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Tag: Miley Cyrus discography

  • Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Is A Direct Assault on the “Purpose” of Men

    Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Is A Direct Assault on the “Purpose” of Men

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    As Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” continues to dominate charts and shatter records in 2024, it bears reflecting on the why of its enduring success. And the longevity it will likely have even decades from now (depending on whether or not humanity can still access streaming services at that point). Over one year on from its initial release—January 13, 2023 (a.k.a. Liam Hemsworth’s thirty-third birthday)—“Flowers” remains not only resonant, but eerily evergreen…in terms of men being, well, rather useless to women. Particularly when it comes to seeking validation and particularly when it comes to representing them as elected officials.

    If 2022 was “the year men flopped” (as if they haven’t been doing just that since time immemorial), 2023, the year that kicked off the Reign of “Flowers,” commenced as the year men were proven totally unnecessary. Granted, this might have already occurred on a more scientific level with the advent of artificial insemination. But, increasingly, the “need” for a man for “emotional support” (or much of anything else) is being called into question by women…well into 2024. Cyrus’ sologamist anthem provides no better example of that. To heighten the sentiment behind the lead single from Endless Summer Vacation, during the same week, there was also Shakira totally eviscerating her ex, Gerard Piqué, via her collaboration with DJ Bizarrap (unofficially called “Pa’ Tipos Como Tú”). It’s a track that addresses not only how he cheated on her with a much younger woman, but his many shortcomings as part of the male species.

    That both singles were released in the same week is telling of a generally “hostile” climate among the collective female psyche that keeps asking: what “purpose” does a man actually serve in my life? Or perhaps more politically correct clarification is required in the present: what “purpose” does a “straight” man serve in my life? But it’s crystal clear to anyone who observes pop culture that the hetero male has been on the shit list for quite some time—no further sexuality exegesis needed. Just say “man” to a woman and it’s enough to evoke all manner of rancor. To a degree that is rarely on par with a man’s reaction to women. Possibly because men are “allowed” to exhibit venomous attitudes in systemic and passive aggressive ways all the time thanks to patriarchy, therefore they’ve channeled their unrepressed rage and chauvinism rather regularly. Regularly enough not to shudder at the mention of the opposite sex, only quiver and cower when that sex puts them in their place. As has been happening with more celebratory frequency (see: the Greta Thunberg-Andrew Tate exchange of 2022). 

    Talking of jubilations, that’s precisely what Cyrus engages in on “Flowers,” which is an unabashed celebration of the self. And all the ways in which it can both survive and thrive without a man around to make a woman wilt rather than grow. To the point of surviving, “Flowers” also adds to the burgeoning list of post-breakup anthems, and goes one step well beyond the mainstay sonic trope for thumbing one’s nose at male callousness: Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” Unlike this classic in the canon of songs that champions female empowerment and the resiliency to be able to move on after a man arbitrarily decides to abandon a relationship (as was the case in Shakira’s situation), “Flowers” doesn’t necessarily suggest any intention of wanting (or needing) to pursue another romance after recovering from the last. This marks it as a very singular contribution to the post-breakup song arsenal in that it defies the convention of suggesting that not only will she move on, but she’ll move on to a new and theoretically “improved” dude. In “Flowers,” Cyrus inherently suggests that she is the only person she needs to simultaneously “get by” and thrive, and that no one (read: no man) will ever be able to love her as well or as caringly and sincerely as herself. 

    While some would counter that the song is targeted primarily at her enduring muse (/ex-husband) of the past few years, Liam Hemsworth, there’s no denying her intent in rendering the lyrics as universally applicable as possible. Catering to the masses of women in this world that Cyrus knows have had or are having or will have the very same revelations after yet another botched attempt at seeking intimacy with a penis-packing human. For even Cyrus has fallen prey to the trap (more than a few times) of believing that she “needed” a man to validate her worth (whereas, at present, she merely wants one [Maxx Morando] for the presumable thrill). And she’s supposed to be pansexual, so what does that say about the “full-on” straight women who give far more credence to straight men than they deserve?

    What’s worse still is that men could easily “keep” a woman if they just made a few slight improvements to their behavior. But a general unwillingness to budge on even the most basic things accumulates into one big pile of bullshit, eventually forcing a woman to put an end to her masochism. Among such basic acts is the occasional ability to express care through a token gesture. Like, say, something as cliche as giving flowers. A trope that Cyrus wields within the chorus, “I can buy myself flowers/Write my name in the sand/Talk to myself for hours/Say things you don’t understand/I can take myself dancin’/I can hold my own hand/Yeah, I can love me better than you can.” Yet she also seeks to decimate the notion that a man is “required” at all to receive flowers. This by declaring that not only is she capable of buying her own bouquet, but that she can also do the other things a man is “supposed to do” (per the established norms of societal, literary and filmic indoctrination)—especially since there’s so few other purposes they can serve in the present apart from at least providing the every-so-often romantic display. 

    Cyrus is not the only one of late in the pop arena to use flowers as a larger metaphor for male inutility. In 2021, Billie Eilish was equally as scandalized by the fuckboy behavior implicated in not even bothering to offer up some goddamn flowers. This being evident on the Happier Than Ever single, “Lost Cause,” during which she laments, “Gave me no flowers/Wish I didn’t care/You’d be gone for hours/Could be anywhere.” This comes after Eilish highlighting the fact that she had to be the one to give him flowers, stating at the beginning of the song, “I sent you flowers/Did you even care?/You ran the shower/And left them by the stairs.” In other words, while she exhibited care for him and their relationship with this thoughtful expression, he, in turn, displayed his total lack of care by not even tending to the flowers—choosing to “water himself” instead. This being a grander allegory for the intrinsic selfishness of the male gender. With the latter lyric, Eilish also seemed to be loosely referencing the 1999 hit from Blink-182, “All The Small Things.” A track from a man that specifically calls out his own appreciation of “little gestures” (so why can’t he understand hers?). Among the few non-repetitive lines in that single being, “​​She left me roses by the stairs/Surprises let me know she cares.” And the least a man can do to return that care is put the fucking roses on display right away. 

