For those of us who grew up watching Disney Channel, Miley Cyrus has become a fairly common household name when it comes to her impressive success as a child actress and her longstanding, maturing career as a musician.
In a much anticipated revival era, Miley Cyrus dropped her eighth studio album, “Endless Summer Vacation,” on March 10. This release follows the drop of her hit single “Flowers,” on Jan. 12, which topped the charts for eight consecutive weeks.
The album diverts from her previous album, “Plastic Hearts,” a more rock-adjacent project. “Endless Summer Vacation” is a pop-rock collection of empowering anthems and not-so-subtle digs at her ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth. The album itself depicts a mature and self-empowered version of Cyrus that fans have watched her grow into.
The album begins with “Flowers,” an uplifting track with disco elements that encourages listeners to lift themselves up after a breakup, like the one Cyrus has recently endured.
My personal favorite, “Jaded,” the second track on the album, is a backhanded apology directed towards Hemsworth, in which she states “I’m sorry that you’re jaded / I could have taken you places / You’re lonely now and I hate it.” The dig is hard to go unnoticed, especially following her very public, very messy divorce with the C-list actor.
Another one of my favorites, titled “You,” has been previously released on her album “ATTENTION: MILEY LIVE,” as well as being performed at Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party. “You” is a slower love song depicting a romanticized version of a seemingly toxic relationship. The song challenges the classic “Romeo and Juliet” trope, highlighting a lust for recklessness and danger within a given relationship.
Similarly, in track nine, “Muddy Feet” featuring Sia, Cyrus dives even deeper into the mess that Hemsworth created. Cyrus says, “You smell like perfume that I didn’t purchase / Now I know why you’ve been closing the curtains,” which directly relates to Hemsworth’s cheating scandal that occurred during their marriage.
Track six, “Handstand,” begins with a psychedelic monologue introducing an upbeat club song that is very much giving “Bangerz,” Cyrus’ fourth studio album released in 2013. This song is another one of my favorites because it proves that although she is maturing, Cyrus is always one to stick to her roots and the sounds that she loves.
“Rose Colored Lenses” is a song that we can all relate to, with a calming track behind a powerful meaning. Cyrus dives into her habit of ignoring red flags in relationships by saying “Let’s just play pretend.”
Cyrus even included a song that was originally dedicated to her sister entitled “Thousand Miles” featuring Brandi Carlile. The song has undergone slight changes since it was originally written around 2016. “I wrote this song for her. It was originally called ‘Happy Girl’ and it was, ‘I just wanna see you happy and all I really want is for you to be happy, girl,’” says Cyrus.
A fun Hannah Montana Easter egg that Cyrus included in this track was background vocals repeating the words “boom, clap,” which is reminiscent of the song “Hoedown Throwdown,” which made its debut in “Hannah Montana: The Movie” (2009).
All in all, the album is definitely one of my all-time Miley favorites and has been on repeat ever since it’s release. I’m extremely excited to see what she does next while highly anticipating a tour.
