Nearly ten years after releasing her last studio album — 2015’s “Breathe In. Breathe Out.” — Hilary Duff looked back on her early pop career, the pressures that shaped it and why she felt now was finally the right time to return to music. In a recent conversation for Variety’s “Know Their Lyrics” video series, Duff opened up about the experiences that informed her new single “Mature” and the album that will follow, describing the project as a grounded reintroduction to who she has become.
“This song is about a very brief romance that I had with an older guy,” she explained, noting that “Mature” serves as a conversation “talking to the past version of myself and looking back at that time with the maturity of a formed grown adult.” Now over a decade removed from the era that inspired the track, Duff said, “People have been following my career and having a connection, and I think I was just really ready to reintroduce myself to them.”
Her forthcoming album, “luck … or something,” set for release on February 20, 2026, takes its title from a lyric in “Adult Size Medium,” a track that questions whether she still recognizes the person she once was — including the young actress navigating the pressures of Disney stardom. Duff said the phrase reflects the curiosity she’s often met with: “How are you the normal one, and how did you escape all of these childhood stardom things?” Her answer, she noted, is a balance: “Some of it was luck, and some of it was me.”
Duff emphasized that she waited to return to music until the timing felt meaningful and authentic. “I never wanted to jump the gun and do something that didn’t totally feel right,” she said. “This moment in time and the people that I’ve surrounded myself with, it felt really right.”
This time around, Duff says her new album feels genuinely herself, a stark contrast to the uncertainty she experienced ten years ago. Looking back at the era surrounding “Breathe In. Breathe Out.,” she admitted she had not yet found the creative clarity she has now. “I’m really proud of this record, but it doesn’t feel cohesive to me,” she said candidly. “I was not really holding my own ground with knowing exactly what I was doing.” The experience left her feeling disconnected from some of the material. “When I listen to ‘Sparks’ or even watch the video, I’m like, who is that girl?” she said, though she acknowledged the song has taken on a life of its own with fans. Still, she added, “I don’t know that I would’ve ever created that song on my own.”
Despite the pressures of rising to fame in the early 2000s, Duff also looked back on the start of her music career with both affection and humor. “I think it was a combination of not entirely knowing what I was doing and also being thrilled to be a pop star,” she said of her early rise. Ironically, she hadn’t grown up singing. “I had a speech impediment when I was a kid and somebody was telling my mom, ‘put her in voice lessons,’ and my mom was like, ‘OK,’” she recalled. “I ended up loving doing the voice lessons and exercises, but I wasn’t like a singer.” It wasn’t until her love of voice lessons combined with an obsession with Britney Spears that the idea of pursuing pop music truly clicked. “I was like, well I’m also gonna be a pop star, so watch this,” she joked.
As she gears up to release new material, Duff said she was most energized by the idea of reconnecting with her original catalog. “For the first time in a really long time, like 15 years maybe,” she said, “I feel so excited to sing my old songs again.” She anticipates a different experience this time, looking forward to reinterpreting her songs in a way that resonates both personally and with the audience, evoking a sense of nostalgia. Most importantly, she finally feels she can perform them the way she wants. “To kind of do it my way now — it’s going to be a really lovely victory lap.”
Watch Variety’s Know Their Lyrics video with Hilary Duff above.