    In a more pronounced form of repurposing a male song from the female response perspective, Miley’s “Flowers” overtly reworks the chorus from Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” in which he sings, ​​“I should have bought you flowers/And held your hand/Should have gave you all my hours/When I had the chance/Take you to every party ‘cause all you wanted to do was dance.” Of course, these “insights” tend to come when it’s already too late, and a girl like Cyrus is explaining, “I didn’t wanna leave you/I didn’t wanna fight.” But, in the end, she had to leave for her own sense of self-worth. Which Cyrus can only truly find without the man she ephemerally thought would “complete” her. Thus, her braggadocious flex, “Yeah, I can love me better than/Yeah, I can love me better than you can.” 

    Apart from Eilish realizing this before Cyrus via a flowers analogy, so did MARINA that same summer of 2021, with a song also entitled “Flowers” from her Ancient Dreams in a  Modern Land record. Referring to her five-year long relationship with Clean Bandit member Jack Patterson, MARINA comes to the conclusion, “I would rather not/Betray myself just to keep/Your love at any cost.” The cost so frequently being ignoring the “little things” that add up to one big revelation: he ain’t the one (a similar epiphany had by Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan in The Wedding Singer). 

    MARINA expounds, “With every careless action, you let me slip away/If you just bought me flowers, maybe I would’ve stayed.” The flowers, as usual, are emblematic of something more telling: care. Consideration. Or rather, the absence of it. So, instead, she left Patterson and bought flowers for her damn self, posting a photo with a bouquet in April of 2020 on her Instagram account and captioning it, “I ordered flowers to: myself from: myself And let me tell you, it felt surprisingly great.” Cyrus, it appears, would tend to agree. 

    MARINA was, in fact, so determined to stay true to herself and her standards for how she should be treated that she even broke up with Patterson at arguably the most vulnerable time to do so: during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. Thus, at one point in the promotion cycle of the record, she declared, “I’m not seeing anyone at the moment, but I’ve always enjoyed my own company. I’m pretty good, fortunately, on my own.” As are many women (more and more) at this juncture—for it’s just so much less disappointing than trying to make it work with a man. More often than not, a toxic presence in a woman’s potential for “blooming.” As MARINA phrased it, “The seeds we planted grew/But not like roses do/We had the thorns and leaves/But the buds, they never bloomed/And now my future gleams/With colors bold and bright/In a home that’s filled with love and hope/And a life that just feels right.” “Just right” because, as Miley has pointed out more bluntly, “I can love me better than you can.” 

    To be sure, not every woman—far from it—will be so eager to jump on the anthemic single’s message in practice as opposed to theory (part of that theory translating to dancing one’s ass off alone in their room to it). Most especially the women who are not in the same income tax bracket as the likes of Miley, Billie and MARINA. For the feeling of “radical independence,” in this society, is inextricably linked to having money, and mounds of it. This being the obvious reason for why men have been so determined for so long to keep women out of the game as “exceptional earners” (to use a Britney phrase). As that glass ceiling persists in being shattered, the question of a man’s relevance to a woman’s existence will continue to have an easy answer: he’s not. 

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Miley Cyrus Is In Her No-Frills Music Video Era With “Doctor (Work It Out)”

    Miley Cyrus Is In Her No-Frills Music Video Era With “Doctor (Work It Out)”

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    As is the case with Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus is undoubtedly sitting on a lot of previously unreleased content that’s actually widely available online (e.g., in Del Rey’s latest instance of officially releasing a song that was formerly “from the vault,” there was “Say Yes to Heaven”). And, also like Del Rey, Cyrus is accustomed to some of that content leaking on the internet and then being treated as though it’s part of the “canon” (hear: “Nightmare” and “Last Goodbye”). As for “Doctor (Work It Out),” it was originally an outtake from 2013’s Bangerz. Ironically, it was when Cyrus released that album that she said of her previous output, “Right now, when people go to iTunes and listen to my old music, it’s so irritating to me because I can’t just erase that stuff and start over.” Evidently, though, she didn’t want to erase “Doctor (Work It Out),” instead reviving it not so much because it went viral on TikTok or anything, but because, according to her, “…it just felt like it was so serendipitous, and there were so many alignments and so many moments that made me know that now was the perfect time. And then sometimes things in our past make more sense in our present than they ever did then.”

    Now featuring an even more polished sound from Pharrell Williams (who was already producing the song way back when), the rhythm and bassline is quintessentially him. Awash in sonic twangs and disjointedness, Cyrus seems to have been waiting for this moment to usher in her “Olivia Newton-John meets Cher” era, which she already debuted at the Grammy Awards—most notably during her performance of “Flowers.” But there’s one other diva that the “Doctor (Work It Out)” video seems to be borrowing from and that’s Beyoncé. Specifically, the Beyoncé of the “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” video—which itself famously “borrows” from a formerly obscure Bob Fosse-choreographed performance for The Ed Sullivan Show called “Mexican Breakfast.” Apart from “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” also being a “parentheses title,” it shares visual similarities to what Miley’s doing with her own choreo—not to mention keeping the backdrop blank so as to showcase solely Miley (and her moves).  

    Once again directed by Jacob Bixenman (Cyrus’ go-to for the past few videos), Cyrus is, in many ways, picking up where she left off visually with the sparse “Used To Be Young” (or even the pared-down black-and-white video for Endless Summer Vacation’s second single, “River”—yet another Miley jam chock full of thinly-veiled sexual euphemisms). Except, instead of the black backdrop that she stands in front of while staring into the camera and singing about “being old” in earnest, “Doctor (Work It Out)” goes for the “peppier” color of white to accent the ebullience of the single. Because, yes, there’s nothing more “exuberant” than songs laden with medical-related sexual innuendos. Just ask Jennifer Lopez, who took advantage of that niche musical genre on 2019’s “Medicine” featuring French Montana (who also appeared on the Bangerz track “FU”). Or Carol Douglas, the OG of “sexy” songs using doctors/medical terms as analogies and euphemisms on 1974’s “Doctor’s Orders.” Except, in Miley’s world of medicine, things are much more overt in their salaciousness and far less romantic than the sentiments of Douglas. For example, on the chorus for “Doctor (Work It Out),” Cyrus belts, “I could be your doctor (I could be your doctor)/And I could be your nurse/I think I see the problem/It’s only gon’ get worse (uh, uh)/A midnight medication/Just show me where it hurts (uh)/I need to rock you, baby/Before your body bursts.” Hmmm, wonder what part of the body could possibly “burst” in a scenario like this. 

