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.”