Momma Hil, Morrissey Dreams, and a Very California Tuna Melt
A dream collaboration with Morrissey? Now that is a musical curveball we did not have on our Hilary Duff bingo card. Over a very Southern California afternoon at Los Angeles café Loose Cannon, the singer tells Billboard’s Delisa Shannon that she went through a huge Morrissey phase—and the former Smiths frontman would make for one fascinating, if unlikely, duet partner.
Duff is clear that this is a dream, not an announced collaboration. Asked about artists she would love to work with, she first names Alanis Morissette—“my god and my guide”—then admits her Morrissey obsession. She laughs that he would never agree, but in the same breath leaves that delicious little door cracked open: never say never.
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From Morrissey to Alanis: Hilary Duff’s Unexpected Musical Wish List
What makes that Morrissey admission such a compelling little revelation is the contrast: Duff’s bright, millennial pop catalogue alongside the distinctive melancholy of The Smiths. It is exactly the kind of left-field pairing that could make a great song—or at the very least launch a spectacular conversation about what each artist hears in the other. No plans were disclosed, but the taste behind the wish says plenty about Duff’s listening history.
She also wants to make more music with husband and producer Matthew Koma. Duff recalls insisting on joining him when he was recording a cover of a Third Eye Blind song during the pandemic. Koma, she says, often protects her solo creative space; she, meanwhile, would happily invite him further into it.
A Southern California Lunch Fit for Momma Hil
And how great does a Southern California lunch look on Momma Hil? The setting is a character of its own: sunshine and stubborn October heat, a neighborhood café with a line out the door, a chilled coffee, wine, and two absolutely glorious-looking tuna melts. It is the sort of unhurried, deliciously ordinary L.A. afternoon that makes you want to pull up a chair.
Loose Cannon is owned by one of Duff’s oldest friends and her husband. After school drop-off, she sometimes goes out of her way to steal 15 minutes with that friend and take a quick walk. Her beloved Marlowe is an iced cortado topped with salted-maple cloud foam; she even learned to make the foam in the café kitchen, though she concedes her homemade version lacks the finishing touches.
When the tuna melts arrive, the conversation turns wonderfully domestic. Duff admires the dill, celery and grainy mustard in the filling; suddenly the biggest production of the day is a sandwich. There is something refreshingly human about a pop star navigating an arena tour and still taking genuine delight in a good lunch with a friend.
From “Small Rooms, Big Nerves” to a Full-Circle Pop Comeback
Duff does not gloss over the nerves behind her return to concerts. Her intimate Small Rooms, Big Nerves shows were named for precisely what she felt: terror at stepping onstage again after years away. She remembers feeling as though she still knew how to ride a bike but could not quite trust her legs. At the Toronto show, she was also fighting a stomach bug.
Her crowds changed the equation. Fans arrived knowing the older songs and the newer ones, and their enthusiasm helped carry her into the larger Lucky Me Tour. She and her musical director Jacob, working with Koma and the wider team, now consider how to reshuffle songs during a long run. The once-intimidating idea of bringing back a deep cut can feel like play.
Yes, fans have been demanding “The Math”. And although Duff is willing to revisit surprises, “The Girl Can Rock” remains a tougher sell. She says she is not sure she wants to perform it, while wisely declining to pronounce a permanent never.
Blink-182 Nostalgia, Motherhood and the Music That Raised Her
The new record’s connection to Blink-182’s “Dammit” brings another unexpectedly revealing chapter. Duff remembers the soundtrack of gaining her driver’s license, picking up girlfriends and blasting Blink-182 alongside Dashboard Confessional. Koma suggested the interpolation, and Duff remembers wondering whether the band would even say yes.
For INYIM, that is the more interesting story behind a nostalgic musical reference: not simply borrowing a recognizable melody, but repurposing the music of teenage freedom for grown-up friendships and all the texture adulthood adds. Duff also points to Sheryl Crow as a songwriting touchstone and says motherhood runs throughout her album, even when its presence is not spelled out in every lyric.
Spicy Girls’ Nights, Bathroom Vocal Warm-Ups and Reclaiming “With Love”
The interview gets gloriously candid. Duff recalls a wild youthful revenge prank involving cheap canned food left on the lawn of a man who mistreated her friend; nowadays her ideal girls’ night is more likely to mean sitting on a couch laughing until the early hours. She also reveals that her pre-show ritual can mean finding a bathroom with the right acoustics, warming up her voice, doing squats and getting into her personal “pink bubble.”
A more poignant turn comes with the much-memed “With Love” dance. Duff says the routine once brought up painful memories from a difficult period of her life, when jokes about the performance felt far less funny to the person at their center. Reclaiming the choreography on the current tour has changed its meaning: what was once a source of discomfort now belongs to her again.
Elsewhere, she chooses Are You Afraid of the Dark? as a childhood show she would love to reboot, while refusing the request to revive “Santa Claus Lane” on the spot. Between the witches, the wine and the tuna melt, the whole afternoon is as delightfully unpredictable as her dream Morrissey duet.
Hilary Duff at Loose Cannon: Billboard Takes Us Out Interview
Source: Billboard, Takes Us Out interview with Hilary Duff; Hilary Duff official site.