    What’s more, Miley clearly intends something else apart from the surface meaning of “workin’ it out” when she sings, “I feel like workin’ it out/If that’s somethin’ you wanna do.” In contrast, somebody like Anitta would be more direct with lyrics such as, “We can go right, we can go left/Stay up all night in the argument/Nah, I’d rather have sex.” Obviously, so would Cyrus, she’s just less direct about it (in true American fashion). Wanting to ensure she doesn’t put herself out there before she’s really certain she’s going to get some reciprocation. Ergo, the question, “Are you on the fence?/Stop playing on the side/Are you on the fence?/Don’t waste my damn time (don’t waste my damn time)/Are you on the fence?” She then transitions into even more tawdry, innuendo-laden lyrics with the assurance, “I’ll slip but I won’t slide/Don’t gotta be forever/Just together for the night.” Every man’s favorite promise—especially by 2013 standards, when this song was originally intended for release. 

    Cyrus channels Del Rey in other ways on this track besides the aforementioned by repurposing lyrics of the past into her own. Namely, taking from Def Leppard’s key lyric from “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by singing, “You’re my lover (you’re my lover)/I show you sympathy/Take your sugar (take your sugar)/And pour it into me.” Incidentally, one version of the “Pour Some Sugar On Me” video also prominently features a sledgehammer and a wrecking ball…though not quite so integrally as the device was to Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” video. Which was, technically, another “simplistic” visual (directed by none other than the problematic and then-pervasive Terry Richardson) from Cyrus featuring an austere white background (granted, “Doctor [Work It Out]” has multiple color changes for its backdrop, including pink, black, white and gray) in between those infamous shots of her riding the wrecking ball. The director’s cut of the video, however, is just a close-up shot of Cyrus’ face as she sings her ballad all teary-eyed and snot-nosed (a more than slight nod to Sinead O’Connor in the video for “Nothing Compares 2 U”).

    The fact that a similar form of starkness and simplicity has shown up again back-to-back for “Used To Be Young” and “Doctor (Work It Out)” appears to signal that Cyrus is presently in her “no-frills” era (or “no fucks given,” if you prefer). And even though she at least bothers to put on a wannabe Bob Mackie gown (in truth, it’s a Roberto Cavalli mini dress that looks reminiscent of the vintage Mackie dress she wore to the Grammys), it’s plain to see she wants to keep her visuals decidedly “bare bones” (while also trying to conjure bare boners). Instead, her focus is on the movements she’s making—confident, cool and casual.  

    To the point of being “effortlessly seductive,” of all her previous collaborations with Williams (each one appearing on Bangerz), “4×4,” “#GetItRight,” “Rooting for My Baby” and “On My Own,” “#GetItRight” is the only track that comes close to matching the lasciviousness of “Doctor (Work It Out).” Case in point, Cyrus declaring, “I feel a surge coming over me/I feel it all around my thighs/And chills going up my legs/This is the worst coming out of me/When I came, felt like I could die.” Later, for good measure, she adds, “Don’t you wanna fuel this fire/Before it’s gone?”

    Thus, in many ways, “Doctor (Work It Out)” comes across like the long-lost sister to that particular Williams-produced song. There’s even a bit of foreshadowing to “Flowers” on “#GetItRight,” with Cyrus musing, “You make flowers grow under my bed, yeah.” With any luck, “Doctor (Work It Out)” might have the same effect on your own bed…if you happen to be a gay man.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Between Anitta’s “Use To Be” and Miley Cyrus’ “Used To Be Young,” It Has to Be Asked: Are the Thirty-Something Women Okay, Perception-Wise?

    Between Anitta’s “Use To Be” and Miley Cyrus’ “Used To Be Young,” It Has to Be Asked: Are the Thirty-Something Women Okay, Perception-Wise?

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    There was a minute there when it seemed like society, or at least the representation of it through pop culture, had come a long way from reiterating the message that women are “dead” at thirty. Or, more accurately, their youth is. This was perhaps most succinctly encapsulated by Lily Allen’s 2009 track, “22,” on which she sings such chirpy lyrics as, “When she was twenty-two, the future looked bright/But she’s nearly thirty now and she’s out every night/I see that look in her face, she’s got that look in her eye/She’s thinking, ‘How did I get here?’ and wondering why.” This is followed by the chorus, “It’s sad, but it’s true how society says her life is already over.” And yes, it’s sad but it’s true how even “modern” women are still thinking this way. Especially if we’re to go on Anitta and Miley Cyrus’ latest single releases, both of which have the phrase “used to be” in them. A term that easily connotes some form of lament.

    For Anitta, she’s slightly less sad-sounding about the fact that she “used to be a ho” and now she “ain’t no more.” Because, if we’re to go by the accompanying music video’s narrative, she’s getting married, and she needs to put her former “ho life” ways to rest. Although Anitta might have had the masses thinking this could be about Simone Susinna for a brief second after being spotted with the Italian actor/model all over Europe, she soon after declared, “I’m not dating anyone, I’m single. I’ve always been single.” Or rather, a serial “dater” (read: fucker). Which puts her much more firmly in Selena Gomez’s camp, the latter having released “Single Soon” the same day as Miley’s divergently-themed “Used to Be Young.” But where thirty-one-year-old Gomez seems to be embracing her “single girl life” without a tinge of sadness just because she’s now “over the hill,” Anitta and Miley are patently entering their thirties with something like a white flag. Surrendering to the notion that they have to “grow up” and fall in line, adopting a more “zen” state that only “old ladies” can. Anitta conveys this through images of herself getting married so as to shirk her erstwhile life of ho-ish “sin.” Repenting in her chorus with the lines, “I used to be a ho, but now I ain’t no more/Been swimmin’ through the water, now I’m back to shore/I look at who I did and I’m like, ‘Oh, my Lord.’”

