MC’s MUSIC LOUNGE: Hilary Duff's new single "Mature" is both nostalgic and addictive

The first reigning queen of Disney Channel actors turned real-life popstars, Hilary Duff, is back with new music for the first time in a decade, and it’s as good as we hoped it would be. Her new single “Mature” is exactly that, mature (more on the subject matter in a bit). Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an upbeat bubblegum pop song that borrows from the early 2000s pop sound that we all know and love her for.

This, however, is just age appropriate for both Hilary and her audience which at this point is millennial girls and gays, and most, if not all of us are in our 30s now.

Playing a Hilary Duff song for a 31 year old gay man is like dangling keys in front of a baby
— ivo (@trashmagiq) November 9, 2025

There was a time when Hilary was on top of the world, and oh my, was I ever in the exact demographic at the exact right time. She was my first-ever concert at nine years old, so there’s always going to be a soft spot in my heart for her. Hilary was the blueprint for Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Miley Cyrus to create such successful music and Disney Channel double careers. Granted, all of those ladies are talented enough to have found another path, but the Disney/Hilary path chose them. Hilary even mentions a moment back in the 2000s when Lovato and Gomez came up to her asking for advice during that time in a recent podcast interview.

When you’re the blueprint, then the demand for your comeback never wavers. The reception to the new track is telling of this as well, as Hilary managed to out-stream Katy Perry’s latest release by more than 100,000 downloads and has shot to #8 on top debuts on Spotify’s USA chart for the past weekend. I definitely had some nerves about what her music would sound like, especially after so many years away from the studio, but she’s still got the magic that I fell in love with as a little boy. I feel healed. Well, almost healed – I’ll need an in-person live performance for the full treatment. When Hilary first announced her comeback back in September, a docuseries was promised as well. Duff also just announced her first tour since 2008 which will see her hit theatres in Toronto, London, LA and New York this January, so there are tons of goodies to look forward to for my fellow Duffsters. 2025 has really been the year of the Y2K comeback star, as Lindsay Lohan also had her major commercial comeback with Freakier Friday when it successfully dominated the box office this August. The immense success that both Hilary and Lindsay have been experiencing with their comebacks shows how much their work back in the 2000s connected with its intended audience. Whether or not the art for pre-teens today will have matching lasting power in 20 years is yet to be determined, but something about both Hilary and Lindsay feels singular to a specific moment in time. A moment of tween pop excellence.

Next week sees the return of Swedish pop diva Robyn with her first music release since 2018 (!!!), so expect tons of gay panic. Summer Walker also is set to release her long-delayed third studio album Finally Over It. This week along with Hilary’s new music, there’s Rosalía, Bizarrap with Daddy Yankee, Charli XCX and Kehlani. Plus, PARTYNEXTDOOR supplies the soundtrack to a risqué viral trend.

Listen on…

MC’s PICKS OF THE WEEK

“Mature” by Hilary Duff

Hilary’s comeback song is a dance-pop banger produced by her husband Matthew Koma and Brian Phillips. Matthew first worked with his now-wife on her last album Breathe In. Breathe Out. a decade ago. Many people were wondering what a Hilary Duff song would sound like in 2025, and the results are both nostalgic and addictive. The hook catches the ear instantly, and her voice sounds so enthusiastically like Hilary that it brings a tear to my eye. For those of us who grew up with her, her voice represents a time in our childhoods where she was our only escape. I say “our” because I feel like I’m speaking for an entire generation here. The amount of people in my age group who have been celebrating online has been so incredible to see, like we’ve been transported back to the days when Hilary was our entire world. The lyrics are Hilary speaking to the younger version of herself, and her regrets about dating a man who was considerably older than her in the past. If you remember the gossip about Hilary back in the 2000s, it’s clear which relationship she’s allegedly referring to in this song. Joel Madden and Hilary first got together in the summer of 2004 when they met at the MMVAs; she was 16, he was 25. Yikes. The crazy part about all of this is that looking back, their relationship was heavily covered in the media and the gnarly age difference was just… ignored? He went on to marry Nicole Richie, and the two have seemingly made amends, even being quoted as saying that they hang out “all the time” back in 2023. Sh-t, Nicole and Hilary were even jamming to the song together in Nicole’s Instagram story this past Tuesday. This leads fans online to deduce that either their relationship is water under the bridge, or that the song is about a different unknown relationship entirely. That may be, but I find the Leonardo DiCaprio online theories to be a bit too much of a reach. The music video is simple, just Hilary looking fabulous in various settings located in some kind of concert hall. An intentional move, given the recent announcement of her mini-comeback tour this January. As someone who spent their entire childhood listening to her music, I am proud to say that this is exactly the comeback I wanted from Hilary and it has only left me more eager for what her full-length album is going to sound like.

“La Perla” by ROSALÍA, Yahritza Y Su Esencia

One of the buzziest tracks off of ROSALÍA’s masterpiece of an album, Lux, is the no-holds-barred emotional track “La Perla”. The melody is pretty and doesn’t seem like the kind of track that would have savage lyrics, but none of the great ones ever do. The song which is in Spanish, starts off with a bang by calling said ex a “peace thief”, and even eventually calling them an “emotional terrorist”, yikes. There’s been tons of speculation online about whether or not the song is about her ex-fiancée and superstar Rauw Alejandro. The reference in the song to her ex’s “bra collection” is another major hint. How very creepily Drake-like of you Rauw, lol. Even though she doesn’t mention any names in the song, given that their relationship was plagued with cheating rumors around the time of their breakup, fans are putting two and two together – especially because of the lyrics that mention fidelity. Whenever an artist is known for being autobiographical in their lyrics, you generally don’t have to look too deep into it to figure it out. Then again, this entire record is on an out of this world caliber, so we can never be too sure. She’s been to linked to everyone from Jeremy Allen White to Emilio Sakraya, so there are a few possibilities here.

