Some releases have more in common than one would think. At least in my case, there's three 20-something year between pop releases that have overarching themes. This is Part 2 of 3 in this series "The Gospel of FLUKE".
In late 2025, actress and singer (at about a 70/30 split) Hilary Duff released her first new song "Mature" and it almost charted on the Hot 100, missing the chart by 4 spots. In 2026, after releasing two more singles (or whatever two music videos after the lead single is called now) "Roommates" and "Weather for Tennis", she released luck...or something, her first album in over a decade since the 2015 Breathe In. Breathe Out. How on god's green earth did Hilary Duff end up releasing another album since then? Nostalgia fluking as had happened in Part 1 (and Part 3) but in each case, a different kind of nostalgia fluking took place.
Slight primer: Hilary Duff came to pop prominence in 2003 with the release of Metamorphosis. This is the album that spawned "So Yesterday" and "Come Clean" which despite a #42 and #35 on the Hot 100 peak respectively, were absolutely everywhere on radio. From 2003 to 2007 (2008 might apply since a Best of Hilary Duff compilation certainly exists), Duff was signed to Hollywood Records, which for all its Universal Music Group distribution, was the label all the Disney stars were on when it came time to add music to their name. The 2004 self-titled release Hilary Duff didn't yield anything memorable, but Dignity from 2007 yielded her highest charting song "With Love" at #24 on the Hot 100 and the underrated "Stranger" which weirdly flopped at #97.
From 2009 or so until 2014, Hilary didn't do shit music wise. She resumed a career in acting or was at least out of the spotlight long enough to actually come across normal or not fucked up like other Disney pop acts. It was not until 2014 and two songs that despite flopping at #79 and not charting, "Chasing the Sun" and the actually good "All About You" respectively, wound up as streaming bonus tracks on Breathe In. Breathe Out. before "Sparks" came...and didn't do shit to save her singles wise.
Not for a lack of trying, once she realized a Tinder commercial acting as the music video for "Sparks" was a bad idea. So much so, a "Fan-Demanded" version came out that it flopped at #93. The words "Fan-Demanded" are key as to why an album came out about 10 or 11 years later.
One thing to understand here, is that this entry is dealing with Hilary's past as a "twenty-something" instead of taking about twenty-something years to release new music. She had kept enough of a healthy profile as a singer that was fine for the pop she was releasing. Melodically basic but methodically squeaky clean bubblegum pop was the exact thing a Disney star was expected to do in the 00s. Dignity marked a point where she could handle about as much pop-rock energy as her team deigned fit for their client.
"Sparks" marked when those "came to save pop but you let it flop" posts on social media began. Not that that song was you know...good. But even after that fucking Tinder commercial was subsided and "Sparks" was focused upon for its alleged quality, pop fans warmed up to it immediately. Then came that one performance on daytime TV where she wore THOSE shorts that looked bad and she sang like she'd rather pass a kidney stone. Breathe In. Breathe Out. was an interesting point for her. If I ever decide to give that album a chance at life, perhaps I can see what it was trying to say. But on to the album worth a review here.
In-between "Sparks" flopping/her time at RCA Records (under Sony) well there's your problem ending and signing a deal with Atlantic Records (under Warner), her time being reminisced upon resulted in one song in particular..."With Love" as it was performed on The Today Show, being initially used as a Stan Twitter reaction to songs they liked. Then came the compilations of Duff's live performances of the song and comments saying "go girl, give us nothing" in either playful or shady ways. And then came the time that on that god forsaken hellscape TikTok, the "With Love" dance routine had gone viral and Duff herself danced to it easily over a decade later in good spirits. See also, the Instagram personality Mitchell (he did the "With Love" dance on stage at her concert, you know who he is) doing the choreo and falling in love with it, that something lightened Duff to entertain returning to music.
In other words, time moved and as expected, the "child star" or "teen star" grew up. Literally, Hilary Duff became..."Mature".
On November 6th, 2025, "Mature" is released to what should have been a commercially rapturous return for Hilary Duff. Sadly, as mentioned before "Mature" would not chart and miss the Hot 100 by 4 spots. That is just egregious as this stands as the best song on the album.
Sure, "Mature" is delivered with Hilary Duff level vocals, but there's a certain earnest delivery only she can pull off. Plus, the claws were out on this song. "Mature" chronicles the time Duff dated an older man, which upon reflection was not to her benefit. This also came at a time where other former child or teen stars who still had careers in entertainment were reminiscing on being "mature for their age" (hint), and realizing "wait this is fucked up, why am I dating someone with a wide age gap?"
