Miley Cyrus

The pop singer's self-helpy new single illustrates how her music often doesn't match her star power.

[Endless Summer Vacation](https://pitchfork.com/news/miley-cyrus-announces-new-album-endless-summer-vacation/), starts in a similar position as 2020’s [Plastic Hearts](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/miley-cyrus-plastic-hearts/), with a story of a broken relationship that scans as a reference to her split from ex-husband Liam Hemsworth in 2019. [wheatpaste posters](https://twitter.com/popcrave/status/1604173329723961345) beside the exposed slice of stomach that’s somehow recognizable, all by itself, as [Miley Cyrus](https://pitchfork.com/artists/5996-miley-cyrus/). This time, instead of stomping through heartbreak to the sound of ’80s rock, she’s doing something like twangy disco funk, with a sour string section that gives her revenge anthem the faintest hint of flamenco.

It's difficult to get over a break-up. But I'm feeling nostalgic for a Miley who isn't always singing about or to a man.

Their memory is something that will live with you forever (as Cyrus said of Hemsworth in an interview during the release of Plastic Hearts, “I really do and did love him very, very, very much and still do, always will”) — or at the very least become something you can milk for your art for years to come. And maybe, Cyrus wrote “Flowers” many years ago, when the wound was still fresher. “We were good, we were gold/ Kind of dream that can't be sold/ We were right 'til we weren't/ Built a home and watched it burn,” she sings. And if some fan theories are to be believed, the new song even appears to nudge at the actor more directly. The arrival of “Flowers,” the lead single of her upcoming album Endless Summer Vacation, however, isn’t exactly that — but isn’t not exactly that either. It doesn’t take a detective to gather who “Flowers” is likely about.

Miley Cyrus is back on our screens in her 'Flowers' video in gleaming, goddess-draped vintage Yves Saint Laurent. Vogue takes a closer look here.

[Miley Cyrus](https://www.vogue.com/tag/celebrity/miley-cyrus)’s name to the wall. [Yves Saint Laurent](https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/designer/saint-laurent)’s fall 1991 collection, imagined in metallic lamé and worn around the winding panoramic roads of Los Angeles in her new “Flowers” video. [Barely a fortnight after the Tennessee-born pop superstar welcomed in the new year](https://www.vogue.com/article/miley-cyrus-welcomed-in-2023-with-a-medley-of-vintage-dresses) sporting an ombré [Versace](https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/designer/versace) spring 2006 gown and a sparkling, one-shouldered dress from [Bob Mackie](https://www.vogue.com/projects/13550961/bob-mackie-oral-history-cfda-lifetime-achievement-award-2019-carol-burnett-cher-tom-ford-rupaul)’s fall 2002 collection, she’s back on our screens in gleaming, goddess-draped vintage Yves Saint Laurent.

Miley Cyrus is back on our screens with her 'Flowers' video in gleaming, goddess-draped vintage Yves Saint Laurent.

An amphorae-shaped hooded cut-out gown from Yves Saint Laurent’s autumn/winter 1991/92 collection, imagined in metallic lamé and worn around the winding panoramic roads of Los Angeles in her new “Flowers” video. [sporting an ombré Versace Spring/Summer 2006 gown and a sparkling, one-shouldered dress from Bob Mackie’s Fall/Winter 2002 collection](https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/miley-cyrus-vintage-dresses-nye), she’s back on our screens in gleaming, goddess-draped vintage Yves Saint Laurent. [Miley Cyrus](https://www.teenvogue.com/tag/miley-cyrus)’s name to the wall.

Miley Cyrus dropped her new single on Thursday night (Jan. 12). Is the song about her relationship with ex Liam Hemsworth?

Sweetheart, we’re on the carpet,” he chided at the time. However, when the Access Hollywood personality followed that up by asking what a dance looked like between the couple, Hemsworth didn’t love Cyrus playfully grinding on him. “I would say that losing the house changed us much more than getting married changed us.” Of course, fans will remember that the couple’s Malibu home was destroyed in the devastating Woolsey Fire of 2018, a tragedy Cyrus later admitted spurred her into marrying Hemsworth nearly a decade after they first fell in love. Instead, she nonchalantly declares, “No remorse, no regrets/ I forgive every word you said” before dancing ecstatically around an LA mansion all on her own. [pop](https://www.billboard.com/t/pop/) star might be referencing her now-ex-husband when she announced the single’s Jan. But once the single dropped in full, the superstar got pointedly more specific. Does it feel good where you’re at right now?” she definitely didn’t lie when she said she’s got nerve,” one fan wrote after Cyrus shared the news. “Miley’s telling the world she can love herself better ON LIAM’S BIRTHDAY?! [Miley Cyrus](https://www.billboard.com/artist/miley-cyrus/) dropped her new single “ [Flowers](https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/miley-cyrus-flowers-stream-1235198408/)” on Thursday night, and all signs seem to point to the anthem taking inspiration from her relationship with ex-husband [Liam Hemsworth](https://www.billboard.com/t/liam-hemsworth/). [teasing](https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/miley-cyrus-flowers-shower-teaser-1235195929/) the song’s chorus in a sultry post on social media: “I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand/ Talk to myself for hours, yeah, say things you don’t understand/ I can take myself dancing, I can hold my own hand/ Yeah, I can love me better than you can.” On their own, the lyrics could be about any given ill-fated romance.