“Daddy Yankee: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 0/66” by Bizarrap, Daddy Yankee

All I had to see was that Daddy Yankee and Bizarrap were working together to get me excited, then I pressed play and was quickly validated for said excitement. The session is fire, and also is Biza’s first “sessions” recording since December. His “sessions” recordings have become something of a staple amongst in Latin Pop scene, with Shakira’s 2023 sessions becoming a Top 10 pop hit on the USA Billboard Hot 100. Daddy Yankee is a reggaeton smash, and I would expect nothing less from the man who basically pioneered the genre. This collaboration is marked “0/66” implying that this will be the beginning of 66 new sessions recordings, but this is just fan theory at this point (a safe one). Still possessing that electronic touch that all of Biza’s tracks have, this one gives off a more mambo-like approach. Think dirty dancing with a hottie on a scorching summer night. It’s very much giving old-school Daddy Yankee vibes, while still remaining fresh and current. Trumpets, Electronica, Reggaeton? Sign me up! The two are set to perform the song during the NFL Spain halftime show this week, and will be Daddy Yankee’s first live performance since he came out of retirement this year. This is the same retirement he announced only three years ago… guess he couldn’t stay away for long. It’s quite an iconic event to be attached to as it’s the NFL’s first-ever game in Spain as well.

“House” Charli xcx, John Cale

If winter depression is your thing, then you’ll want to save this one. Charli is providing the music for the upcoming film Wuthering Heights, and this is the first glimpse we’re getting of her direction for the project. An experimental, electronic beat pulses over Charli’s repeating of the line “I think I’m gonna die in this”. “This” being the house she is referring to in the song’s title, once can assume. Of course after a monologue from John Cale, which takes up two thirds of the song. The Velvet Underground icon lends his signature recognizable voice to the song in a conversational way. He is one of the founding fathers of avant-garde and an all-around legendary rock star, so a co-sign from him gives Charli’s passion project a well-earned legitimacy. While this certainly isn’t the type of music I can clean my house to on a Sunday morning, it is something that I can immerse into if I’m being more intentional about my listening. While her last album was more party-centric and all about escaping the moment, this sounds like the total opposite. Similar to Rosalía’s new record, it seems that Charli wants this new era to require full attention from its listeners. It’s dark, sure, but it feels authentically Charli at the same time. Her love of film has become a popular topic of conversation thanks to her viral Letterboxd reviews, and multiple upcoming acting roles so this feels like an appropriate next step for her after the monster success that was Brat.

“Out The Window” by Kehlani

After scoring the biggest hit of their career so far with “Folded”, Kehlani is back with the second single from their as-of-yet untitled fifth studio album. Clearly a move to keep up with the momentum of “Folded”, “Out The Window” is another total 2000s R&B throwback that is as much (if not more) of an earworm than the former. Even the cover art to the single has the exact same aesthetic of classic albums by Ashanti, Beyoncé and Amerie to name a few. The famed Markus Klinko who photographed Bey for her Dangerously in Love and Mariah’s The Emancipation of Mimi albums did the cover art. After experimenting with different rock and more alternative sounds in recent years, Kehlani is stepping deep back into their R&B bag and applying all the tricks that they’ve learned from the greats that came before them. Kehlani is also doing some classic R&B “begging” on the song, begging for their lover to come back to them. In a time where R&B is making its loudest mainstream comeback in years, Kehlani is one of the artists at the helm of it. “Folded” also earned Kehlani two nominations at the upcoming Grammy awards. No word on if the accompanying album will be released by then, but things seem to just be getting bigger with each release. Something tells me this will be their biggest album yet, and an even bigger 2026.

MC’s VIRAL PICK

“Ballin’” by PARTYNEXTDOOR

This week’s viral pick is a horny one, so if you’re on the prude side maybe sit this one out. PARTYNEXTDOOR’s music is like a snapshot of my college years. The boom of mid-2010s OVO Sound artists from Toronto who were creating very graphic alternative R&B that had people in their early 20s and late teens in a chokehold (me included). One of those songs was “Ballin’” which served as the closing track from his debut EP back in 2013. The song is pretty upfront with its message: a sex session track built for an inevitable grand finish. No, I mean it’s literally designed for that because aside from being the final track, PARTY also sings the lyrics “I Just finished on you” during the pre-chorus in case you needed a little extra motivation to get the job done. Sure enough, it’s those very lyrics that are at the center of a new viral trend that has hundreds of thousands of TikTok users getting frisky.

Those spicy pre-chorus lyrics are self-explanatory but since we are living in the age of social media, people are having their fun with it. The trend sees one user lip-syncing the lyrics “I just finished on you” to the camera while motioning well, without being too crass, a hand motion that is required for said finishing. Except in this case, the end result is a different kind of explosion, yet still very satisfying. Everything from using the song as a backdrop for expressing one’s sexual frustrations, or just using it as a transition into a cute outfit, there’s around 160k videos and counting and that’s just the ones using the official sound. Are we all just a bunch of horny f-cks or is it just cuffing season? Either way, you can go ahead and add this one to your ongoing sex playlists. If you don’t have one, feel free to add mine for all your “finishing” needs.