\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \n\t\u201cIt was really important to me to not make a record that was like, \u2018I\u2019m a mom and I pick up my kids at school and pack lunches every day and it\u2019s so hard,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cIt was not at all what I was interested in talking about. What I was interested in talking about is the shift in how it makes me feel, as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tKoma \u2014 who has collaborated with Britney Spears, Shania Twain, Zedd, and others \u2014 co-wrote Luck<\/em> with Duff, and produced it alongside his longtime collaborator Bryan Phillips. Koma says the playful opener \u201cWeather For Tennis\u201d is a direct callback to the sonics of Duff\u2019s earlier work. \u201cIt\u2019s these pre-Hot AC, Michelle Branch-ish production models, but let\u2019s keep the core of the songwriting essence the same,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \n\tThat songwriting is sharper than ever, like <\/strong>on \u201cHoliday Party,\u201d where she wrestles with the fear of her husband cheating on her at a festive gathering (she says this is a recurring dream of hers). \u201cI always think Matt\u2019s going to leave me for some coolio indie songwriter that he works with,\u201d she says. \u201cWhich is so insane,\u201d Koma replies. \u201cBut also very real. <\/strong>Those are real things to get hung up on emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSome of the strongest moments on the album are when Duff strikes a balance between bright, blissful pop melodies and sincere, even devastating lyrics. \u201cI wish I could sleep on planes\/And that my father would really love me,\u201d she sings in \u201cThe Optimist,\u201d a sparse tearjerker complete with cozy lap steel (played by Emily Rosenfield, who\u2019s also in Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s backing band and performed at Duff and Koma\u2019s wedding). \u201cThere\u2019s times where I talk to my dad and times where I don\u2019t talk to my dad,\u201d Duff admits. \u201cI do have a pretty sunny disposition, but a lot of shit has gone down, and that\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOn \u201cWe Don\u2019t Talk,\u201d she details another strained relationship within her family: \u2018\u2018\u2019Cause we come from the same home, the same blood\/A different combination but the same lock.\u201d When she played her first major concert in 18 years recently in London, she performed the delicate track on a mustard sofa. Fans speculated that the song was about Duff\u2019s sister, Haylie, from whom she\u2019s rumored to be estranged; some even went as far as to think the color of the couch was an Easter egg<\/a> (to some online Sherlocks, it resembles a couch they saw in a video, case closed).<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI feel almost like when I got divorced [in 2015], where I dealt with it privately, and then the news comes out and you\u2019re like, \u2018OK, great. I\u2019m going to deal with this all over again,\u2019\u201d Duff says.\u00a0\u201cI was prepared, a little bit. I made a choice to put that song on my record. That\u2019s definitely the most lonely part of my life, and I struggled with, \u2018Am I going to share this?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWithout directly naming the song\u2019s subject, she adds, \u201cPeople have known my life since I was a child, and so they know all the characters in it and they know what I\u2019m talking about. For me, it was important to be open about that theme. It genuinely came from the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere\u2019s one thing she wants to push back on, though. \u201cI was not, however, prepared for people to be like, \u2018The couch is the color of the couch\u2026\u2019 That is absolute bullshit, and totally not true and crazy. And I don\u2019t have the time to make threads for people to catch on to about that. I have a full life and a busy family, and this was literally just a song about my truth, and that was it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDUFF IS A MILLENNIAL through and through \u2014 she even samples Blink-182\u2019s \u201cDammit\u201d on the new album\u2019s centerpiece, \u201cGrowing Up\u201d \u2014 and like many of us in that generation, her TikToks are a work in progress. \u201cI\u2019m such an Instagram girly,\u201d she says. \u201cAll my friends that are on TikTok are like, \u2018You\u2019re living in the Stone Age.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEven so, she does see some of the TikToks commenting on her music, like when she released \u201cRoommates<\/a>,\u201d the addictive second single from Luck.<\/em> \u201cIt was like, \u2018This is Sabrina Carpenter reheated in the microwave,\u2019\u201d she tells me. \u201cI was like, \u2018How do people even get these mean terms? It\u2019s so fucked up!\u2019 And then I go into the comments and someone\u2019s like, \u2018Does anybody realize she was here first?