Hilary Duff stays true to 2000s pop sound in new album

By Libby D’Orvilliers

The pop princess of the early 2000s is back! Last Friday, Hilary Duff released “luck… or something,” the singer’s sixth studio album and her first one since 2015’s understated “Breathe In. Breathe Out.” 

The star’s burst back into the pop music scene was highly anticipated by millennials and older Gen Z members alike as we yearned to get a taste of the nostalgic music of our childhoods. But, before you dust off your UGG boots and bubblegum chapstick, let us look a little bit deeper into this new record’s vibe. 

The studio album is shorter than many pop records we see today — I am looking at you Taylor Swift — with only 11 songs on the album totaling just under 38 minutes in total play time.

The album gets off to a very strong start with “Weather For Tennis,” which might just be my favorite song from the new album. The first few opening notes sound like they are taken right off of Duff’s 2003 album “Metamorphosis” and bring the upbeat mood I was hoping to get from listening.

By the end of the first track, I was practically dancing around my room singing into my hairbrush as I fully took advantage of the nostalgic vibes I was listening to. The bouncy pop sounds continued into track two, “Roommates.” While the pre-chorus of this song caught me off guard with the cringey lyric “life is lifin’,” I did enjoy how it kept up the youthful sound while exploring more mature themes.

The whole album seems to cleverly balance this nostalgic teeny-bopper sound while Duff’s lyrics explore more mature topics, such as the complexities of familial and romantic relationships, loneliness, forgiveness and more explicitly sexual themes.

For example, track three “We Don’t Talk” could be interpreted to be about an estranged familial relationship, perhaps even a sibling, and how that is affecting the singer. It is refreshing to have a modern pop song that seems to be about something other than romantic relationships and focuses on the relatable struggles with family bonds instead.

Unfortunately, not every song on the album can be a winner. The fourth song on the album, “Future Tripping,” is skippable. The song just seems to drag on for too long, repeating the same four lyrics over and over again until the inevitable fade-out. While this style of repetitive lyrics may be true to early 2000s music, it is just not a good fit for the rest of the album.

That being said, the next song, “Growing Up,” explores what happens to old friendships as one matures; a topic I am sure many college students and young adults can relate to. “Growing Up” is not a stand-out per se, but is worth listening to, nonetheless.

As seems to be a theme with this album, I again got whiplash getting thrown into “The Optimist,” a slower, skippable song. It is almost frustrating going right back into the upbeat sound again with track seven “You, From The Honeymoon.” Upon listening to the album a few times, I have realized that this is one of those records that you do not have to listen to in order and it is definitely okay to skip through, replaying just your favorites.

Speaking of favorites, track 10, “Tell Me That Won’t Happen,” is probably my second-favorite song on the album and put me right back in the mood to dance and sing around my room. While not the top of modern pop music I would hear in the club, such as Chappel Roan’s “Pink Pony Club,” Duff manages to balance modern lyrics with hyper-pop synths reminiscent of what I was listening to on my CD player in 2008 and not on Beats headphones in 2026.

Finally, the album concludes with “Adult Size Medium,” a song where Duff shares the most mature lyrics and most modern electro-pop sounds of the album. “Adult Size Medium” is another one of my favorites and places a nice bow on the album, tying it all together. For some reason, this song also makes me feel like Duff has another album up her sleeve that will entirely explore more mature themes and sounds. I will certainly be keeping my eyes and ears out for that, should my predictions come true.

Even if you are not normally a pop music fan, the album is short enough that you can play the whole thing on your drive to work and see what you think for yourself. Again, you will likely find that the record has some hits and some misses. Overall, I give “luck… or something” three out of five stars … or something.

Libby D’Orvilliers is a senior psychology major