Lindsay Lohan

In 2004, Lohan had two lead roles. The first, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, earned a domestic box office total of $29 million, with Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo commenting that it was "well above expectations as it was strictly for young girls." The film overall, however, did not meet with critical acclaim. Robert K. Elder of Metromix wrote that, "though still a promising star, Lohan will have to do a little penance before she's forgiven for Confessions."
The teen comedy Mean Girls was Lohan's first movie independent of Disney. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $129 million worldwide and, according to Brandon Gray, "cementing her status as the new teen movie queen," while Steve Rhodes wrote that "Lohan dazzles us once more. The smartly written script is a perfect match for her intelligent brand of comedy." Lohan received four awards at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards for Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, including Breakout Movie Star. Mean Girls also earned her two awards at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, Best Female Performance and Best On-Screen Team along with several other cast members.
Lohan, then 17, became the youngest host of the MTV Movie Awards in 2004. Following Mean Girls, which was scripted by Tina Fey and featured several alumni of Saturday Night Live, Lohan hosted the show three times between 2004 and 2006, as well as hosting the 2006 World Music Awards.
Speak, Lohan's début album, was released in December 2004, peaking at number four on the Billboard 200 and earning Platinum certification by early 2005. Lohan cowrote six of the twelve songs on the album. The album was praised by Linda McGee of RTÉ, who awarded it 4 out of 5 stars and commented that "Speak opens with all the raw emotion and teenage angst that you'd expect from an artist of Lohan's age," and that, "while her vocals are not sensational, their gritty edge keeps Lohan more than afloat throughout this album" as well as comparing the album to the early music of Avril Lavigne. Allmusic, however, awarded it 2 out of 5 stars and claimed the album "feels more like a byproduct of an overdriven, overamplified celebrity culture than an actual album." Though primarily a pop album, Speak was introduced with the single "Rumors." Described by Rolling Stone as "a bass-heavy, angry club anthem," "Rumors" details Lohan's complaints with the paparazzi and eventually earned a Gold certification in the United States.