    In the first verse, Anitta then switches to Spanish, singing, “Una perra de raza muy dura de matar/Pero ahora soy mansa y ya no muerdo má’/Rompí mucho corazóne’ y a mí no me lo rompieron/Pero ya yo no quiero, ‘toy tranquila y ya.” The Spanish lyrics translate to, “A very tough breed [more specifically, breed of dog] to kill/But now I’m gentle and I don’t bite anymore/I broke a lot of hearts and they didn’t break mine/But I don’t want to anymore, I’m calm and that’s it.” As though a “switch” has been flipped within Anitta as a result of entering her thirties and now she’s decided it’s time to, as Selena Gomez (and her bestie, Taylor Swift, for that matter) also said, “Calm down.” Or “settle down,” as some prefer to call it. Because, despite all the work Madonna did to negate the idea that you’re expected to put yourself out to pasture by the age of forty, now it seems women are admitting even earlier to being “old” as opposed to “being a slut and doing whatever they want” at any age. As so many women who came before fought for them to be able to (though again, mainly Madonna…and Cher). 

    Instead, things feel like they’re going backwards vis-à-vis women and aging. For example, the existence of a recently-circulating meme featuring Margot Robbie with the phrase, “Life doesn’t end after thirty, she’s proof of that.” It makes one want to positively vomit. As though we need a thirty-something representation of Barbie to assure us that one’s thirties (as a woman, mind you) aren’t a death sentence. A form of thinking that is so fucking retro that we have to wonder if we’re even actually in the twenty-first century, and any progress has truly been made with regard to women’s viewpoints about their own age. Some, of course, will try to say that it’s actually “positive” for women to have candid conversations about getting older, but, once more, it has to be emphasized that talking about being old at thirty only serves to reinforce the false belief that youth is a commodity reserved strictly for teens and twenty-somethings when that simply isn’t the case. The adage, “You’re as young as you feel” ought to be brought up more regularly. Especially for a generation—millennials—that has been so often accused of having Peter Pan syndrome. Now, it seems, they’re only too willing to pass the youth torch on to banal Gen Z despite not being anywhere near “old” at all. Alas, not if we’re to go by the current trend in pop culture to brand people in their thirties and forties as “elderly.”

    Although there did seem to be a blip of evolution, the culprit for this regression toward branding thirty as “old” is, undeniably, TikTok, which is overrun by thirteen-year-olds who are the “tastemakers” of society at this moment (and possibly for the foreseeable future). So, of course, they’re going to view women in their thirties as “old,” never imagining that they themselves could reach that age from their cush vantage at thirteen. Ergo, the callous ability to come up with a trend based on Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” that compares celebrity women in their current state to photos of them when they were younger, as though to highlight that their “jig is up” because they’ve committed the “sin” of aging. And yes, Madonna herself stated (with her sardonic tone) in a speech for the 2016 Billboard Women in Music Awards, “Do not age. Because to age is a sin. You will be criticized, you will be vilified, and you will definitely not be played on the radio.” Nor will you get as much film work if you’re an actress. Something Charlize Theron, at forty-eight, is starting to contend with as she, too, puts up a white flag and surrenders, “I’m old” the way Anitta and Miley seem to be alluding to already at the outset of their thirties. As though women themselves needed to give narrow-minded patriarchal perspectives about aging any more clout. And yes, it’s all still rooted in the primal idea that a woman is “old” once she’s not of “child-bearing age.” But with the advancement of science, we’ve seen that women can have children well beyond their thirties. Even if they’re not nearly as embraced for doing so as men like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. To boot, with the rapid progress of cosmetic products and surgery, we’ve seen Aaliyah’s “age ain’t nothin’ but a number” aphorism realized. And both Anitta and Miley (but especially Anitta) have enjoyed their share of expensive ways to physically “enhance” themselves. 

    This is, in part, why it makes it even worse that they should go to all that trouble to stay looking young and yet still slap themselves with an “older now” demarcation. After all, “The confluence of celebrity culture and the ability to manipulate every casual selfie has created the sense that we are not meant to look old at all.” So why should women who look young cause a further mind fuck by declaring that they’re old? It just seems sort of counterproductive to a positive self-perception. Because when the likes of Anitta and Miley arrive in their forties and fifties, what will they say about themselves then? That they’re crypt-keepers? And all while women who are actually in their forties and fifties work far harder to appear in Anitta and Miley’s age bracket. Including someone like Kylie Minogue, whose recent hit, “Padam Padam,” highlights lyrics that are decidedly “too youthful” for a woman in her mid-fifties. Meanwhile, Anitta and Miley are looking the gift horse of their youth in the mouth by casually writing it off as being “old.” With Cyrus essentially insisting that she can no longer be “crazy” or “fun” because those things have been buried with the teen and twenty-something Miley. As though all such traces of “wildness” ought to be if a girl is to “transcend” fully into a woman (not that Britney ever chose to, still overtly holding on to what she said long ago, “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman”). 

    Maybe Cyrus thinks she’s doing a service to the women her age by “mourning the loss of her youth” at thirty, giving them permission to finally “mature” and “let go of childish things” such as drinking, drugging and ho’ing (as Anitta more or less calls it). But, in the end, it serves to underscore the already damaging idea that only those who are “Lolita age” can be classified as young (and yes, that entails fairly perverse implications about our society).

    Carrie Bradshaw, who existed most potently in the 00s—a time now known for its deeply problematic worldviews—once said to Samantha Jones, “It’s time for ladies my age to start covering it up. We can’t get away with the same stuff we used to” (cue Madonna gyrating to “Hung Up” in a leotard in her fifties as a big “fuck you” to that statement). And “getting away” with such “stuff” is only going to be made even more of a challenge for those women who don’t want to “button up at thirty” thanks to vibrant thirty-year-old women like Anitta and Miley playing up the notion of being “aged” once a girl’s twenties have concluded. 

