Music video: Hilary Duff sees "Sparks" and a pay cheque from Tinder

"Sparks" is not just a comeback for Hilary, but also producers Bloodshy & Avant, whose names were once prominent in the liner notes of many top 10 charting pop stars, having briefly been notable names in J and K-Pop following their work with BoA ("Eat you up" & "Did ya") and also Crystal Kay ("It's a crime"). But they have since channelled their focuses into their own acts Galantis and Amason. So it's great to have them back. Even if it's only for a short while and their work for Hilary has them on auto-pilot for 3 minutes and 6 seconds.

"Sparks" is pretty tame by Bloodshy & Avant's standards. The duo are not strangers to bending a rule or two with their productions and throwing in some flourishes which are unique and almost signature unto themselves. But they completely side step all of that with this song. The focus is placed firmly on the bass-line and the whistles which carry the chorus. This is no bad thing. A key part of being a good producer is knowing when enough is enough, and if they were to have done any more than they already had to "Sparks" it would have been too much. I guess the Bloodshy & Avant fan in me was hoping that they would deliver something a bit more electric, but "Sparks" is still a good 'un.

Hilary herself doesn't add much to the song, if anything at all. Taylor Swift, Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus could have sung this song and I would not have liked it any more or less. I could also take an instrumental of "Sparks" and would not miss her vocals. But as far as pop songs go in Hilary's repertoire, it's definitely one of her better straight shooting efforts. It's just a shame that her image is forced and completely misaligned in the music video. Although it's much preferred to the original version of the music video which was nothing more than a Tinder commercial. A move that was so unashamed and disconnected, that fans caused enough of an uproar to force Hilary to release a video void of her get her Tinder pay cheque.