{"id":300274,"date":"2026-02-20T02:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T02:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/300274\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T02:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T02:42:08","slug":"hilary-duffs-luck-or-something-review-pop-star-reincarnate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/300274\/","title":{"rendered":"Hilary Duff’s ‘Luck… or Something’ review: Pop star reincarnate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hilary Duff is a pop star once more. That is, if a pop star ever really stops being a pop star.<\/p>\n

Over 10 years since her last record \u2014 2015\u2019s \u201cBreathe In. Breathe Out.\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Duff is back with \u201cLuck\u2026 or Something,\u201d a witty, and glittery, set of 11 pop songs that track the years that have passed since her teenage stardom. That brings existential questions, haunting what-ifs, some self-deprecating reflection and a healthy dose of cringe and nostalgia. <\/p>\n

Once a Disney Channel darling known best for playing the sometimes-illustrated middle schooler Lizzie McGuire, Duff is now 38 and married with four kids. There\u2019s been a perspective shift since she was making shimmery dance-pop and angsty breakup tunes in the early 2000s (think: \u201cWhat Dreams Are Made Of,\u201d \u201cCome Clean,\u201d \u201cSo Yesterday\u201d). \u201cMature,\u201d the album\u2019s lead single, makes that clear with cutting lyrics that recall an unfortunately familiar dynamic, between a young woman and an older man: \u201cBet she loves when she hears you say \/ You\u2019re so mature for your age, babe.\u201d As present-day Duff reminisces, she\u2019s making it clear to the listener that she is older and wiser \u2014 but also forgiving of her younger self. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s because nostalgia is still key here, and Duff is well aware of that. Her return to the pop stage was launched with a mini-tour that saw her preview some of these new songs alongside those old hits to the delight of fans in Toronto, London, New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Her promotional videos have featured old costumes, props and flip phones. For the cover of this month\u2019s Glamour magazine, Duff peered over her shoulder from the back of a moped \u2014 an image fans were quick to connect to 2003\u2019s Italy-set \u201cThe Lizzie McGuire Movie.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The album, like her overall relaunch, attempts to balance this nostalgia with that perspective. Matthew Koma, Duff\u2019s husband and a songwriter and producer who\u2019s worked with pop artists including Pink, Carly Rae Jepsen and Britney Spears, produces and writes across the project, which employs engaging but synth-heavy beats across the tracks. <\/p>\n

On album opener \u201cWeather For Tennis,\u201d Duff contemplate arguments. The lyrics, simple but multisyllabic tongue-twisters like, \u201cYou calling me bats—\u2019s \/ The fastest antibiotic for thinking \/ You\u2019re different this time,\u201d don\u2019t feel far off, spiritually, from the zingers of her earlier radio hits. Muffled drums give \u201cHoliday Party,\u201d about a partner\u2019s imagined affair, a darker clubby beat, while booming drums and claps make \u201cFuture Tripping,\u201d about needing a partner\u2019s grounding abilities, bubbly. Laughs and dialogue layered into the track put the listener in the room with Duff, to a charming effect. But \u201cTell Me That Won\u2019t Happen\u201d has a too-similar conceit, the pace steady while the lyrics spiral through more worries: \u201cAre we 80 years proof? Are we really immune? Will I want something new? Will you want something new?\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, the tracks are accessible and catchy, the lyrics reliant on simple vocabulary that makes them feel like gossip or worries shared among friends (see Duff\u2019s ode to chosen family, \u201cGrowing Up\u201d). That closeness, built by fans\u2019 nostalgia and Duff\u2019s accessible, laid-back, adult persona, is her not-so-secret weapon. Onstage this winter, Duff mimicked a dance that went viral after a 2007 performance of her song \u201cWith Love,\u201d pulling fans up to dance with her. Winking at that past, probably more self-conscious version of her pop star self, she acknowledges that she\u2019s grown \u2014 without distancing the fans that grew up with her. That self-awareness can make even the cheesiest of lyrics \u2014 \u201cYour kinda freak matched my kinda freak\u201d or \u201cDo I nail you to a cross on some bogus s—\u201d \u2014 endearing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Optimist\u201d takes a turn sonically, describing Duff\u2019s relationship with her father. Duff sings in a higher and softer register, while a lap steel adds a country lilt to the track. It\u2019s a needed tonal change on the record \u2014 and a reminder that Duff is still chameleonic, like Disney and her earliest record deals trained her to be \u2014 but the sound and lyrical vocabulary feels copy-pasted from the likes of Kacey Musgraves, instead of singularly Duff. <\/p>\n

On \u201cYou, From The Honeymoon,\u201d Duff remembers being 23: \u201cAt 23 in Rockaway Beach \/ Too young to be too existential.\u201d Fifteen years later, existential pop is in. And despite the anxieties, fraught memories and tested relationships she\u2019s writing about, Duff is clearly having fun making it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hilary Duff is a pop star once more. That is, if a pop star ever really stops being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[22715,2003,119076,151542,146,7394,85,46,68120,64721,409,151541,2583],"class_list":{"0":"post-300274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","9":"tag-britney-spears","10":"tag-carly-rae-jepsen","11":"tag-elise-ryan","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-hilary-duff","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-lizzie-mcguire","17":"tag-matthew-koma","18":"tag-music","19":"tag-music-reviews","20":"tag-pink"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}