Hilary Duff is coming clean about what inspired her return to music with her new song, “Mature.”
“It is definitely about a brief experience that I had in my [life] — a long, long time ago,” Duff, 38, told Vogue in a Thursday, November 6, interview. “It is not totally autobiographical. I took a few artistic liberties just to make the song work structurally, but the gist is the gist.”
She continued, “I was looking back on this relationship and thinking about whether this guy had a habit of dating younger women or whether I was ‘special.’ The whole experience was super therapeutic to write about, but being so vulnerable through your music can be really scary.”
Duff released “Mature,” her first song in 10 years, without identifying the former partner who inspired the lyrics.
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“I can’t put it on her, she’s a sweet kid / But she’s taking the bait like we all did,” Duff sings. “She looks / Like all of your girls but blonder / A little like me, just younger / Bet she loves when she hears you say, ‘You’re so mature for your agе, babe.’”
The pop star continues, “She looks / Like shе could be your daughter / Like me before I got smarter.”
Duff cowrote “Mature” with her husband, Matthew Koma, and songwriter Madison Love.
“‘Mature’ is a conversation with my younger self about being happy with where I landed,” she recalled to Vogue. “Part of it was an idea that Matt originated, and part of it came from thinking about that idea of not recognizing younger versions of yourself when you’re now deep into your 30s. Matt, obviously, knows all the stories from my past, and he’s so great at coming up with a concept where I get to go in and interior design the whole thing.”
According to Duff, she wanted the song to reflect on the past while “coming to terms with the choices” she made.
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“It’s a fun record, but it’s secretly kinda heavy, too,” she said, detailing her return to making music. “I always knew I would be back at some point, but I didn’t have a running note on my phone until I started seriously talking with Matt about what new music might sound like. Now that I have 10 more years of life experience under my belt, I really feel like I have something to say and that I have a safe space to do it.”
She continued, “To be 38 and have built a family that looks the way I always dreamed it would, I feel like I can step away and take some time to do this for myself. I’ve had a forward-facing life for such a long time, but I’m ready to connect with people again on a level that feels authentic to who I am now. It feels like a victory lap.”
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Duff, who shares son Luca with ex-husband Mike Comrie and three daughters with 28-year-old Koma, released her first non-holiday album, Metamorphosis, in 2003. While speaking to Vogue, Duff confirmed that her “Mature” music video even features a subtle nod to the classic LP.
“Butterflies hold a lot of strings to my past, and I wanted a nod to that first record being part of my ‘metamorphosis’ to this stage of my career,” she revealed to Vogue. “They feel very similar in ways, because they both represented new beginnings for me. I wanted to include that butterfly [at the end of the video] just as a little nugget because of the significance they’ve always held for me. Before my grandmother passed away, she told me that any time I see a butterfly, that would be her saying hello.”
“Mature” is out now.