"Mature" has rather adept songwriting behind it. Specifically with each prechorus that reads:
"I can't put it on her, she's a sweet kid. But she's taking the bait like we all did"
"I can't put it on them, it's his best trick. And they're taking the bait just like I did"
The second half of the chorus itself forgoes all subtext in saying:
“She looks like she could be your daughter / Like me before I got smarter / When I was flattered to hear you say / ‘You're so mature for your age, babe’”
It's a well written pop song that realistically only Hilary Duff could pull off, mainly because it's like a monologue more than a song. It's acting but put to song. Anyone limited in vocal technique can still sound good, if they're disciplined and at least sound like they put in the effort to make the song work. A bubblegum pop singer who eventually releases something with adept songwriting hasn't been done this well since Mandy Moore's "When I Wasn't Watching".
It benefits from time and having stability around her that she treats like (hint fucking hint), "luck...or something".
The production throughout the album is cohesive and tight thanks to producer and songwriter Matthew Koma (who yes, is her husband but that's not entirely the point). The songs don't have so much going on sound wise, but it's manicured and polished which is the bare minimum to ask for in pop. The flow and sequencing of the album is great. Hilary's vocals are notably improved over the years, especially on the standout tracks "We Don't Talk", "Future Tripping", "Growing Up", "Holiday Party", "Tell Me That Won't Happen". The biggest strength of luck...or something is how confessional it plays out.
Something to kick this album's ass for are the clunky lyrics. Yes, this is the same pop act who on "So Yesterday" once sang "If the light is off, then it isn't on". However, given that Duff has been writing songs on pop albums since Dignity and luck...or something marking her third album with a hand in writing on all songs, there's not much room to excuse some of the absolute fucking clunkers here.
Let's review some of the worst:
- "Too young to be too existential / Your kind of freak matched my kind of freak" ["You, from the Honeymoon"]
- "You calling me batshit's / The fastest antibiotic for thinking" ["Weather for Tennis"]
- "But life is lifeing" ["Roommates"]
- "Habitually repeating, 'I'm a bad bitch, please'" ["Adult Size Medium"]
and especially:
- "Covering our gender / In an oversized fleece" ["Adult Size Medium"] because gurl what the hell was that?!
Despite those flaws and the fact a track I recommend, "Tell Me That Won't Happen" having the clunker "I know you hate the vegan shit and the tarot cards", there's that song and "Holiday Party" in particular that get so much right.
"Holiday Party" plays up an unfounded but common fear in relationships that someone is gonna cheat on them when it feels too good to be true. Specifically the pre-chorus, "In my head you got touchy at the holiday party / In the charcoal suit that I like on you". Then there's "Tell Me That Won't Happen", which has Duff sell palpable fear of a relationship becoming stagnant and leading to a breakup with conviction.
Production wise, songs like "We Don't Talk", "Future Tripping" and "Growing Up" each hone in on the 1980s but in a way that feels modern. Matthew Koma handles production duties very well on the album but absolute highlights like these, shows a well developed signature style. It's clearly 1980s inspired but not attempting to faithfully recreate anything from that time. It's textured, polished new-wave (maybe synth-wave) adjacent but just detailed enough to be contemporary.
A certified 8/10 song for being perfectly fine but not a highlight is the second single "Roommates". I won't bring up "Weather for Tennis" beyond this but it's more whelming than inoffensive. But as it pertains to "Roommates", the production isn't the problem as it does make sense that it got single or video treatment at all. Vocally, it does not challenge Duff (nothing on luck...or something challenges her) and does have a quality that should bump it up to a 10.
Selling emotional pain behind a lagging relationship? Check. So what went wrong? The lyrical clunkers. Moreso it was two jarring lyrics at the end of the chorus, that while indicative of her having fully recommitted to making new music and a new album, they're still amazingly shocking:
- "I'm touching myself by the front door / But you don't even look my way no more"
- "I'm touchin' myself lookin' at porn / cuz you don't even look my way no more."
What has these lyrics almost take so much away from the song, is that they were clearly written to try and bait viral reaction. It was so see-through that "Roommates" also failed to chart the Hot 100. Again, it isn't bad, just something that for all of the album seemingly be made to fit Duff, there's concessions made to what anyone believes the major label game still is in 2026.