    Like her aforementioned contemporary, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse also had her own choice words for “sad women” that dared to turn thirty. And they appear via the lyrics, “Don’t get mad at me ‘cause you’re pushin’ thirty, and your old tricks no longer work” (Winehouse, as we know, wouldn’t live to thirty herself to find out). Perhaps still taking such a message to heart, Anitta and Miley are using the “trick” of running an offense on being automatically perceived as “irrelevant” just because they’ve hit their thirties. A maneuver that itself seeks to make it harder for other women (even “normal” ones in addition to famous ones) to be seen as relevant just because their birth year is no longer keeping them in the “right” decade.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • The Singular Woes of the “Geriatric” Pop Star: Miley Cyrus’ “Used to Be Young”

    The Singular Woes of the “Geriatric” Pop Star: Miley Cyrus’ “Used to Be Young”

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    In the spirit of “close-up videos” that have come before, including Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Gwen Stefani’s “Used to Love You,” Selena Gomez’s “Lose You To Love Me” and even Madonna’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” (with its slow tracking shot eventually leading to a close-up on M’s face), Miley Cyrus intends for her audience to know she means Serious Business with the earnest simplicity of the Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter-directed video for her latest single, “Used to Be Young.”

    For those who would rightly balk at Cyrus effectively branding herself as “old” at thirty, one need only look back at all the venomous flak Madonna got (and gets) for continuing to be a successful pop star into her thirties (and well beyond). Told to pack it in and cover up, Madonna refused to do anything of the kind. Indeed, despite all the barriers she broke down for women like Cyrus to continue into their “old” age, female pop stars are still keenly aware of the tick of the clock when they enter their thirties. Even someone as theoretically “untouchable” and “failproof” as Taylor Swift knows that “nothing gold can stay.” Which is why she commented to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, about a month from her thirty-third birthday, that she was a geriatric pop star. Therefore, amazed that she can still break all these records as she told Fallon, “It’s like, you know, I’m thirty-two. So we’re considered geriatric pop stars.” Both Swift’s and Cyrus’ sense of “jocularity” about aging in the pop arena is meant to mask an inherent fear about “losing their job” as a result of losing relevancy. 

    As Swift put it in 2020’s Miss Americana, “It’s a lot to process because we do exist in this society where women in entertainment are discarded in an elephant graveyard by the time they’re thirty-five. Everyone’s a shiny, new toy for, like, two years. The female artists that I know of have reinvented themselves twenty times more than the male artists. They have to…or else you’re out of a job. Constantly having to reinvent, constantly finding new facets of yourself that people find to be shiny… This is probably one of my last opportunities as an artist to grasp onto that kind of success. So I don’t know, like, as I’m reaching thirty, I’m like, ‘I want to work really hard, um, while society is still tolerating me being successful.’” In that sense, evermore‘s “tolerate it” could also be about society still “tolerating” her success. And oh how they’ve been tolerating it with the Eras Tour. The massive, arena-hopping juggernaut that has found Swift ramping up her parasocial relationships as Cyrus seeks to shirk live touring altogether. And yes, Cyrus received quite a bit of backlash for comments she made in a British Vogue article from earlier this year, during which writer Giles Hattersley described, “Cyrus was known to give everything on tour. She would perform for hours, take requests, not quit that stage until she was pretty sure every single person had had the night of their lives, swaying to ‘We Can’t Stop,’ bouncing to ‘Party in the USA,’ shedding a tear to ‘The Climb.’ Now she’s not sure she can do it anymore; certainly not in the foreseeable. He then quotes Cyrus as saying, “It’s been a minute. After the last [headline arena] show I did [in 2014], I kind of looked at it as more of a question. And I can’t. Not only ‘can’t,’ because can’t is your capability, but my desire. Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfillment other than my own?” 

    The answer appears to lie somewhere between yes and no, as she still works hard to please the fans. This latest single released so soon after her album, Endless Summer Vacation, being a case in point. And it seems she was planning “Used to Be Young” for a while, as she also mentioned it in that British Vogue article from May. Appropriately, it came up after she recounted how “a songwriter came to her with a track” that prompted her to say, “It was like, you know, the standard fucked up in the club track. And I was like, ‘I’m two years sober. That’s not where I spend my time, you know. You’re more likely to catch me and my friends literally walking through rose gardens or going to a museum… It’s not about being self-serious. I’m just evolved.” Hattersley then concludes, It inspired her to write a different song. She hopes to release it soon, she explains, as she recites a line from it to me, her eye contact steady, her voice calm. ‘I know I used to be crazy,’ she says. ‘I know I used to be fun. You say I used to be wild. I say I used to be young.’”

    Of course, to some, this comes across as though Cyrus is essentially saying you become boring and banal after your twenties, a trope that, quite honestly, doesn’t need to be reemphasized. Least of all to the already highly age-discriminatory Gen Z (see: the “Young and Beautiful” TikTok trend), which seems to have no awareness that their own “jig is up” fate as Alpha comes up the rear on “youth supremacy.” Then again, once everyone becomes a humanoid, perhaps age really will be rendered immaterial. In the meantime, Cyrus continues the tradition of confirming that one can only be “wild” in their youth (at least, “acceptably wild” anyway, for to continue that behavior into later years amounts to what we see on Britney Spears’ Instagram). Thus, she offers the staid, understated video for “Used to Be Young,” during which her figure cuts through a black space to approach the camera wearing a red sequined leotard with a white sleeveless Mickey Mouse shirt peeking out of the top. This being an obvious nod to her Disney days as Hannah Montana. The girl she ultimately had to kill over and over again with the type of wild behavior she also addresses on songs like “D.R.E.A.M.” (Drugs Rule Everything Around Me). Addressing it once more here, Cyrus appears to do it with a greater sense of gravity as she feels as though her youth is “spent” for real this time, whereas before she was merely talking about being “old” from the still-naive perspective of her twenties. But again, we apparently need to reiterate that being in one’s thirties isn’t old either. Even though Cyrus’ Disney star contemporary, Selena Gomez, also seems to feel that way if we’re to go on her comment about being “too old” for social media.

