Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff is pop escapism meets tangible emotion, under a luminescent TV glow. Coming to Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on 13th September 2026.
Over two decades since the OG of young actors turned singers shot to the top of Billboard, Hilary Duff puts her scintillating pop in a reflective millennial frame.
She stepped into music on the Santa Claus Lane, but Hilary Duff was determined to forge her own. While, in the 2000s, the teen actor’s sweeping pop Metamorphosis was swift and imminent, releasing her first four albums in quick succession, she let her music breathe in the 2010s and let life happen. Fast forward to 2026, and her sixth record luck… or something keeps its pop grammar uplifting and accessible, with a clear introspective vein channelling the emotions and experiences that, over the last decade, have shaped the artist, and the person. Luck has only a little to do with it.
Lizzie McGuire
Back in the early noughties, Hilary Duff was Lizzie McGuire, the teen lead of the Disney Channel series that catapulted her to popularity from 2001-2004. But, when she stepped up to the mic to sing pop-rocker ‘I Can’t Wait’ for the show’s soundtrack, another Hilary emerged: the magnetic pop star, “shinin’ like the sun”. Her debut LP Santa Clause Lane was a safe dive into Christmas classics, while single ‘What Dreams Are Made Of’, a technicolour anthem of belonging from The Lizzie McGuire Movie, got Radio Disney’s stamp of approval for a talent who had a lot more to unpack. New to the game but still the lead, she got help by a strong songwriting team for what would be her first album for Disney’s Hollywood Records, finding her voice through resonant choices and a rock edge that appealed to an inherently positive, yet still angsty 15-year-old.
With assured choruses like ‘So Yesterday’ and ‘Come Clean’ detailing emotional woes over energetic guitars and electronics, Metamorphosis (2003) instantly exploded on the US charts, debuting at number two, then taking the top spot within a week, and ultimately selling in the millions. The multiplatinum statement’s impact went beyond the personal, too, as the star became the blueprint for a dazzling array of child actors turned musicians, ushering in the likes of Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez.
Success continues
Hilary Duff’s platinum eponymous album followed in 2004, and the gold-certified electro-pop-tinged Dignity in 2007, where she made a significant creative turn by co-writing 13 of the 14 songs, working through a high-profile break-up, her parents’ divorce and a painfully personal stalking incident. The record was followed by a substantial break from music, as the star graduated from Disney to a cascade of film and TV roles, writing books (including a New York Times bestseller), juggling various business ventures and starting a family. She wouldn’t return until 2015’s Breathe In. Breathe Out, recruiting the likes of Ed Sheeran and Tove Lo for a dance-meets-folk-pop feel holding a mirror to an artist more in touch with herself and her vulnerabilities.
The restless multi-hyphenate would take even longer to return to the music fold this time round: slated for release in early 2026, luck… or something, was introduced with a live taster, the Small Rooms, Big Nerves tour, summing up the mood of an artist unsure anyone would still be there to listen. Teaming up with her Grammy-winning husband Matthew Koma in the studio and songwriting, an affectionately self-aware Duff looked back on ten years of changes, challenges, and relationships weighed down, not by the whirlwind of fame, but carpools, family routines and responsibilities. And her millennial fans showed up for her en masse. Duff’s metamorphosis 2.0 was sweet pop escapism, framed by realities everyone could believe in.
2026 marked Hilary’s return to the road with a major tour – dubbed the lucky me tour – in support of her new album, with La Roux named as a special guest for the UK leg.
