Embed from Getty Images
Hilary Duff’s first album in 11 years, luck… or something drops today, Friday, February 20. In the lead up we’ve heard two singles, “Mature” and “Roommates,” both of which showcase an older, more mature Hilary. She also made a successful return to the stage last month with her intimate “Small Rooms, Big Nerves” tour as well as a weekend-long residency in Las Vegas this past weekend. Ahead of the album’s release, Hilary did a big profile with Glamour where she talked about her comeback, gossip culture today vs back in the early 2000s, and the more personal lyrics in her new album. Mandy Moore is also quoted in it, talking about their friendship. It’s a good read, and here are some highlights.
Why now for a musical comeback: “I just felt really ready to share. One, I wanted to stretch creatively, and two, I wanted to make something that I could connect with people again on the level of who I am now. I felt like people have definitely gone through some of the similar large strokes that I have in the past 10 to 15 years.”
On being portrayed her as the ‘good girl’ in the 2000s: “I’ll say that I didn’t ever feel ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ and it was funny that I was flagged as the good girl because of what people saw me doing on TV or that I wasn’t overtly sexual. I was a totally normal teenager doing normal teenager things…I think it’s a very known thing that if a woman is successful, let’s tear her down. It’s a very isolating industry.”
Gossip culture today: “Everybody didn’t have a platform back then, and now one person can go viral with one thought that they had.”
Mandy Moore on her friendship with Hilary: “I feel exceedingly lucky that my kids happen to spend time with people that I feel like our values are aligned with. The friends that I’ve made since becoming a parent are some of the deeper, more surprising friendships I’ve found as an adult…She’s such an incredible talent and such an incredible mother. Seeing the way that she balances her life is really inspiring to me.”
The tea on who her single ‘Mature’ is about: “[I]f I wanted to say who, I would. It’s definitely about a relationship that I had. It was very brief with someone older than me, and that was not illegal, but inappropriate when you have this much time removed from it. Everybody speculates, but I’m not sure they got it right…. I think that it’s super nuanced and it’s hard to defend certain things that have happened in my life. But the one thing that I’ll say is, working as an adult since I was 10 years old, it’s very hard to have relationships with people your own age.”
Writing songs about her family: “That’s my family. Those are the people that affect you the most, take up the most space naturally as a human who’s born into something. Just because you’re born into a family doesn’t mean that it always stays together. You can only control your side and your street…. I’ve had a very complicated life, and my parents had a very complicated thing. I know it’s not rare, and I think it goes back to the theme of, Why share now? I guess I just felt ready.”
Hilary and her older sister Haylie Duff have been estranged for years, and Haylie took Ashley Tisdale’s side in last month’s mom group drama. The song “We Don’t Talk” is widely assumed to be about their relationship and it seems like Hilary is confirming the speculation. She’s right that family dynamics are complicated. You can’t pick your family and families drifts apart. The interview was conducted post-Momgate, and Mandy’s quotes about them sharing similar values feel pretty pointed
I’m always interested in hearing how late 1990s/early 2000s fame compares to today’s. The paparazzi were so intrusive, but now anyone can make a viral post. It’s a different type of parasitism, but the motive (money and/or attention) is generally the same. As for not wanting to reveal who “Mature” is about… I get it. There’s enough clues in there to keep people guessing, but confirmation takes away half of the fun. For example, I love “You Oughta Know,” but sometimes, I wish I didn’t know that it’s about Uncle Joey Dave Coulier.
Hilary and Haylie in 2017:
Embed from Getty Images
Photos credit: Phamous/Backgrid
When Mandy talks about shared values and it being a pointed comment, is Ashley Tisdale a republican?