The past six months have been major for Hilary Duff fans who, for ten years, have longed for new music from the millennial pop-culture icon, culminating in the release of her sixth studio album, ‘luck… or something’, this week.
Her time away from the studio saw the star on the verge of a return to her iconic role as Lizzie McGuire in a since-shelved revival of the namesake show, so when on September 9 Duff posted about “new music… or something” on Instagram, along with snaps of her working on tracks with her husband and collaborator Matthew Koma (Shania Twain, Britney Spears), the shockwaves through the ‘Why Not?’ singer’s fan base were seismic.
Following news that Duff had signed with Atlantic Records for her latest release, she dropped lead single ‘Mature’ in November; an autobiographical insight into an age-gap relationship that sees Duff comparing herself to someone ‘a little like me but younger‘, through her own eyes 20 years later. Among the strongest tracks on the record, it not only introduces the crisp, slick, sophisticated pop sound that characterises her latest work, but also nods towards Duff’s thematic palate this time around: personal reflections on love, loss, insecurity and hope.
‘I’m a seasoned apologist / For the people who I love‘ is Duff’s opening statement on ‘Weather For Tennis’, the album’s first cut and latest single which touches on how how family dynamics in her formative years affected her adult relationships: ‘Keep the peace / ‘Cause I’m a kid of divorce / And you’re the starter of wars.’
Familial ties run through the core of ‘luck… or something’; ‘‘Cause we come from the same home, the same blood / A different combination, but the same lock‘ she sings over an interpolation of Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ on ‘We Don’t Talk’, a heart-tugging, mid-tempo plea to her sister Haylie to make contact, while ‘The Optimist’ sees her candidly admit: ‘I wish I could sleep on planes / And that my father would really love me.‘
The consequence is a deep-set fear of abandonment: ‘I’m worried about / Shit that hasn’t happened / Entertaining every doubt / Oh, here I go again…‘ she admits on bubbly pop cut ‘Future Tripping’, before revealing such fears on the aptly-titled ‘Tell Me That Won’t Happen’: ‘Are we eighty years proof? / Are we really immune? / Will I want something new? / Will you want something new?‘
Sonically, Duff has never been more authentic, while paying homage to the artists that have shaped her sound; she references blink-182‘s ‘Dammit’, a throwback to her formative years, on ‘Growing Up’, nods to Taylor Swift‘s ‘Anti-Hero’ on AC hit ‘Roommates’, and shouts out her own escapism soundtrack on ‘You, From The Honeymoon’: ‘Let’s drink too much put on The Japanese House / It’ll help us forget what we were bitching about.‘
It culminates in ‘Adult Size Medium’, on which Duff ruminates on the past four decades and derives the title to a record that its unquestionably the strongest of her 25-year career to date and earned her one of the most impressive comebacks in years: ‘I remember it all / And I remember nothing / How did we get here? / Was it luck… or something?‘
