Hilary Duff and Sutton Foster‘s show Younger had a loyal fan base throughout its seven-season run from 2015 to 2021. But because the show was on TV Land (before moving to Hulu and Paramount+ for Season 7), it never had a major mainstream breakthrough, and instead relied on its cult following to keep it on the air.
In early 2025, Younger was added to Netflix, which exposed a whole new audience to the beloved comedy-drama. And yes, Duff is very aware of this resurgence.
That time, it seems, is now: the 38-year-old performer’s new single, “Mature,” marks her first release under a recent deal with Atlantic Records. Duff describes the shimmering pop-rock track—a collaboration between Duff, Koma, and Madison Love, who’s written hits for everyone from Lady Gaga to Addison Rae—as “a little conversation that my present self is having with my younger self.”
The lyrics see Duff reflecting on a past fling with an older lover: “She looks like she could be your daughter, like me before I got smarter,” she sings on the chorus, “when I was flattered to hear you say: You’re so mature for your age, babe.”
“It’s definitely about a brief experience that I had a long, long time ago,” Duff says, choosing her words carefully. “It was extremely therapeutic to write about things that a normal conversation doesn’t really give you the opportunity to.”
The music video for “Mature” sees Duff seated in an otherwise empty theater, watching a version of herself perform onstage. She describes it as a “slightly meta” interpretation of the song’s lyrics, which question if she was being her authentic self in past relationships, or just performing a version of what men expected her to be.
Duff relished the opportunity to slip into “pop star mode” again for the visual. “There was some muscle memory there,” she says. “There’s part of me that stepped up, grabbed the microphone, and was like, Okay, I know what I’m doing here.”
Photo: Aaron Idelson
Photo: Aaron Idelson
After years of seeing fans beg for music in her Instagram comments, Duff certainly felt the weight of their expectations. Also top of mind was the matter of navigating a pop ecosystem that looks very different from the one she came of age in.
“Mature” proved a perfect point of re-entry, pushing Duff’s sound in new directions while still feeling quintessentially Hilary. The guitar-forward production could just as easily live on an Olivia Rodrigo album as on Metamorphosis, Duff’s early-aughts magnum opus that spawned hits like “So Yesterday” and “Come Clean.” But Duff is no longer that 16-year old girl running to the recording studio during breaks from Lizzie McGuire—and she wants her new music to reflect that.
“I have the honor and joy of meaning so much to so many people during a very specific time in their lives,” she says. “But I’m ready to meet them again as the woman I am now.”
This is what Y2K dreams are made of. Earlier this week, Hilary Duff announced that she would be releasing her new song, “Mature,” on Nov 6 — her first new music since her last album, 2015’s Breathe In. Breathe Out.
When speaking to host Jake Shane for the Season Two finale episode on the Therapuss podcast, Duff discussed her return to the studio and shared some insight on her upcoming single. “It was always going to happen,” Duff said. “There’s no way that that was not going to be a part of my story.”
The pop star and Disney alum said that after 10 years removed from music and where she is now in her life at 38 years old, she feels “ready to fill in the blanks and share with people and connect with them on the level of now.”
“Obviously, it’s taken a lot of twists and turns and ups and downs and all of those things, but I have this crazy connection with fans that I’ve known since I was nine, 10 years old, and I just want to connect with them again,” she continued. “We have gone through a lot of the same things — whether that’s complicated relationships, anxiety, raising kids, divorces, trying to find yourself in adulthood, family drama… Finally I felt safe enough and comfortable in my own family to step outside and open that part of myself up again.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Duff described “Mature” as “self-talking to my younger self about an experience that we had and just reflecting on it, and being okay with it and having a little tongue-in-cheek moment with yourself and accepting your past and being good with where you landed.” The singer also said that the music video shows “the journey of the two me’s meeting” and includes a “sweet butterfly moment,” which has been a big theme in her life since Metamorphosis.
The news of her upcoming single arrived about two months after it was announced that Duff had signed with Atlantic Records and would be featured in a docuseries following her journey back to music. According to a press release, the project, directed and executive-produced by Sam Wrench (A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour), will chronicle “the ups, downs and everything in between,” and touts that “fans will ride shotgun as she balances raising a family, recording new music, live show rehearsals, and preparing to perform on stage for the first time in over a decade.”
