Hilary Duff – “Weather For Tennis”

Don’t call Hilary Duff’s return to music merely a serve of mere millennial nostalgia. Her first new album in 11 years, luck… or something, confirms that the former Lizzie McGuire star in her 38-year-old wiser form is properly the kind of relatable pop star who has grown up with you rather than stayed stunted in teenage grudges and creative growth.

Take album opener and its latest single, “Weather For Tennis”. The listen may have been co-written and produced with husband-in-bliss, Matthew Koma, but certainly doesn’t suggest any signs of a current strained relationship. It is, however, a post-mortem on the verbose batshit she’s dealt with in a past life whichdefinitely get the bump of her racket here, all through an upbeat augmentation of guitar-shimmering pop-rock made with the glitter of every decade she’s been alive. “If you let me finish a sentence then / Then we can bump our heads and drink some wine,” She sings over a flutter of riffs and fizzy synths. “Fight over semantics and handpick / Which hill you’re willing to die on until the next time.”

Exhausting? Hardly, when styled in that context of pop. Yet, anyone pushing 40 probably already knows that former “couple goals” couple-turned-breakup-in-the making by this point in their lives. In her case, H. Duff playfully makes the argument for that inevitable as being a necessary part of the long game in knowing when the fights worth your time. Doubles on that as source material in living out your truth when beginning a new lease on your music life, and it doesn’t hurt that she’s found the right one to help put so yesterday into perspective today, too.

Directed by: Alfred Marroquin