EIGHT YEARS AFTER HER LAST RELEASE, FORMER TWEEN STAR HILARY DUFF TELLS CONOR BEHAN WHAT SHE’S BEEN UP TO ON HER BREAK FROM THE LIMELIGHT – DRINKING WINE, SWIPING ON TINDER – OH , AND COLLABORATING WITH ED SHEERAN.
“I’m a pretty busy lady right now!” Hilary Duff chirps when we catch up with her over the phone. She’s not wrong, with a new album, a hit TV show in the U.S. she’s back on the promo push after some time off from the spotlight.

Duff was a household name for many tweens in the early 00s, between her Disney days on Lizzie McGuire (a show we’ve been politely asked not to discuss during today’s chat) to releasing multiple hit albums.

But unlike many a teen talent growing into their 20s, Duff (now 28) didn’t stay in the public eye, electing to take a break in 2008. It’s an interesting move and one that seemed to only add to anticipation around her pop comeback that culminated in a new album this year, Breathe In, Breathe Out.
It’s been 8 years (!) since Duff released music so I had to ask her, what has changed since her last release.

“Oh, so much. I don’t want to use the word congested, I don’t think that’s the right word but there’s so many more artists now.” She says, adding, “There’s so many different outlets and ways for people to make it or get a following. I think that part is really amazing.”

But the new way people listen to music has some downsides Hilary reckons: “It seems to me people are much more fickle than they used to be. They’ll care about a song but not necessarily an artist. There’s so many artists where I hear the song on the radio or I just hear it randomly and I’m like “Oh I like that I’ll get their song” but back in the day I feel like If you were a fan you buy a record and you would know that person and learn about them and be their fan. I feel like it’s a lot different. It’s like “ok you either have a hit or you don’t” and it’s very quick.”

It’s a thoughtful response and one of many from Duff as we chat. I had expected breezy, one-line answers but she’s happy to expand on the realities of coming back to pop after some time away. She’s embraced social media, something she says is “very informative”. In fact it’s her fans on social media that Duff seems to enjoy connecting with most.

“What really makes the difference for me is what my fans have to say, y’know my actual fans, that follow me on Twitter and I get to connect with everyday. They’re the ones I really wanna make proud”. She notes that after the top five debut for album Stateside she “really couldn’t have expected anything better”.

She says that working on the album “was a long process” and admits that initial material was a “little more ‘folky, earthy sounding’” and her break to film a new TV series and a trip to Sweden earlier this year “really helped bring in that super-pop sound”. The result is a mix of stylized dance-driven pop and acoustic-flecked tunes. Helping her achieve that were a gaggle of talented songwriters and even some fellow popstars. Duff logged studio time with Tove Lo, of mega hit Habits, and pop superstar Ed Sheeran.

“It was great, I’m such a big fan of both of theirs” she says, talking about how her time with Tove Lo lead to the single Sparks. It seems the Swedish pop star left an impression on Hilary.
“Tove is like this, I don’t know, hippy-dippy tough chick y’know. She was unapologetic and I love that. It was really cool to work with her. I’m just a big fan of her writing and her as an artist. I got to spend some time with her in Sweden and it was just a blast. It was really fun”

Sheeran meanwhile gave Duff the track Tattoo which she ended up recording with him in the studio.

“He’s extremely talented and I was nervous to work with him,” she confides. “I’m just a big fan and I didn’t write the song, he wrote the song. He was there when I recorded it and I think you always want to make sure that you’re making the person who wrote the song proud.”

Duff feels that fellow performers can understand each other a little better in the studio, but is honest about how nervous she was getting back into a studio with anyone. “The whole process was nerve-wracking to start, because I hadn’t written in so long and hadn’t just exposed that part of me for a while. So just finding the confidence to come in with an idea. You kind of have to dare to suck.”

Duff didn’t just get attention for her studio time, however. When it came out that she was giving dating app Tinder a go earlier this year it raised some eyebrows and even featured in the first version of the video for Sparks (Although Duff tells me it was always the plan to release a second, dance-orientated version of the video too).

