Hilary Duff has returned to live performing after a decade, kicking off her ten-show “Small Rooms, Big Nerves” Tour in London on January 19. She also returned to her Disney Channel roots after 23 years, closing the show with a live debut of “What Dreams Are Made Of” from The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
The last time Duff performed live was in 2015, with her last actual tour concluding in 2008. Since then, she’s spent her time getting married, getting divorced, getting married again, having children, and taking on a few acting roles here and there. But in 2025, she returned to music, announcing her next project titled Luck…or Something. The new album drops on February 20, 2026, but Duff is already on the road performing new singles and old favorites.
For the opening night of her brief tour, Duff dusted off some iconic songs from her 2003 album Metamorphosis, like “So Yesterday”, “Metamorphosis”, and “Come Clean”. She also included “Why Not” near the end of the 17-song set, which was featured on both Metamorphosis and The Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack.
Hilary Duff Makes Triumphant Return to the Stage With Small Venues But Big Energy
Hilary Duff also debuted her latest singles, “Mature” and “Roommates”, during the show. But the concert’s conclusion was a hit with all the Millennials in the room. Duff’s inclusion of “What Dreams Are Made Of” marks the first time she’s performed the song since 2003, when she made The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
Performing the song now seems like a homecoming for Duff. She previously claimed she didn’t remember recording it for Disney, being 14 and thrust into the spotlight. But during a November 2025 appearance on the Therapuss podcast, she said she still loves the song.
“I will say, now I love it,” she said. “And when I was filming the movie, I loved it. It was just a weird time, and it wasn’t technically my song. It was a Lizzie McGuire song.”
During the interview, she spoke about “hypothetically” performing “What Dreams Are Made Of” if she “would ever tour again.” Two months later, she’s on the road, closing her shows with an iconic moment in Lizzie McGuire history.
“When I sing it now, I feel a lot of joy,” she added. “I just think there was such a separation back then of me and my music and Lizzie McGuire. I didn’t really get to perform that song live, because I didn’t own it.”
Duff hasn’t yet revealed how she got permission from Disney to perform “What Dreams Are Made Of”. But us real Lizzie fans are just thrilled to hear it from this new, mature perspective.
Photo by Emma McIntyre/Oscars/Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
The post This Is What My Early 2000s Dreams Are Made Of: Hilary Duff Performs ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Classic for the First Time Ever appeared first on VICE.
