Last Friday (10), Miley Cyrus’ 8th studio album Endless Summer Vacation was released. The fans were expecting an album full of teases to Liam Hemsworth, her ex-husband, because when she recorded her past album, Plastic Hearts, she was still with him. The expectation was exceeded when “Flowers” came to us in January, at the same date of Liam’s birthday. Miley said on her Instagram that the album has two acts: “A.M.” and “P.M.”, representing the both sides of L.A. She described the first act as a part full of new opportunities and the second as the “wild side” of the night.
FLOWERS
The first track and single of the album was a real success over the public, and with me it wouldn’t be different. It has enchanted me from the first verse. “Flowers” brings many musical references and some teases about her old relationship with the actor Liam Hemsworth, with whom she broke up in august 2019. The references come in the lyrics of the song and are kind of a response to an old Bruno Mars’ song, “When I Was Your Man”. As in the Miley’s song verse “I can buy myself flowers” responding to the Mars’ song “I should’ve bought you flowers”. In addition, the video clip is full of references to her former relationship, as the first outfit in the clip is from Saint Laurent, a brand that both used to wear in public appearances.
The song also carries a message about self-love to the listeners and a reminder that an end of a relationship isn’t the “end of the world”. The track deserved to be the first single and song, but it’s just the beginning to the wonderful album.
JADED
This song is like an apology letter to an ex-boyfriend about the end of the relationship, caused maybe by a certain boredom between the couple. She refers in her husky voice, often used in her last album, a pain caused by the end of the relationship being the way it was. I liked the way she shows her fragility and pain in a song that there’s no sad melody, which brings comfort for those who are listening and don’t pay attention to the lyrics.
ROSE COLORED LENSES
Different from “Jaded”, on this track she shows herself in love, in the beginning of the relationship, “in a wonderland” as she says. The melody brings that feeling of being inside the car, seeing the summer view, living up to the “A.M.” proposed on the album. The writing reminds me of the singer’s teenage time, when she released songs parallel to Hannah Montana.
THOUSAND MILES (FEAT. BRANDI CARLILE)
With a few acoustic instruments, “Thousand Miles” shows the falling of someone. The person knows that she is wrong but she wants to do it anyway. The listeners can interpret in different ways depending on the experiences that they have had. I interpreted a relationship relapse that the person suffered so much, but in the end she missed it and doesn’t resist kissing the one that she loves again.
But Miley wrote it thinking of something different: the track was written when she had the news that her sister’s best friend had taken her life away. Although differing from the other tracks of the album, “Thousand Miles” is a great song to cry and think about life.
YOU
“You” starts with a sensual beat that reminds me of “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever”, by Zayn featuring Taylor Swift. And it continues only with a piano and Miley’s thunderous voice. On this track, she expresses that she wants to do “crazy things” like “get kicked out of bars before two”, but only accompanied with the person whom she dedicated the song to. This track caught my heart so much besides having good writing. Until now, my favorite from the album.
HANDSTAND
To me, the start of the song reminds of a futuristic game, something like a preparation for what is coming. “Handstand” is the closing of the beginning of the album, so I related the first part of the song, which seems like the start of a game, with the fact that in the next track begins a new act. Something like “are you ready?”.
RIVER
Indeed, “Handstand” was like an “are you ready?”, because “River” is a good second act start. As the second part proposal is to represent the L.A. ‘s night, the track brings a dancing melody that reminds of an 80’s fliperama song. Watching the video clip, you realized that nothing is perhaps: Miley doesn’t hide that she was inspired by Madonna to develop the song. One of the lyrics quotes is that the person who she dated is “like a river”, which insinuated that it was just a one night love and it will pass. The song is very contiguous and dancing, deserving to be the second album single.
VIOLET CHEMISTRY
This is for those who want to kiss the ex and need an apology! It brings the pop feeling and matches with the “River” dancing vibe. On this track, Cyrus shows that she still has the talent to make pop and sticky songs. “Stay a while, stay a while with me” will be in my head for a while.
MUDDY FEET (FEAT. SIA)
Wow! She wrote that very angry. “Muddy Feet” is about a woman bored with her partner for something that she figured out, I believe is a betrayal. In the quote “And you smell like perfume that I didn’t purchase, now I know why you’ve been closing the curtains”, she made clear the partner was hiding something. Sia doesn’t show her vocals so much, but does a melody with it in the final part that brings me chills.
WILDCARD
The 10th track tells the story about those who love so much, but know that it is not mutual, then finish the relationship. It starts a little slow, but Miley enhances the song according to her voice. Close to the chorus, the song caught me. The writing is good, I consider the album “wildcard” song, everyone will like it.
ISLAND
“Island” is the one that I liked less, although having good metaphors about the end of her relationship. On “Am I stranded on an island or have I landed in paradise?” she shows she is happy the relationship is over, but still misses what they lived. I’ve learned in therapy that even if we are happy that something ended for a good reason, it’s normal to miss the good moments with the person, since you have a beautiful story. Then Miley had a good call with the related “paradise” and “stranded on an island”.
WONDER WOMAN
“Wonder Woman” is the last song of the album and it surprises all the fans because of its sentimental and strong essence. The writing gets extremely deep when Miley talks about a woman who doesn’t express her weaknesses in front of anyone. All of us know someone who is just like that or even were like that in some part of our lives. It is destructive to be someone who self sabotages and wants to be perfect all the time. It’s not new for the fans that Miley is exactly like that since the Disney’s era.
The 13th album’s track is breathtaking. Reflecting about the act as “P.M”, I believe that she truly wants to represent that hour of the night that we catch ourselves crying and reflecting upon our lives. Miley revealed to Spotify that she wrote the lyrics for her grandmother, who died in 2020. And that is why the song is called “Wonder Woman”. The last impression of the song is that she establishes some parallels with the first track “Flowers”, such as when she says “I can take myself dancing and I can hold my own hand”.
The newest Miley’s album has the promise to be one of the biggest of her career. On the same day as the premiere album, it was released Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Session) at Disney+, in which Miley sings all album songs and tells us about them. Besides that, Miley sang “The Climb”, the most famous Hannah Montana’s song, and thrilled all of the blond girl’s fans. We knew that Miley will always be Hannah, after all “she will always find your way back home”.
The article above was edited by Isadora Costa.
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