Her Tinder journey making into a video had a simple goal for Duff and her audience by showing what what her day-to-day life. She tells me that when she’s not working she’s just does what anyone would. “Hang at the house, drink wine with my girlfriends,” she says, “and obviously we’re not on Tinder all the time but that was a thing that had actually happened.”

“I didn’t use Tinder for that long” she concedes. “I think my profile is still up but I’m not swiping. It’s really too hard for me. It was a fun thing that I think none of my friends thought I would ever do and I don’t think the world would think I would ever do.”
And although she’s not using it now it definitely was an enjoyable experience for her. “It was a fun social experiment I would say. To be honest there was such normal people on there, there were some weirdos of course but I met really cute normal guys.”

The air of normality and warmth from Duff is clear on the phone and when I ask her about what has kept her grounded despite success at a very early age, she thinks her career break may have helped.

“Honestly, I think taking a break from making records and touring and all that stuff. It was a conscious decision. I didn’t know that I was going to wait 8 years but I know after I was done with my last tour I wasn’t going to work for a while. I was only like 20 or something. And everyone was fucking shocked y’know? I was very successful and everyone was making money, I was doing my thing. It was just a lot. I was realising that as much as I felt grateful for everything I wasn’t so happy because I was a young adult but I didn’t know anything about myself anymore. I hadn’t gotten to grow on my own. I was just like working working working and so protected. Taking that break really let me learn myself and what’s important to me. And kind of kept my head on straight I guess.”
She admits she had her fun and acted silly – “but privately”.

“Then I started to have a family and I just think it’s innately a little bit of who I am and also making conscious decisions about who I surround myself with.”

Despite her time off and her current busy return it seems that getting back to work is on Duff’s agenda now.

“Oh god yeah, I totally want to make a new record.” She enthuses when asked about her goals, clearly itching to get back to making music.
“I have some of the ideas for what I wanna do next and who I’d love to work with and all that stuff. Obviously I’d like to make a record but I think I’ll be touring a little bit with this one in the new year and I start shooting the second season of the show in New York in September”.

While working on that TV series, a well-received comedy called Younger, produced by Sex and the City’s Darren Star, Duff may even try squeeze in an Irish visit. She remembers she “had a great show” when she was in Ireland last and would like to possibly start her tour in Europe.

We wrap up but not before Duff’s French bulldog interrupts her, making her stop mid-chat to berate her pooch, laughing about how “he chews everything”. It’s an off-guard moment but also not a surprise.

I’ve been impressed by how Duff is both honest, down-to-earth and ultimately unguarded when we chat. That mix of likeability and enthusiasm to be back in pop will mean Duff will keep being that “busy lady” for as long as she wants.

‘Breathe In. Breathe Out.’ is out now.

Hilary heeft een interview gehad met pridesource.com.

“I’m like the dorky kid on the bus who’s like, ‘ Hiiii.'”

Wait a minute. Is that you, Lizzie McGuire? Maybe? No.

It’s Hilary Duff, razzing on her cold-ridden, congested-sounding self as she does a nasally nerd impression. And though Duff is known to millennials (and their moms) for originating the dorky Disney icon in 2001 – which, she admits during our interview, has been “torturous” – the 27-year-old is ready to move on. Actually, she’s been ready. It’s the rest of the world that just can’t seem to let Lizzie go.

During an insightful and surprisingly candid conversation, Duff spoke about her career as a whole just hours following June 26’s landmark Supreme Court ruling, which granted full marriage rights to LGBT Americans. The child star-turned-music maker also talked about her latest album, “Breathe In. Breathe Out.” (RCA Records), eight years in the making; the long break she took to find her true self; and not knowing how to be a “totally normal girl who doesn’t give a fuck.”

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Hilary praat met de website advocate.com over het homohuwelijk nadat deze wettelijk legaal werd in de VS.

On the heels of her newest album, Breathe In, Breathe Out, pop singer Hilary Duff explains why she’s happy that marriage equality is now a reality for her gay fans all over the country.

Many people across the nation are already celebrating the good news of the Supreme Court’s historic marriage equality ruling, and included in those celebrants is singer, actress, and proud mother of one Hilary Duff.

“It seems like it’s been such a struggle for acceptance and equality, and it’s crazy but it’s a very exciting day in history,” the pop star and straight ally told The Advocate today. “I think the world is changing. Some areas quicker than others, but I do think it’s easier to be a gay kid going through school now than it was 10 years ago.”

