Millennial icon Hilary Duff is back with new music for the first time in more than a decade. Her new album, “luck… or something,” that she produced with her husband, is available now.
Duff’s been lighting up social media — and bringing fans a much-needed dose of early 2000s nostalgia — since kicking off her first headlining tour in 18 years last month.
Before stepping onstage, Duff jokingly told “CBS Mornings” that she looks in the mirror and tells herself, “You’re a bad b****. You got this.”
Stepping out of Lizzie McGuire’s shadow
In 2001, the TV series “Lizzie McGuire” made Duff the Disney Channel’s original “it girl.” Two years later, when she was just 15 years old, her studio album “Metamorphosis” skyrocketed to number one. But it wasn’t easy to step out of Lizzie McGuire’s shadow.
“I think only something that I’ve come to realize in my thirties, once I went through my uncomfortable phase of not wanting to be associated with [Lizzie McGuire] anymore, was like, oh, it’s just complicated to play a role on TV that doesn’t ever grow up,” she said.
When it comes to childhood fame, there’s no rule book. It can be isolating at times, Duff admits — but she found her way through it.
“And now I don’t care at all. And I am so overwhelmingly grateful for that experience. But it was really challenging to get to a point of peace with that,” she added.
While she continued acting, Duff took time away from music and touring.
“I started to build my life and put my focus where I felt loved and seen for me,” said Duff, a mom of four, adding that she’s most proud of her family.
She met her husband, musician and producer Matthew Koma, during the making of her last album in 2015. Duff’s new album, “luck… or something” is also their baby.
Duff responds to rumors about old flame in “Mature”
“There’s a lot of themes of abandonment on the record,” Duff said. “And to make songs about that with [Koma] and just have him further understand kind of my scars was really nice.”
In her new song “Mature,” Duff sings about a relationship with an older man, who fans are convinced is Leonardo DiCaprio, and she’s keeping them guessing.
“I have had so much fun watching the internet stir about this,” Duff said, laughing. “There is no way I can say yes or no. It’s too much fun.”
In a recent interview with Glamour, Duff confirmed it was about her own cross-generational relationship.
“It was very brief with someone older than me, and that was not illegal, but inappropriate when you have this much time removed from it,” she told the magazine.
Duff confronts family strains in new album
In her song “The Optimist,” Duff explores her relationship with her dad.
“I think it’s really challenging for one person to have major success in a family,” she said. “In ‘The Optimist,’ that’s what it feels like for me. And I’m sure it has to feel like that for him. Although I’m the kid. And it’s been hard to get back to a place of health.”
Duff also laments a ruptured family relationship in the song “We Don’t Talk,” which she confirmed is about her older sister, Haylie.
“It’s definitely about my sister. And just absolutely the most lonely part of my existence is not having my sister in my life at the moment,” she said.
She isn’t sure what her sister will think of the song, but she said she wanted to put it on the record “because it’s [her] truth.”
“I don’t know if she’ll hear it. I don’t know how she’ll react to it. You know, it is a really personal part of my life that doesn’t get to stay personal. So I might as well say how it is for me, and that’s all I’m trying to do. I’m not trying to say anything bad. It’s literally just my experience — and that’s really all I feel like sharing,” Duff added.