Hey now, hey now — in case you forgot, Hilary Duff was one of the most popular singers of the early 2000s. Paving the way for some of the Disney Channel’s future stars, she led the sitcom Lizzie McGuire, its titular movie and what would have been its revival series until it was discontinued. But when it came to music, Hilary’s fans all knew her timeless bops, such as “Come Clean,” “So Yesterday,” “Metamorphosis” and plenty more. And now, she’s making her epic comeback as a singer! So, when will her new album be released, and is it possible for Hilary to go on tour for the first time in over a decade?
Hollywood Life has rounded up what we know so far about Hilary’s long-awaited return to music.
Hilary signed with Atlantic Records in September 2025, and she’s in the studio working on her new album. Therefore, it’s too soon to determine when it will be released.
Less than two weeks prior, the Disney Channel alum teased a comeback in an Instagram post. In an August 2025 carousel, Hilary celebrated the 22nd anniversary of her album Metamorphosis.
📸| New photos of @HilaryDuff in the recording studio via @Spotify— #HilaryDuffIsComing pic.twitter.com/Ebcu417NJL
— Hilary Duff Charts (@HilaryDuffChart) September 9, 2025
“Clearly, I had to go digging around the internet for pictures from this time as I’m not sure camera phones even existed,” Hilary wrote in the caption alongside photos of herself from the 2000s. “Sadly all my hairstyles ARE very documented. I do know this marker of time was a huge change in my being. I was embarking on something I had no idea would make such an impact on peoples lives, and mine. As much as I look back and think this album doesn’t hold the emotional depth I look for today, I know my 14/15 year-old self meant every word. It sure as hell also landed on people at the right moment in time and set me off on a pretty epic adventure.”
Hilary also recalled “some of [her] first shows being in a skate park in San Jose, [California], and very shortly after, stepping out on stage in arenas.”
Hilary has not confirmed whether she’s planning a tour, but it would make sense if she did to perform all her new music.
Hilary’s last tour was her Dignity Tour from 2007 to 2008. Her first was the Metamorphosis Tour from 2003 to 2004, which skyrocketed the then-teenager to stardom.
Hilary is a proud mom of four children in total now. She shares her son Luca with ex-husband Mike Comrie and her three other children, Banks, Mae and Townes with husband Matthew Koma.
The actress and singer released her second studio album in 2003, topping the Billboard 200
Hilary Duff looked back at the record that launched her on an “epic adventure” on Wednesday. Marking its 22nd anniversary, the singer and actress took to social media to celebrate the release of her second studio album, Metamorphosis.
In a caption posted alongside a series of throwback photos from the early aughts, Duff wrote, “Clearly I had to go digging around the internet for pictures from this time as I’m not sure camera phones even existed.” The artist, whose Y2K looks were wildly popular at the time, joked, “Sadly all my hairstyles ARE very documented.”
She called this era in her career “a huge change in my being,” adding that she “was embarking on something I had no idea would make such an impact on peoples lives, and mine.” Duff said that although she doesn’t think Metamorphosis “doesn’t hold the emotional depth I look for today,” she knows her “14/15 year old self meant every word.”
“It sure as hell also landed on people at the right moment in time and set me off on a pretty epic adventure,” she said. “I remember some of my first shows being in a skate park in San Jose, and very shortly after, stepping out on stage in arenas.” Before signing off, she thanked fans for “showing up the way that you did,” and teased, “To be continued…”
Following her cryptic sign-off on Wednesday, fans reveled in the possibility of new music and hopes of a tour. In an X post, @sarahstarrdust wrote, “is hilary duff doing a metamorphosis anniversary tour?? because that would legitimately heal me.” Another X user, @jdonohue91, remarked, “Hilary Duff literally never acknowledges album anniversaries and now she has posted about two of them this year! Music comeback incoming!!”
Duff last released an album in 2015 with Breathe In. Breathe Out, which debuted at Number Five on the Billboard 200.