    But maybe there is something to why these pop stars who are still actually young tend to feel so old by their thirties. It’s a wizening lifestyle, after all. Even though you’re supposed to keep looking young no matter how old you feel—this belying the adage, “You’re as young as you feel.” If that’s true, no wonder Cyrus feels positively decrepit. Cyrus’ examination of age and it occasionally being “nothin’ but a number” were also apparent on 2017’s country twangin’ “Younger Now,” during which she claimed, “I feel so much younger now.” Six years later, that’s evidently no longer the case, with Cyrus both mourning and welcoming the loss of her youthful rebellion. This shining through as she gives Claire Danes a run for her “crying face” money right from the outset of the video, realizing that she’s “left [her] living fast/Somewhere in the past/‘Cause that’s for chasing cars/Turns out open bars/Lead to broken hearts/And going way too far.” This is something many a pop star has had to learn the hard way over the years, especially if they came of age in the 00s. Just look at Britney Spears, Lily Allen (who once sang vis-à-vis a woman approaching thirty, “It’s sad but it’s true how society says her life is already over”) or Amy Winehouse—the latter of whom didn’t even survive the follies and wildness of her youth. All three women were endlessly dragged through the tabloid mud for their “exploits,” though if they were men, such behavior would have been par for the course. 

    At the one-minute, eighteen-second mark of the video, a crack of light starts to appear as the doors to the soundstage part. As though to symbolically indicate there’s some positivity to growing “old.” Even for a pop star. For one thing, it means more leeway with creative expression, ergo the ability to release a song like this. With its frank subject matter and sparse piano instrumentation thanks to co-production from Cyrus, Michael Pollack and Shawn Everett, something about its intonation might also remind listeners of “Never Be Me” from 2020’s Plastic Hearts. A song that shows Miley, only two years ago, insisting that she could never be “stable” or “faithful.” Two qualities that are decidedly associated with being “old” a.k.a. mature. But maybe Miley could be those things now that she’s decided to relinquish the wildness of her past. Or so she says.

    However, knowing Miley (and pop stardom), it’s more likely she’ll flip-flop again to echo what MARINA sang on 2015’s “Can’t Pin Me Down”: “You ain’t got me sussed yet/You’re not even close/Baby, it’s the one thing/That I hate the most/All these contradictions pouring out of me/Just another girl in the twenty-first century/I am never gonna give you anything you expect/You think I’m like the others/Boy, you need to get your eyes checked, checked/You can paint me any colorAnd I can be your clown/But you ain’t got my number/No, you can’t pin me down.”

    And, as fellow “geriatric” pop star Taylor Swift mentioned, preserving one’s career as a female pop star depends on that kind of “elusiveness.” As she sardonically phrased it in Miss Americana, “Be new to us, be young to us, but only in a new way and only in the way we want. And reinvent yourself, but only in a way that we find to be equally comforting but also a challenge for you. Live out a narrative that we find to be interesting enough to entertain us, but not so crazy that it makes us uncomfortable.” Nonetheless, Cyrus might actually be making people too uncomfortable with all this talk of age and time passing. Decidedly “unsexy” topics in the realm of pop stardom. Even when you’ve had bouts as a rock and country star embedded within that framework.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Endless Summer Vacation Shows Off Miley Cyrus’ Internal War Between the Carefree, Independent Spirit and the Hopeless Romantic

    Endless Summer Vacation Shows Off Miley Cyrus’ Internal War Between the Carefree, Independent Spirit and the Hopeless Romantic

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    Although Miley Cyrus set the tone for her new record, Endless Summer Vacation, with the sologamist anthem that is “Flowers” (the track that also kicks off the album), there are many incohesive statements regarding love and attachment on what marks Cyrus’ eight studio effort. Billed as a so-called love letter to Los Angeles (though those moments feel few and far between), Cyrus isn’t exactly giving Lana Del Rey a run for her money on paying homage to that milieu. And it does bear noting that both transplants have seemed to make L.A. into their “forever home.” Though, when it comes to a Sagittarius like Miley, “forever” can be a more laughable word than it is to most.

    Cyrus’ Sagittarian steez indeed takes hold of the entire album. Not just in how schizophrenic the emotions expressed can be, but also the sonic landscape itself. For if listeners thought “Flowers” was going to be a consistent benchmark, they would immediately realize otherwise via the tonal shift that takes place on “Jaded,” a twangy semi-ballad in the spirit of “Angels Like You”—complete with the part where Miley takes the blame for a relationship’s inability to work out. So it is that she declares, “I’m sorry that you’re jaded/I could’ve taken you places/You’re lonely now and I hate it/I’m sorry that you’re jaded.” But not sorry enough to have been a little less “cuckoo,” as the opposite sex so often likes to brand women that are too “emotional.” Still, Cyrus isn’t the only one responsible for the “misdeeds” that led to the end of this whirlwind, reminding, “You’re not even willin’ to look at your part/You just jump in the car and head down to thе bar ’til you’re blurry/Don’t know when to stop, so you take it too far/I don’t know whеre you are and I’m left in the dark ’til I’m worried.” This echoes fellow L.A. lover Billie Eilish’s sentiments on “Happier Than Ever” when she sings, “You call me again, drunk in your Benz/Driving home under the influence/You scared me to death, but I’m wasting my breath/‘Cause you only listen to your fucking friends.” The bottom line appearing to be: men can’t deal with their emotions, so they drown them in the numbing agent of alcohol.

    The theme switches up sonically and lyrically again on “Rose Colored Lenses,” with Cyrus ruminating on the promise of a new relationship to an alt-rock tune. The promise of it, of course, depends on keeping the rose-colored glasses on (hence, name-checking the album’s title in this particular song). This usually involves never leaving the sex haze of the room (“Never wanna leave this room”) one is in with that new person. Perhaps like her own version of “La Vie En Rose,” Cyrus suggests, with the benefit of her glasses on, “We could stay like this forever, lost in wonderland/With our head above the clouds, falling stupid like we’re kids/Wearing rose-colored lenses, let’s just play pretend/Wearing rose-colored lenses, pretend we’ll never end.” Sooner or later, unfortunately, the door to the sex room has to open, and real life has to creep in. If for no other reason than to wash the sheets (“Somehow the bedsheets are dirty/Like sticky sweet lemonade”).

