JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It has been more than 10 years since Hilary Duff last released an album. So I asked her, why now?
HILARY DUFF: I felt finally ready to, like, stop comparing myself to my old successes and really just being like, whatever this is going to be, it's going to be, but I need to do it.
SUMMERS: Those old successes she's talking about - they were major, and they came early. She started as Lizzie McGuire on the Disney show of the same name when she was an early teen. She had a string of popular movies, and she made music throughout. And if you've ever sung along to "Come Clean," we might be around the same age.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COME CLEAN")
DUFF: (Singing) Let the rain fall down and wake my dreams. Let it wash away my sanity.
SUMMERS: But we're not here to talk about that, and her new album, "Luck... Or Something," is not kid stuff. It's filled with music made by a woman who's now 38 with a marriage and four children of her own.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ADULT SIZE MEDIUM")
DUFF: (Singing) I'm waking up to a dream sequence. Sometimes I can't see me in it. Was it a sip of wine or Aperol?
SUMMERS: Duff made "Luck... Or Something" with her husband, Matthew Koma. And she told me she couldn't imagine doing it any other way.
DUFF: Most importantly, it just boiled down to being like, I want to make a record. I don't want to have a lot of involvement from other people. He has a front-row seat to my life and everything that's gone on in it for the past 10, almost 11 years. And it just felt like a really - well, really the only way that I could sit in a room and just be so exposed, you know? And it was a lovely way to collaborate. He's so pro-artist that he was like, the only thing that matters here is that you want to listen to this in your car. And I was like, yes, that is the only thing that matters.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GROWING UP")
DUFF: (Singing) And it'll happen once again. I'll turn to you, friend, 'cause I know you'll understand, and you will until the end. And when everybody's gone - they got busy and moved on - we'll face it on our own. And I guess this is growing up.
This beautiful, like, product came from that.
SUMMERS: Thematically, on your album, there seems to be this more mature outlook on love and relationships. And a lot of these songs, when I think about the lyrics, they seem to be about the middle. I'm thinking, for example, of the song, "Tell Me That Won't Happen."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TELL ME THAT WON'T HAPPEN")
DUFF: (Singing) Are we 80 years proof? Are we really immune? Will I want something new? Will you want something new? I'm worried that I've felt everything I'll ever feel, and I won't again. Tell me that won't happen.
SUMMERS: And I don't want to pry too hard into your marriage, but I do have to wonder that - given that you worked on this with your husband, there are songs that are so clearly about marriage and relationships - did the process of writing these songs inspire any conversations with him about your own marriage?
DUFF: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that was the cathartic part about making the songs that we made. You know, I'm very much in the thick of, like, motherhood, and we have, like, young children. And honestly, it was enjoyable to make the record 'cause we got so much time together that we normally don't get. But I don't want to make the whole album seem like it's a theme about motherhood because it's not. But it is very much about being in a sturdy relationship and some of, like, the negatives that come along with that, which is like, are we really strong enough to make it through, like, some of the lulls? Or, you know, the highs are high, of course, but, like, do we miss that time where everything felt a little, like, freer and wilder?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROOMMATES")
DUFF: (Singing) Want the highlights, 10 out of 10, butterflies from holding your hand before we swept us under the bed, and we became practically roommates.
And, you know, trying to feel firsts again.
SUMMERS: You have kicked off this year with a mini tour performing your new songs, but also some old ones. Do you feel a different connection to or have a different interpretation of any of those songs today?
DUFF: I have a different relationship with them, yeah. I think one of the cool things about starting to build out my tour was revisiting my old catalog and kind of sifting through the songs that don't resonate with me as much anymore and then really finding the ones that did. And then performing them live was, like, genuinely a healing experience for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DUFF: (Singing) There's something going on anywhere I go tonight, tonight, tonight.
(CHEERING)
DUFF: I don't know if 10 years ago, I would have been able to, like, stand on a stage and sing my old songs. I took ownership in them, and they fully belong to me now.
SUMMERS: I think there are so many people out there who know you from your time on "Lizzie McGuire." You played that character for several years on TV when you were so young. What parts of that experience do you still carry with you? What did it teach you?
DUFF: Oh. I honestly - I love talking about "Lizzie McGuire." I didn't always used to love it, but I will say that it's very hard to remember that time. Like, I remember being thrilled to have a job. I remember loving being on set with cast and crew and feeling like that was a family. I also remember working really hard and, by the end, getting burnt out. But, like, I owe that role everything. Like, I think it taught me hard work, a great work ethic. You know, I think I held a lot of responsibility for being a role model for people, which was a complicated thing to figure out as I aged. But it was a gift.
SUMMERS: And Hilary, I - there was also some sad news earlier this week that I do want to ask you about. Robert Carradine, who played your father in that show, died recently, and his family was quite open about the fact that he lived with bipolar disorder and died by suicide. I know you remembered him on social media, and I'm sorry that that happened. I did want to give you the opportunity, if you want to, to talk about Robert.
DUFF: Yeah, that was a tough phone call to get, for sure. I remember Robert as just a really kind, sweet, generous, happy guy. You know, our relationship, we fell in and out of touch throughout the years, I think, as one does, who films a TV show with someone at 14-years-old, but always happy run-ins or, you know, cute catch ups. And I had no idea that he was struggling the way that he was. And it's obviously just a wicked disease. And I'm so sorry for his family, and yeah, that was a really tough phone call to get.
SUMMERS: I can't imagine. When you think about that hardworking young girl who was so thrilled to get that job on that set to be Lizzie McGuire, and you think about yourself now at 38 and all the life you've lived, becoming a mom, releasing this album, working with your husband, what would you say to that young girl today?
DUFF: I think I would tell her, like, you're going to have a wild ride ahead of you, and it's not going to be easy, and you're going to be OK. Enjoy the moments and work hard. And I think I would just give her a little pep talk. It's a really hard industry to be in for 25, 30 years. You know, I would just tell her, like, to keep her heart open and to enjoy the ride.
SUMMERS: That was Hilary Duff. Her new album, "Luck... Or Something," is out now. Hilary, thanks so much.
DUFF: Yeah, I enjoyed talking to you. Thank you so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MATURE")
DUFF: (Singing) She looks like all of your girls but blonder - a little like me, just younger. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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