public image unfairly overshadowed the music.

[2] A 15th anniversary edition was announced on social media and made digitally available for pre-order with a release date on January 11, 2025, including remixes and recordings from the original sessions that didn’t make the track list.

Around this time, Montag and her family's home was destroyed by the Palisades Fire in 2025 and was shown on many news outlets.

The original version of the album, the single "Superficial", and a later remix of "I'll Do It" featuring Pitbull, all remained at number one for some time on the main iTunes Store charts in several countries.

A digital reissue entitled Superficial 2: Heidiwood Edition was surprise released on January 24, 2025, and supplements the original track listing with 12 completely new recordings, including the single "Prototype".

[10][11] She cited artists such as Britney Spears and Janet Jackson as her main musical influences, claiming they made her want to be a pop star.

[18] Montag sought after writers and producers that had worked with big-name artists at the time, stating "I really just wanted that right sound, so I set the bar high.

[32] Montag recorded a track titled "Blackout" for the album that was written by Dennis and Taylor Momsen.

[33] Momsen claimed that she had written the song when she was only eight, and Dennis had made changes to the lyrics before allowing Montag to record it.

[9] Montag stated throughout the album's production that her goal was to achieve a "fun, empowering mix that you could really dance to.

[9] Montag cited her husband, whom she married during the album's production, as her inspiration when selecting the love songs.

[9] "Hey Boy" is an upbeat song that makes use of electric guitar, with Montag telling a man that he's "not the one" for her.

[9] Having similar themes as "My Parade", this song sees Montag telling the listener they can "love it or leave it".

[42] In 2008, a rough cut of "One More Drink" leaked online; the finished version had additional production work.

[57] Montag and Pratt made a video for the song featuring footage from their life the past few years, releasing it in April 2010.

[citation needed] Montag later confirmed the album's final title as Superficial, inspired by "the world [she lives] in" and her public perception.

The Channel Magazine also gave the album a negative review, more specifically the lyrical content, writing "Montag sings about these ideas: how hard it is to handle the paparazzi, how she turns heads everywhere she goes, and how she ignores those that rain on her parade.

"[65] Grace Carroll of Gigwise gave the album a negative review in 2013, comparing Montag to a "low budget Britney Spears wannabe" and commenting "Heidi's empty, dead-behind-the-eyes vocals manage to stick the pin into every inflated balloon of a track.

In fact, there are some points when you can barely hear Heidi's breathy words over busy beats and sporadic whooshing sounds.

"[39] In a more positive review, LGBT themed website Homorazzi praised "Fanatic", the title track, and "More Is More" as standout songs on the album.

[68] Bradley Stern with MuuMuse described the album as "fun", and listed several songs from the project as "guilty pleasures.

"[72] Sam Lansky of Idolator wrote an article in 2012 "in defense" of the album, claiming it was "good in the way that the best trash-pop always is, the songs that you dance to in the darkened cloisters of a nightclub not knowing who's singing".

In 2023, a sped-up version of "I'll Do It" went viral on TikTok, being used in thousands of videos on the platform and climbing to five million plays on Spotify by February.

[82] The positive reception of the album a little less than a decade and a half later inspired Montag to release several of her older songs from the vault.