For Hilary Duff fans, this week is truly what dreams are made of. After the pop princess and millennial icon, who’s most well-known for playing the main role in “Lizzie McGuire,” returned with luck… or something, her sixth studio album, but first in more than a decade on Feb. 20.
The Disney star’s first hand at tackling pop stardom was 2002’s “Santa Claus Lane,” which was on constant repeat in my bedroom when I was a tween. She got her first bit of major musical success with Metamorphosis the following year, which featured singles like “So Yesterday” and “Come Clean.” Duff continued to release music up through her fifth studio album, Breathe In. Breathe Out. in 2015, but luck… or something, feels like the singer’s first really adult album.
Throughout the mellowed out pop album, Duff is extremely self-aware and offers smart reflections on her life, which could be helped by the fact that the singer’s album was produced by her husband, Matthew Koma, who fronts the indie pop band Winnetka Bowling League and has production and songwriting credits for artists like including Carly Rae Jepsen, Zedd, Medium Build, and others). The two make a great musical team, and it shows in Duff’s confidence throughout the album, even while being super vulnerable.
Duff’s voice, which, reflecting back as an adult fan rather than a devoted child who would eat up anything the Disney Channel superstar produced, maybe wasn’t always as incredible as I thought it was as a child. But, like many things do given a bit of time, it has only gotten better. Is she Mariah Carey or Celine Dion? No, but her vocal range fits so well with the songs that Duff has crafted throughout luck… or something.
For the gossip-minded listeners, Duff addressed her rumored long-standing rift with her sister, Haylie, on “We Don’t Talk,” one of the album’s most emotional points, in which Duff sings about her desire to “have it out” with her older sister, singing that she’s “so sick of being sad about it.”
“’Cause we come from the same home, the same blood, a different combination but the same lock. People ask me how you’re doing, I wanna say amazing, but the truth is that I don’t know,” Duff sings on the song.
It’s not just Duff’s relationship with her sister that she’s dissecting in “luck… or something.” The song, “The Optimist,” is about the singer’s strained relationship with her father.
“I wish I could sleep on planes, and that my father would really love me. He’d show up on my wedding day, and tell my family they’re all so lucky. He’d tell me how he wish he’d stayed, and that he never meant to disappoint me,” Duff sings in the song’s chorus.
Later in the song, she sings about her ability to “disappear and disconnect,” and how it’s a trait that she picked up from her father.
The album gives Duff a chance to grow up in the public’s perception of her. Of course, the 38-year-old mother of four is grown up, but she’s also not been as in the public eye as she previously was over the past several years.
Now she’s reemerging, and she’s showcasing a whole different side of herself. That’s something that the singer and actress tried to do in a revival of “Lizzie McGuire” that was ultimately shelved due to creative differences between the creative team, who wanted to showcase Lizzie as an adult woman, and Disney, who wanted a “family friendly” show.
One of the biggest points of contention in the revival was the idea that Lizzie McGuire has sex—but that’s not something that Duff is shying away from, especially in “Roommates,” the second single off of the album, and a song about how the hot parts of a relationship can quickly fizzle out.
“I only want the beginning, I don’t want the end. Want the part where you say ‘God damn,’ back of the dive bar giving you head,” Duff sings on the single.
“Roommates” is one of the most sonically engaging songs on the album, with an energetic, irresistible chorus and verses that continually build up to it. It’s something that’s almost impossible not to sing along to.
Duff also sings about the act of growing up in the song aptly titled “Growing Up,” which is a fun little Easter egg for millennials, as its chorus interpolates “Dammit” by blink-182.
“And it’ll happen once again, I’ll turn to you, friend, ’cause I know you’ll understand, and you will until the end. And when everybody’s gone, they got busy and moved on, we’ll face it on our own. And I guess this is growing up,” Duff sings the remixed version of the pop punk anthem’s chorus on her own version of the song.
The song is Duff’s own anthem for celebrating chosen family, and friends who have stuck by your side for decades.
One thing that’s been really cool about the Hilary Duff renaissance that we’re seeing right now is that she’s not dismissive of the career that she built for herself as a child and teenager, like artists before her have been. She’s embracing it, and embracing the fans that have been following her career since they were kids, too, and waiting for her next move.
Duff is making music for the same tweens that were obsessed with “Lizzie McGuire” and now are thirty-somethings going through the same things as her. She’s evolved, as her listeners have as time has passed, but she’s still the same relatable singer that we all wanted to be best friends with when we were 10. It’s just now she’s relatable in a whole other way—family troubles, relationship troubles, and searching for joy while growing up.
luck… or something is out now.
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