Hilary Duff’s new 2026 album luck… or something is here – and her social media team has been working OVERTIME to get the Lizzie McGuire actress front and centre for its release alongside the Lucky Me World Tour. It clearly WORKED, because she is ALL OVER THE INTERNET. Here’s why Capsule’s Vivien Beduya is obsessed with the Hilary Duff renaissance.
Hey now, hey now, Hilary Duff is making music again AND included New Zealand in her Lucky Me World Tour?! This IS what dreams are of!
In recent years, millennials have turned some of Hilary’s most iconic tv moments into social media trends: travellers recreating The Lizzie McGuire Movie scenes when they go to Rome, and creators dancing to her viral With Love dance choreography – where she’s giving nothing but everything at the same time. She’s clearly been missed, and still so loved by a generation who grew up with her.
Life as a Child Star
I was probably a little too young to relate to Lizzie McGuire’s middle school drama (it premiered when I was five?!), but it didn’t stop me from LOVING her dorky yet confident, girl-next-door persona. A Cinderella Story (sidenote: she was 15 and Chad Michael Murray was 21?!?), The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Cheaper by the Dozen are still part of my slate of comfort watches. Hit songs like Why Not, So Yesterday, Come Clean and Fly are forever seared into my brain.
As far as Hollywood child stars go, Hilary Duff avoided the major pitfalls many child stars faced at the peak of their careers – which, as she told Alex Cooper on Call Her Daddy, she attributes to her upbringing. She lovingly recalls a time she sassed her mum for confiscating her phone when she was 18, and her mum was absolutely not having it.
Hilary still admits it was a difficult industry to grow up in, and now gives her younger self some credit for how she navigated it. She also mentions therapy as a helpful tool to process as difficult memories from her life come up.
Her Comeback Album
Hilary Duff never completely disappeared from the limelight. She starred on Younger, How I Met Your Father and guest starred on Gossip Girl season 3. Her last album Breathe In. Breathe Out. was released a decade ago, with some fans believing she was done with music. So when she announced she was making music again, it comes as no surprise that it made the millennials FROTH.
In her new album, luck… or something, she co-wrote 11 tracks alongside her husband Matthew Koma – making this album her most personal creative work yet. A reflection of estranged family relationships, marriage and abandonment, listeners see a more vulnerable side of the child star, drawing from what life has been like for her in the past decade.
Roommates is about craving for that honeymoon phase again while experiencing a lull in a long-term relationship. In Mature, she talks to her younger self about the power imbalance of dating a much older man – staying compassionate and ultimately glad about where they both landed. Her intrusive thoughts run wild in Holiday Party, unpacking her insecurities around infidelity even when in a loving relationship.
The Optimist is about her fraught relationship with her father – keeping the door open for him without needing an apology. It’s quite a heartbreaking track, really, when you really tune in to the lyrics. We Don’t Talk is about her sister Haylie Duff, which she confirmed on a CBS Mornings interview: “[It’s] just absolutely the most lonely part of my existence, is not having my sister in my life at the moment.”
While things do get heavy in the record, it is pop music after all, and her light, melodic and distinct tone provides some levity.
Making Music for HERSELF
When Roommates dropped, Hilary wasn’t immune to some backlash as some listeners took issue with its references to masturbation and porn.
On Call Her Daddy, she recalled the most outrageous comment, someone asking if she’d let her kids listen to this.
“I’m not making music for my kids … or 7 year olds, I’m making music for myself and I’m making music for people like myself.”
You tell ‘em, Hilary – your hardcore fandom’s got you.
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