Hilary Duff has officially released her first album in over 10 years, titled “Luck … or Something.” Collaborating with her husband, producer and songwriter Matthew Koma, on all of the tracks. 

With 11 tracks and a runtime of just over 35 minutes, some deluxe versions of the album include re-recordings of Duff’s biggest 2000s hits like “What Dreams Are Made Of” and “Come Clean.”

The album itself is probably Duff’s most mature, in my opinion. It meets Duff where she’s at in life. Duff is 38 years old, has had four kids, and at her core, is a millennial. That was probably my biggest takeaway from the album: that she and her husband are proud millennials, and it shows in the album’s production.

Usually, that’s something that I would fault in an artist, but it works for Duff. She’s not trying to reginite nostalgia with this body of work, and she’s honestly pandering to the people who grew up with Duff, who are millennials. 

The lyrical content of the album is truly Duff’s most personal, and she really opens up about some heavy things that have taken place in her life. Including the mistreatment by her father in the song “The Optimist.” 

Duff had previously alluded to her father cheating on her mother on the  songs “Stranger” and “Gypsy Woman” on her 2007 album “Dignity.” 

In a 2007 interview with Access Hollywood, Duff made it clear that it was about her father. 

“I made it seem like this was a relationship that I was in, but it’s actually about my parents and about their relationship,” Duff said. 

The song talks about carrying unresolved hurt from an absent or emotionally distant father, wishing for the love and validation that never came, while trying to stay hopeful despite the pain.

With Lyrics like “I wish I could sleep on planes / And that my father would really love me,” it was clear that Duff still very much carries pain from the strained relationship with her father. 

Another song that talks about family estrangement is “We Don’t Talk,” Which Duff confirmed in a CBS interview 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,” Duff Said. 

Overall, these two songs alone really make the album, and provide some perspective into Duff’s life that was never there in her earlier music. 

Another common theme on the album is her fear of uncertainty, on tracks like “Future Tripping” and “Tell Me That It Won’t Happen.”  

I think the most prolific proclamation of this, and the song I probably related to the most, was “Holiday Party.” 

Duff talks about spiraling with jealousy and insecurity, imagining betrayal that hasn’t happened, and feeling consumed by anxious thoughts in a relationship.

I was able to relate to this as a 21-year-old who gets jealous and insecure quite frequently. 

Other standouts on the album were the first single, “Mature,” where, in an interview on Jake Shane’s podcast “Therapuss,” Duff reflected on everything she went through in that song. 

“Yeah, with ‘Mature,’ it’s a really fun song and I feel like it’s my [older] self talking to my younger self about an experience that we had and just reflecting on it and, um, being okay with it and having like, you know, a little like tongue-in-cheek moment with yourself, um, and like accepting your past and, um, like, being good with where you landed,” Duff said.

“Adult-Sized Medium” wraps the album up in a bow. It’s about looking back on your wild, carefree youth and struggling with how time has changed you, wondering who you are now and whether you still recognize yourself in the life you’ve built. 

It also finally addresses the album title “Luck … Or Something,” with that being the final lyric of the whole album.

I think for taking over ten years off, getting remarried, and having three more kids, this is a very good showing. Duff isn’t pandering to a younger audience; she’s not trying to gain new fans. She made this for the millennials who grew up watching Lizzie McGuire, and playing with a Tamagotchi, and with a sold-out 53-show world tour, Duff is proving that she is still a force to be reckoned with 21 years after Lizzie McGuire left our screens.

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