“It’s kind of how it was when I had my baby, like it was just any other day,” Duff said of how she reacted when she first heard the news of this morning’s 5-4 ruling from SCOTUS. “But this is such big news, this big life-changing thing! I feel like this should have happened a long time ago, but it’s just exciting. There’s really no other word for it. I think tonight people will be celebrating, and they have every right to.”

Duff went on to talk about her history with LGBT fans and how excited everyone was the first time she went out to party at famous West Hollywood gay bar the Abbey at a point in her life when she was thinking about making music again.

“I get in there, and the whole place, I don’t know how everyone saw me, but they went ape-shit crazy,” she said. “I thought they were going to carry my body off, like throw me in the air. But in a good way! They were all so excited to see me. I’ve always had big supporters in the gay community, and it really makes me feel so good.”

“I’ve always had gay friends, they’ve always been loving and understanding towards me, and we always have a good time,” Duff continued. “You guys really know how to have a good time.”

Hilary heeft een interview gehad met USA Today, klik hier om ook een kleine video te zien van het interview. Eerder verschenen al outtakes van de bijbehorende portraitsessie.

NEW YORK — Hilary Duff catapulted to fame as the star of Disney’s Lizzie McGuire, which aired from 2001 until 2004.

Eleven years later, she’s back — in what she hopes is a major way. Duff just released her fifth studio album, Breathe In. Breathe Out. and she’s starring in the TV Land series Younger, as the best buddy of a colleague (Sutton Foster) masquerading as a woman half her age; the show has been renewed for a second season.

Plus, she’s making waves in the world of online romance, announcing that she’s on Tinder after filing for divorce from her husband, hockey player Mike Comrie, in February. Now 27, and the mom of son Luca, 3, Duff talks dating, decibels and doing her own thing.

Q: Why release new music now, after taking so much time off?
A: I did a bunch of charity stuff when I first had Luca but I was a mom at home, and I loved it. I was so lucky to be able to make that choice. I decided to take that break. I just started writing again and I hadn’t been writing in years. I guess I felt like I had stuff to say. I took a year and a half. I’m very personal on the record. All I can do is write about things I know and feel, or sing about them.

Q: Which song on the album is the most personal to you?
A: Brave Heart. It’s very personal to me. It’s about my relationship. It’s about taking a step into the unknown. Not knowing if it’s the right thing or the wrong thing but being brave enough to make a choice and stick with it.

Q: You’ve been very open about your breakup. How did you and your ex keep your breakup so amicable?

A: We care very much for each other. We’re really good friends. We’re always going to be a family. There was no other option…. I look back with love. … You have to be a big person. We have fun together and hang out all the time. The press would say we’re getting back together because we spend time together. It’s tough living your life in the public.

Q: That Instagram post with you urging moms to love their bods was great.
A: I am terrible on a diet so I have to work out hard. I feel strong when I do and it’s really good for my brain. I have always been a toned girl. I’m never going to be a super-skinny girl. People in this town are another level — I just can’t. It’s not in the cards for me. I don’t deprive myself of anything. I don’t get it. It took me a long time to lose my baby weight. I didn’t care. I was just so happy.

Q: Your video for Sparks is about you using Tinder. Do you really use Tinder?
A: I’m really on Tinder. But I’m not actively using Tinder. I was fascinated. I have got to see what this is about. We were scrolling through people. It’s addictive. I’m getting on this! Why not? Then the idea sparked of, I was having to come up with concepts for videos, I wanted to marge the two worlds. I wanted to do something unexpected and crazy and fun and have an experience I wouldn’t otherwise have. I’m not currently swiping. I’m too busy. A lot of it was for the video but it started very organically.

Q: Between promoting this and Younger, is it tough being away from home for extended amounts of time?
A: If I had a nine to five job, I’d see (Luca) a lot less than I do now. I can go for weeks without working. I don’t have 24-hour help. On the weekends I’m just his mom. We get really good time together. It’s my job and how I make money and it’s my passion. But yes, it sucks. It’s been three days now and I’m missing his little voice and the hugs.