    Yet real life still doesn’t quite creep in on “Thousand Miles” featuring Brandi Carlile. Ideal for soundtracking the life of Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) on Poker Face, Cyrus ramps up her twang again to sing, “I’m not always right, but still, I ain’t got time for what went wrong/Where I end up, I don’t really care/I’m out of my mind, but still, I’m holding on like a rolling stone/A thousand miles from anywhere.” A harmonica instrumental toward the end punctuates the “ramblin’ man” vibe of the song before leading into “You.” Sadly released too late to serve as the theme song for the show of the same name, “You” was already premiered during Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party. Another stripped-down, mid-tempo kind of ballad that the former Hannah Montana has perfected over the years, Cyrus insists, “I want that late-night sweet magic, that forever-lasting/I’m kind of crazy ’cause that’s how you make me/I don’t need Jesus ’cause, baby, you saved me, I’m done/But only if it’s with you, oh.” It’s the type of song one could also imagine being in a 90s romance road movie (maybe even, sardonically, Natural Born Killers).

    The transition from “AM” to “PM” that Cyrus mentioned while discussing the album for the Disney+ special, Miley Cyrus – Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), occurs with “Handstand.” It instantly demarcates itself as the most auditorily divergent song on Endless Summer Vacation. And yes, “Handstand” also possess a few Del Rey connections. For one, the spoken word poetry sound of her intro that harkens back to Del Rey reciting T. S. Eliot on Honeymoon’s “Burnt Norton,” and, for another, flexing about being able to do a handstand while Del Rey recently admitted to far less agility via the lyric, “I haven’t done a cartwheel since I was nine.” So one imagines a handstand is out of the question as well. Cyrus’ commitment to fitness, however, has never been more apparent than it is with this album’s promotion. Not just in the Madonna-reminiscent (see: the image from the Sex book where she’s suspended in mid-air naked) cover, but in a video like “Flowers,” wherein she shows off her physical prowess as though to say to anyone who ever thought it was a good idea to leave her: look what you’re missing. To that end, Cyrus always comes across as the one to leave first, following the adage, “Leave before you’re left.” And, if possible, do a handstand on the way out. Perhaps some of the reason behind the uniquely different sound on this track comes from Harmony Korine collaborating on the lyrics (likely the spoken ones). But the following bravado-oozing lines feel like they’re all Miley: You’re questioning the science, ’cause you don’t understand/How I’m doing what I’m doing in a fucking handstand/You found it so impressive that I do it again/My other one is busy, so I use my left hand.”

    Shifting sounds like shifting gears (a car analogy for an “L.A. record,” after all), “River,” the second single from Endless Summer Vacation, switches things up after that brief foray into the auditory equivalent of a drug trip. “River” is instead awash in the 80s-inspired beats that characterized Bangerz (hip hop appropriating though it might be), “River” is as sexual as one would expect from a Sag like Cyrus, who can’t help but use the word to her innuendo-making advantage. This includes lyrics like, “Heart beats so loud that it’s drownin’ me out/Livin’ in an April shower/You’re pourin’ down, baby, drown me out.” If it was slightly more seductive-sounding, it could easily pass for lyrics on Madonna’s “Where Life Begins” from Erotica, during which she sensually notes, “I’m glad you brought your raincoat/I think it’s beginning to rain.” Splooge, cum, orgasm—get it? Anyway, Miley’s in good company now for making such overt allusions using water.

    With James Blake and Sia joining in on the songwriting credits for “Violet Chemistry,” there feels like a bit of tonal influence from both as Cyrus creates something like a thematic follow-up (nightlife-wise) to “Midnight Sky.” With the latter remarking, “Yeah, it’s been a long night and the mirror’s tellin’ me to go home/But it’s been a long time since I felt this good on my own,” “Violet Chemistry” offers, “Tonight, we’ll just be wrong/Ain’t done this in so long/We ain’t gotta talk, baby, we’ll keep the stereo on/Stay a while, stay a while with me/Stay a while, don’t deny the violet chemistry.” Cyrus is also sure to mention that she doesn’t really care if this is a one-night stand or “eternity,” she just wants that carnal flesh now, announcing, “There’s something between us that’s too major to ignore/May not be eternal but nocturnal, nothin’ more.” This might be the most L.A.-oriented element on the record, in fact.

    Returning to playing the jilted lover we first got to know on “Flowers,” “Muddy Feet” featuring Sia feels like another dig at Liam Hemsworth as Cyrus spits accusations like, “Back and forth/Always questioning my questioning/Get thе fuck out of my head with that shit/Get the fuck out of my bеd with that shit.” She also wants the person in question to “get the fuck out of my house with that shit,” having cultivated her own space in the wake of the divorce—reminding one of the Whoopi Goldberg aphorism on marriage, “I don’t want somebody in my house.” Especially if they have muddy feet. Elsewhere, Cyrus adds with venom in her voice, “You’ve watered the weeds and you killed all the roses/Worthy arrives when the other door closes.” Even if the “worthy” being turns out to be yourself (as “Flowers” reminds). Sia joins in for the “Woah, oh, oh, oh, mm” outro that fleshes the song out before leading into “Wildcard.” Another Sag anthem, to be sure.

    Questioning her “adroitness” in playing the role of “wifey” (a.k.a. being monogamous), the conflicted feelings Cyrus displays throughout Endless Summer Vacation are at total war here. On the one hand, she wants a love that lasts forever (that impossible word again), but on the other, she’s a free spirit who “can’t be tamed.” And so, as though providing her version of Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Cyrus addresses the difficulties presented in pursuing a wildcard like her as she opens with the wry verse, “Do you wanna play house?/I could be your wife/Go and meet your mom in a dress too tight/Maybe I could stay and not break your heart/But don’t forget, baby, I’m a wildcard.”