To celebrate the release of her latest single, "Flowers", look back on 10 underrated tracks from Miley's chameleonic career.

Saying goodbye to her marriage and heading 'back to the city life', "Slide Away" is a timeless ode to choosing yourself and letting it go. Like a long-awaited, elevated second evolution of "The Climb", it showcases Miley's vocals at their best. From "Jolene" to "Heart of Glass", Miley's gained a rep for iconic covers over the years.

When Miley Cyrus announced that she would be kicking off 2023 with the release of “Flowers,” a new single to precede her forthcoming album Endless Summer ...

Even though it reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, “Can’t Be Tamed” is arguably Cyrus’ least-successful lead single, considering how derided the song and its clunky-metaphor music video became as an adult pivot away from her Disney brand, and how her 2010 album of the same time was bereft of any other crossover hits that could continue her momentum from “Party in the U.S.A.” from the previous year. “Can’t Be Tamed” rules: a throbbing, boisterous dance-pop declaration of independence that recalled Britney Spears’ Blackout sound (always a good thing) and also gestured towards the rise of EDM over the next few years. After the release of Bangerz turned Cyrus into a chart-topping party-starter and Dead Petz brought her on a trippy detour, “Malibu” acted as a palette-cleanser, its soft-rock edges signaling a calmer, more adult vision. “7 Things” turns teen drama into a wholly propulsive product, with Cyrus rattling off her crush’s worst qualities until finally throwing her hands up and admitting her feelings; the heightened emotion works, and begs the listener to climb aboard for the rush of the chorus. And while it’s still early days for “Flowers,” we tried our best to consider its place among Cyrus’ lead singles to date, and humbly rank the new track among the seven that have stood tall for years. After all, Cyrus has spent the majority of her recording career deploying lead singles as hints to upcoming shifts in her sound and style, with clear demarcations between album eras and the tweaks in public persona that the pop superstar adopts for each.

The singer's first track off her anticipated 2023 album is all about healing, renewal, and perhaps, a bit of revenge.

[Stevie Nicks](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a26995702/stevie-nicks-janet-jackson-rock-hall-of-fame/) gave her seal of approval, recording a remix of “Edge of Seventeen" for the record. “I can buy myself flowers / Write my name in the sand,” she sings over a groovy beat. And of course, just when you thought you had her figured out, Cyrus returned in 2020 with Plastic Hearts—a rock-inspired album that would make any Hall-of-Famer proud. But in 2017, she flipped the script with Younger Now, a saccharine record full of whimsy and romance. Hannah was gone, and this was the Miley we ought to know. Since departing her reign on Disney Channel, she’s delivered one curveball after the next—and her latest single, “Flowers,” is no different.

Miley Cyrus has released on a song about moving on from heartbreak on her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth's birthday.

" 'She’s got a man. The former couple met in 2009 while filming an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' "The Last Song" and announced their engagement in 2012. Cyrus began wearing her engagement ring again in early 2016, and the couple married in December 2018 in Tennessee. She’s living in a house playing wife,' " Cyrus said, adding she was also experimenting with drugs and alcohol. "I can buy myself flowers," she sings. [Miley Cyrus](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/12/04/miley-cyrus-opens-up-sobriety-relationship-liam-hemsworth/3823018001/) has moved on from heartbreak — and she's sharing her healing in a new song.

As Miley Cyrus returns to the pop scene with a track reportedly about ex Liam Hemsworth, Ed Power explores the musical phenomenon that is the revenge song.

With Cyrus yet to unveil “Flowers” in full, it’s hard to say whether it will soar to the heights of these great revenge songs of the past. He was in his car listening to the radio when Morissette’s single, “You Oughta Know”, came on – with acid splash lyrics such as “I’m here to remind you/ Of the mess you left when you went away.” “I said, ‘Wow, this girl is angry.’ And then I said, ‘Oh man, I think it’s Alanis,’” Coulier revealed. That he was the villain in all this was news to Coulier. And that record is an exacting act of payback towards a lover who double-crossed the singer. The heartache Cyrus experienced over the end of her marriage is a very different feeling to that experienced by Swift when Gyllenhaal allegedly told her he preferred cool indie rock to her songs. “It’s about a compilation of men that Carly had known, but primarily Warren Beatty,” said Richard Perry, who produced the track. Perhaps it is the spikiness of the emotion. I was seeing someone for a bit of time, and then they ended up physically involved with one of my friends in the same hotel that we were staying in, while I was downstairs. The lyrics to “Cry Me a River” were inspired by his split from Spears. Because while the Renaissance star is nowadays unchallenged as the Queen of Pop, early in her solo career that wasn’t the case. A case in point is “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, the vituperative bopper with which she brought down the curtain every night during her last major world tour (in 2018). But is the urge to share her heartache the only motivation?

