Hilary Duff returns with her first single in nine years. ‘Mature’ is, curiously, the song in which Duff really “matures”, evolves and, at the same time, reconnects with his roots and his guitar beginnings. This time, however, the sound adopts a more alternative tone, in the vein of Olivia Rodrigo, Aly & AJ or The Veronicas.
‘Mature’ succeeds in offering a catchy but contained melody, which captivates listeners. It doesn’t seek to be an explosive bop, but it manages to relocate Duff in the current landscape, so different from the one he left almost a decade ago.
The lyrics stand out especially, where Duff portrays an older man she dated who took advantage of younger girls, flattering them with phrases like “you are very mature for your age.”
“It’s like me, but from another source” is the clever phrase that opens ‘Mature’. Duff notes how her ex’s new partner looks suspiciously like her: she’s “blonder” and “younger,” to the point that “she could be his daughter.”
The artist unmasks a man who “takes it seriously” but whose “wisdom” is nothing more than a pose that disguises his control over younger women. In ‘Mature’, Hilary Duff dismantles the romantic myth of the age difference and highlights how, behind this idealization, an imbalance of power usually hides. And he does it in a song to listen to on loop.
