Lindsay Dee Lohan wears many hats, both figuratively and literally speaking: Actress of screen and stage. Essayist. Reality TV star. Soon-to-be novelist. Model. Brexit expert. Presidential hopeful. For-na-ri-na. One third of the most iconic evening in pop culture history. And, of course, for a very brief and beautiful time, pop star.

Today (July 2) is Lindsay Lohan's 30th birthday. And with the recent confirmation of her impending, contractually obligated third studio album, it would be irresponsible to ring in this very special Lohan Holiday™ without a comprehensive look back at her short-lived yet fruitful recording career.

Despite the questionable quality of most actress-turned-singer projects, Lindsay's own foray supplied us with a string of legitimately good pop records.

Her 2004 debut Speak came at peak pop-rock era ushered in by acts like Kelly Clarkson, Evanescence, Avril Lavigne and Pink, which was not an unnatural music fit for the gravelly-voiced Disney princess, as evidenced by cuts like "First," "Symptoms of You" and the howling "Over." (Hey, if Hilary could do rock, why couldn't she?)

Better still were her early dance-pop efforts, including the criminally unknown "To Know Your Name," "Magnet" (co-written by the legendary Jimmy Harry!) "Speak" and of course, her gritty, pre-TMZ era paparazzi flip-off, "Rumors."

One year later, she went darker with A Little More Personal (Raw), recorded with Kara DioGuardi, Greg Wells and Evanescence's Ben Moody. She personally co-wrote at least seven of the songs on that (raw) album ("No, I like when people talk at the beginning of songs...I think that's kinda rad"), and tackled her volatile home life quite publicly with "Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)," which remains a devastating cry for help to this day. Mediocre attempts to cover Stevie Nicks and Cheap Trick notwithstanding, Lilo's jagged cuts like "Black Hole" and "I Live For The Day" proved that, at least briefly, she'd found her angsty pop star niche.

But just as quickly as it began, Lindsay's pop career abruptly ended. Plans for a second single from Personal were scrapped, and barring a few soundtrack offerings, a feature on the (incredibly titled) title track of her sister Aliana's holiday album Lohan Holiday, her sass-filled No. 1 Billboard US Dance Club Songs record "Bossy" (a song that once got my friend kicked out of a club for requesting too much), lots o'leaked demos, rumors of a single with Pharrell called "Playground" and a zany spoken word cameo on Duran Duran's "Danceophobia" last year, she's yet to return to the music scene fully loaded — until now, according to her anyway.

In celebration of Lilo's big day, I've put together a collection of her most essential works. Listen to the Essential Lindsay Lohan playlist below, and for more, subscribe to us on Apple Music.

Happy birthday, Lindsay.

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