Miley Cyrus knows how to serve up hardcore vibes in her videos. In honor of her single "Flowers," here are eight videos that embody the singer's ...

Clad in a cherry red “Oops!...I Did It Again”-inspired latex suit, Miley delivers fiery confessionals about women’s rights and how no one can “f*ck with her freedom.” Her presence is unabashedly bold and fierce in this visual, so much so that you want to slip on your own latex ‘fit and scream the lyrics. “Midnight Sky.” While smizing in the camera, Miley twirls her mic cord and rhythmically coos about her newfound independence from her partner. She happily drinks in this newfound alone time, takes a dive in the pool, does a little yoga, and slips on her sharpest black suit for some carefree dancing. However, once Plastic Hearts Plastic Hearts bursted onto the scene in 2020, Miley practically embodied this personality for her single, “Prisoner.” Serving as unnamed (yet still, iconic) rockstars, the visual sees Miley and Dua Lipa driving a tour bus and roughly spilling red cherry juice on each other before delivering a head-banging performance at a night club. That aura glimmers in the video for “Don’t Call Me Angel,” where she suits up in the boxing ring against her tied-up beau. Miley reflects on the end of a breakup, which many seem to think is about her divorce from ex-husband Liam Hemsworth. Within seconds of the video, viewers are thrown in Miley’s televised “car chase,” eerily similar to that of OJ Simpson. In this era, Miley was in the early throes of her mesmerizing rockstar alter ego. Miley’s presence in this video is pretty unforgettable, and it’s all thanks to her reworked Michael Jordan “23” Bulls jersey-and-shorts combo. That said, there were some memorable highlights from this period, such as her appearance in Mike WiLL Made It’s “23” video. The singer was eager to fly away from her iconic Hannah Montana persona; however, she didn’t embark on this departure quietly. Those unforced moves are the highlights of her visuals, and it feels natural.

Miley Cyrus dropped her new song 'Flowers' on Liam Hemsworth's birthday, and many fans think it's a diss track referencing a Bruno Mars song.

"Once upon a time, it was paradise, once upon a time, I was paralyzed. "I hope your marriage goes better than mine," she said. "Once upon a time, it was made for us woke up one day, it had turned to dust. Cyrus' lyrics are strikingly similar: "I can buy myself flowers, and I can hold my own hand. Built a home and watched it burn," she sings on the song's first verse. We were right 'til we weren't.

Miley Cyrus appears to have taken a swipe at ex-husband Liam Hemsworth in her new song Flowers.

Meanwhile, Miley went on to romance Liily drummer Maxx Morando (R, pictured in 2021) Another video from April of the same year showed deepening tensions between the couple as 2019 wore on. Invest in the tried and tested label here... Miley Cyrus appears to have taken a swipe at ex-husband Liam Hemsworth in her new song Flowers. From raiding the vintage rails for an Alaia bodysuit and Saint Laurent dress, to slipping on a classic lingerie set by cult favourite La Perla. I don't get off on drama or fighting.' Liam said: 'No, no, we're not doing this. When asked by a reporter 'What's a dance number between the two of you look like? Don't do it,' he begged her. 'Don't do it. The bra in question stole the show, with its push-up design, which features softly padded cups and underwiring, cut from delicate lace and tulle. At the time it was believed that Miley wanted to work on their 10-year on-again/off-again relationship and was shocked by Liam suddenly filing for divorce in 2019.

Miley Cyrus' latest breakup song 'Flowers' seems to take a dig at Bruno Mars 'When I Was Your Man”'2013 song.

[Meet Miley Cyrus](/topic/meet-miley-cyrus). [Liam Hemsworth](/topic/liam-hemsworth)and [Bruno](/topic/bruno)Mars. But, there is now a newer generation of celebrities who are out and proud and giving a voice to queer issues and speaking up against discrimination. The music video shows [Miley](/topic/miley)being joyful and empowered after a breakup and buying flowers for herself. In recent years, Hollywood has done some phenomenal work to explore the sensitive topic of homosexuality. Fans think that the song is taking a dig at [Bruno Mars](/topic/bruno-mars)' 'When I Was Your Man' 2013 song.