MC’s MUSIC LOUNGE: Heavy Themes, Glitter Beats

Hilary Duff’s new album luck… or something is one of the last releases that both fans and critics never expected to be packed with rich and relatable lyrical content. She’s made it clear though that with her return to music, she was going to be doing it her way and on her terms. Hilary is 38 years old now, and the topics she is singing about are experiences that many people in their 30s can relate to on some level. She tackles strained relationships with both her sister and her father on the songs “We Don’t Talk” and “The Optimist” respectively, confirming long-standing online theories about her family over the years. Other songs like “Weather for Tennis” and “Future Tripping”, which are arguably the most pop-sounding songs on the record, candidly address her insecurities in her, whether it’s arguments between her and her husband or fears over whether he will want to leave her in future years. It’s that imposter syndrome of when you have something great going with someone and feeling like maybe you don’t deserve it and it’s all going to fall apart. Hilary of course is married to musician Matthew Koma with whom she wrote this entire album, so it’s even more interesting to listen to her singing about whether she’s having enough sex with her man when the man himself is in the room helping write the lyrics and produce the music. It takes couples therapy to a whole new level. Finally, you have Hilary dealing with the struggles of growing up in the industry and forever being compared to her younger self on “Adult Sized Medium”. That song had me crying upon the first listen because I truly felt seen as someone who struggles with becoming the person I feel I need to be but still honouring the person I was. It’s deep for me, and all a welcome return to the world of music for an artist that up until this point was known for more surface-level teeny bopper tunes. She herself says in a recent interview that she didn’t feel like “sophisticated songwriting” was the intent back then, even making the connection to Taylor Swift’s songwriting to “before Christ and after Christ”, LOL. This is Hilary’s magnum opus, and she laid out her most personal feelings and experiences in the process.