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAaron Idelson<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tShe goes on: \u201cEverybody\u2019s insane. Pop music is pop music. I realize that the talking heads on TikTok need to have something to say, and luckily for the most part, it\u2019s been super positive and nice. And then the mean ones stand out and I\u2019m like, \u2018Your hair color is literally terrible! Let\u2019s talk about your hair color!\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWhen planning her comeback tour \u2014 an intimate run she called Small Rooms, Big Nerves<\/a>, prior to announcing her upcoming world trek, the Lucky Me<\/a> Tour \u2014 Duff was forced to contend with all aspects of her musical past. \u201cI have a big discography, which is a blessing and a curse,\u201d she says. \u201cSome songs are embarrassing, and some are super fucking good.\u201d Her set list features <\/em>several Luck <\/em>tracks, but it\u2019s mostly a love letter to fans, as she winds back the clocks and tears through gems like \u201cSo Yesterday,\u201d \u201cCome Clean,\u201d and \u201cWhat Dreams Are Made Of.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tI ask her if she\u2019ll ever do the Metamorphosis<\/em> deep cut \u201cThe Math,\u201d a whimsical rocker that likens love to mathematical equations. When I explain to Duff that the line \u201cI am calling you back\/This is Star 69\u201d taught me what the telephone re-dial code was, she says, \u201cI literally die inside every time. Those lyrics? I\u2019m ashamed.\u201d Koma chimes in: \u201cThat\u2019s been our inside joke since day one. We\u2019re like, \u2018All right, play \u2018The Math\u2019 three times in the set!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tShe does embrace one part of her past she used to find mortifying: Her onstage choreography for 2007\u2019s \u201cWith Love,\u201d which became (what else?) a viral TikTok trend<\/a>. \u201cIt took me a little while to find peace with it, and the humor in it,\u201d she admits. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s silly and embarrassing. But the fact that people across the whole entire world take the time to learn a dance and make a costume and post it on the internet, I\u2019m obsessed with it. It took me getting to 38 to be like, \u2018Oh, I get this. I get this and I love it, and I\u2019m here for it.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tOn tour, Duff brings fans onstage to join her in the \u201cWith Love\u201d dance. They\u2019re usually decked out in 2000s fashion, from butterfly clips to space buns, or her signature outfits from The Lizzie McGuire Movie.<\/em> She\u2019s considering including celebrity guests as the tour continues, similar to Carpenter\u2019s \u201cJuno\u201d arrests<\/a> or Role Model\u2019s many Sallys<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s also a great way to take a little break,\u201d she jokes. \u201cMama needs a break.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDuring our first interview, while Duff is on tour in Toronto, our Zoom is briefly interrupted when Duff\u2019s nanny FaceTimes her, so her kids can say hello. Though she\u2019s reawakened her pop star persona, her primary focus is still her family; Koma even built a rehearsal space for Duff next door to his studio, so the family could all be together. \u201cHe\u2019s so romantic, this guy,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDuff tells me about the other day, when she was packing to leave for tour and doing a wardrobe fitting, trying on racks and racks of clothing while her seven-year-old daughter was sick upstairs. \u201cIn my mind, I\u2019m like, \u2018They\u2019re going to look back at this time and be like, I was sick and my nanny was painting my toes and my mom was downstairs shopping.\u2019 And I\u2019m just like, my job sucks sometimes. You know what I mean? That should be me up there.\u201d (Adding insult to injury, it turned out that her daughter was upstairs watching another Disney series, Bunk\u2019d<\/em>. \u201cI was like, \u2018What about Lizzie McGuire<\/em>? Hello!’\u201d Duff jokes.)<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tBy the time I attend Duff\u2019s Brooklyn show on Jan. 27, her children are with her backstage, taking slices of a sparkly cake, fittingly decorated with butterflies. There was palpable joy coming from the crowd, which is something she\u2019s still getting used to. As Koma told me earlier, \u201cShe\u2019s such an unaware person sometimes, of how much she means to people. And I understand that, because I think it would be a weird thing to live in a reality where you were too in touch with that. So it\u2019s a beautiful thing that she\u2019s not, but it\u2019s also beautiful to see her have those moments where you can\u2019t deny how celebrated and how deeply [she\u2019s] affected people.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTo this, Duff concedes. \u201cI do feel like one of my magic tricks is being able to connect with people. To be able to reach them and relate to them, and them feel close to me.\u201d But can she actually save pop music? \u201cThat\u2019s too big of a responsibility,\u201d she says, \u201cbut it does make me chuckle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TORONTO-318_Aaron_Idelson-1.jpg?w=1024\")
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