Fun fact: where I am, I was able to hear "Mature" and "Roommates" on the closest thing to the pop radio station. We have four(!) pop variety jukebox stations and an R&B/Hip-Hop "throwback" station, but since November of 2024, the hit radio station was no more here. That did not stop "Mature" and "Roommates" from being played on the radio a handful of times. Every time I heard it in my car was a joy as new music was being given a chance and not just songs from 2009 being called a "throwback".
However, it did bear an ugly sign of the gospel of fluke's limitations with nostalgia.
For at least the last half-decade, throwback posts on social media have been the easiest ways to garner likes and be shared across social media. But to some degree, earnest recollection of the past is mixed with the usual deluge of "omg why isn't music like this anymore" but spoken in more internet friendly (read as "stupid as fuck") terms. But as anyone in comment sections can tell you, the internet is far different than real life.
I was lucky enough to hear this song on the radio in real time, but it's not something that the current pop landscape wants to make money off of. Or at least, that's about the least cynical and crass phrasing of it possible. The point is, just because an artist was popular a certain amount of time ago does not mean their career goes with them. Certain pop acts beat the odds and become stars, but all the internet does is apply the "cult of personality" to the acts trying to go "viral" and have the most attention on them, and that's what the copycat ass industry does when trying to call it a business decision.
Commercially, let's be real, luck...or something charting at #3 on the Billboard 200 is astounding despite no singles landing on the Hot 100. Hilary knew she wasn't getting shit chart wise but a secret magic to this release was that she was releasing at all. She was fully aware that all "niche" means, is anyone still active in music, but without the commercial pull to compliment the "cult of personality" to have them be a bigger name than they are in their career.
The album charted an entire two positions higher than Breathe In. Breathe Out. and more than doubled the first week sales.
The only thing that is both a gift and a curse on this album, is that Duff sounds like she's singing the TV or movie version of these songs. Her acting background only comes back to bite in a context like this. Actors and singers are both forms of entertainers that can have expectations to sell an emotion or a feeling behind their role or single/album. The key difference is environment or surroundings.
Actors can block out their surroundings and focus on their character. Even if they came from some musical training, they tend to fuck up musically due to either just outright sounding like shit or sounding stiff or without much emotion behind their surprising ability to hold a note for about 10 seconds at best. It's why albums by actors like Wayne Brady, Tisha Campbell and Kate Hudson wind up failing because for all their abilities, it does not work for a full length music related project.
Singers can sell just about anything (even in a case of being made to sing...just about anything, like 1980s Donna Summer during those god awful Geffen years or whatever the fuck Mistaken Identity was supposed to be in the 1990s.) Their talent shines brightest when the material not only has their ability to sing front and center, but has the ability to make the listener feel something. Be it where the singer or their production team got their source of inspiration from, or if their feeling on the song might not be real but so good that the listener forgets they haven't actually been through a breakup or something to that effect.
However, singers trying to act usually backfires horrendously, not just because some people (Madonna) cannot act for shit; but because they're far too aware of their surroundings. If that problem can potentially taint a single release or album, imagine it being made to play a character in some capacity for a full-length feature film. That can fuck up a movie role like nothing else could.
There's varied exceptions to either case: Kylie Minogue and Ariana Grande were initially actresses but would learn and pursue their bread and butter, pop music that attracts a gay ass fanbase that they love and admire. Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa were models that upon discovering pop music, found a way to make a name for themselves in the industry. Grace Jones in general is the exception, because only she knew what the fuck she was doing in music (except on Bulletproof Heart, we don't talk about that.)
Child or teen stars are a weird exception and product of their industries, because while they were directed to both, it was never about choice. Case in point, Jeanette McCurdy was directed to TV acting and music, despite her real love being for writing and anything behind the scenes with maybe some acting she gives a shit about. It's why her music career came and went even to her teen audience, her acting career was what it was and that true success came with her autobiography.
All that to remind everyone, while another singer technically could sing this album and sing it well, only Hilary can sell these songs with enough earnest delivery to make luck...or something intriguing to give a full listen to.
Sure, it's spotty in some places but with enough time to...grow on people, this album could be remembered for being refreshing and secretly a technical force.
Highlights:
- "Mature" 🥇🏆
- "We Don't Talk"
- "Future Tripping"
- "Growing Up"
- "Holiday Party"
- "Tell Me That Won't Happen"
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