JUNE 19 (Reuters) — U.S. singer and actress Hilary Duff has jumped back into music after an eight year break with the release of her fifth studio album “Breathe In. Breath Out.”
With over 15 years logged in the entertainment industry and records sales that top 15 million worldwide Duff admits it took her awhile to regain her footing.
“It took me a minute to come into my own, you know and be confident to speak up. And know that this is all me, and for me. And for me to express how I feel and what I want to say,” said the 27-year-old.
The Texas native first gained fame in 2001 on the Disney show “Lizzie McGuire” and released her debut album “Metamorphosis” in 2003. The album sold four million copies and climbed to number one on the Billboard 200.
Duff said her return was all about timing.
“It wasn’t the right time until it was, you know, until I was inspired and I felt like I had stuff to say. It was such a big part of my life for such a long time I needed to take a break, I did. I didn’t quite know how long the break was going to be and it ended up to be a pretty long time.”
Part of that break included a marriage to hockey player Mike Comrie in 2010 and the birth of her son in 2012. In 2014 Duff and Comrie announced their separation.
The 12 track album is full of upbeat pop tunes, which Duff said is for the most part autobiographical.
“Everything on the record I connect to, whether I wrote it or I didn’t it grabbed me in a certain way and I wanted to tell the stories. There are very relatable, you know, my relationship of anybody else’s we’ve all been through it before. There is difficult stuff on the record and then there is happy breezy stuff on the record.”
For Duff, the title track of the album, “Breathe In. Breathe Out.” serves as sort of a mantra for her life.
“It’s something that really helps me and I think we all should remember to make all of those breaths count, through the good times and the bad times. You know, just remembering to take a moment and to breathe in and breathe out and let something really soak in, or help move through something. We should appreciate it all, and it’s something that I think has really helped me through the past, you know, three years, or eight years, through life obviously.”
In addition to promoting her new release, Duff is currently starring on the U.S. television network TV Land show, “Younger.”