    The push and pull of the life monogamous versus the life sologamous additionally shows up in the lines, “I love when you hold me/But loving you is never enough/And don’t wait for me/‘Cause forever may never come.” Cyrus also gives a nod to “Flowers” with the lyrics, “I walk in the door, with my lips stained red/Pillows on the floor and the flowers dead.” The implication being that she’ll have to buy her own again, now that she’s caused another relationship rupture with her wildcard tendencies. The emotions of this segue perfectly into “Island,” on which Miley ponders whether she truly loves being alone or not. Musically, there’s a slight hint of interpolating George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” as Cyrus goes over the pros and cons of being so steadfastly independent. Indeed, to be as independent as she announced she could be on “Flowers,” it’s no secret that one has to be rich. The kind of rich that can get you away from all the riffraff. Private island rich, if you will. Thus, Cyrus describes the scene, “I’m on an island, dirty dancing in the sun/So close to heaven, but so far from everyone/Yeah, I’ve got treasures buried underneath the sand/But I’m still wishing for the love that I don’t have.” In short, it has a very “money can’t buy happiness” motif. Further intensified by Cyrus asking throughout the chorus, “Am I stranded on an island? Or have I landed in paradise?” Many actual island dwellers are forced to ask themselves the same thing outside the summer months. Because no, despite climate change, it’s no endless summer vacation for the “ordinaries” in this life.

    It appears that, in the end, Cyrus decides in favor of independence on this track, noting, “And I won’t lie, it sure gets lonely here at night/But no one here needs nothin’ from me and it’s kind of nice.” This assertion, however, is once more belied by a track like “Wonder Woman,” the true denouement of the album (because the demo of “Flowers” doesn’t really count). Like the faint tinges of “Careless Whisper” on “Island,” this ballad has traces of Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” all over it. Accordingly, it’s designed to be type of song that will wreak tears as Cyrus speaks of the proverbial “strong female” who never dares to show emotion (lest it slow her down with accusations of being “weak”). Dissecting the fragility of women and how they’re made to feel as though it’s an Achilles’ heel rather than a source of strength, Miley once more channels Madonna via her 2015 song, “Joan of Arc.” On it, Madonna laments, “I never admit it, but it hurts/I don’t wanna talk about it right now…/I’m not Joan of Arc, not yet/But I’m in the dark, yeah/I can’t be a superhero right now/Even hearts made out of steel can break down/I’m not Joan of Arc, not yet/I’m only human.”

    Alas, the last thing patriarchal society wants women to be is human. Miley knows this only too well as she depicts the “wonder woman” who stifles it all, singing, “She’s a wonder woman/She knows what she likes/Never know she’s broken/‘Cause she’s always fine/She’s a million moments/Lived a thousand lives/Never know she’s hopeless/Only when she cries.” And when she does cry, it’s of course only in private…otherwise, she might be branded as “crazy” like Britney Spears (recently accused of being just that once more after crying in an Instagram video). Vulnerability is, after all, not “sexy,” right?

    As for the bouts of vulnerability Cyrus reveals on Endless Summer Vacation, they ultimately betray her “tough girl” act. This is also reflective in her breakaway from RCA Records for the release of this album in order to fulfill a different contract with Columbia (sorry Mariah). The perk? It’s in conjunction with her own Smiley Miley imprint. Therefore, Cyrus is simultaneously mirroring the independent spirit of most musicians during this epoch while also holding fast to the romanticism associated with having a Major Label Deal. In effect, it’s never been a more schizophrenic time to be alive. Especially for a woman. And that much is chaotically (but catchily) conveyed on Endless Summer Vacation.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Takes the Sologamy Message of “thank u, next” To A New Level

    Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Takes the Sologamy Message of “thank u, next” To A New Level

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    At the beginning of 2019, Ariana Grande was coming out of a whirlwind romance (complete with an engagement) to Pete Davidson. No one was all that upset about the breakup. After all, it had yielded an iconic meme involving a lollipop and, then, as Arianators were to find out, the best album of her discography. Called thank u, next, the eponymous first single took a candid, clear look at her relationships past, listing out the men by name as follows: “Thought I’d end up with Sean/But he wasn’t a match/Wrote some songs about Ricky/Now I listen and laugh/Even almost got married/And for Pete, I’m so thankful/Wish I could say ‘thank you’ to Malcolm/‘Cause he was an angel.” Obviously, not “angel” enough to make it worth it for Ari to stick around and endure his drug addiction, but hey, one can’t speak of ill of the dead. The point is, “thank u, next” was not only the sonic equivalent of Lindsay Lohan’s “fuck list,” it was also a slow unveiling of Grande’s revelation about how the relationship one has with herself is ultimately the greatest love affair of all.

    As far as societal messages geared toward hetero women go, this has always been deemed extremely dangerous (which is why it still remains rare). With every fairy tale and rom-com peddled, women are repeatedly told that, sure, you can pretend to be “content” with singledom for a while—have your fun on the dance floor, relish random one-night stands, etc.—but, eventually, you’re going to equate your self-worth and value with “finding a man.” In short, “it” follows. That ever-lingering, deep-seated mantra that goes: fall in “love,” get married and have kids. When someone like Grande—all “cute” and mainstream—briefly appeared to be quashing that mantra, it was a momentous occasion in pop culture. For, although she could have made yet another breakup with a man who couldn’t “get the job done” (least of all intellectually) come across as “heartbreaking,” she decided to render the single into a joyful celebration of the self. This being most manifest in the lyrics, “Plus, I met someone else/We havin’ better discussions/I know they say I move on too fast/But this one gon’ last ‘cause her name is Ari/And I’m so good with that.” Yes, that’s right—Grande effectively declared herself as her lifelong soul mate (Lana Del Rey once did the same, albeit in a tweet). Britney Spears has lately done something similar on her Instagram account by dressing in a wedding down and declaring she’s married herself… despite being married to the hologram known as Sam Asghari. In short, sologamy has become less and less of a “joke” (as Carrie Bradshaw sort of made it so that she could get her friend to replace her Manolo Blahniks by establishing her “gift registry” at said store). Instead, it’s starting to make all the sense in the world.

    Alas, that message felt a bit hollow when Grande married Dalton Gomez two years after “thank u, next” (yes, she really does move on fast). So now, Miley Cyrus has come along to pick up the slack and more confidently walk her talk. All while continuing to shade former flame/husband, Liam Hemsworth (e.g., “We were right ’til we weren’t/Built a home and watched it burn”). What’s more, it is absolutely no coincidence that Miley chose to drop the single and video for “Flowers” on Hemsworth’s thirty-third birthday. For those wondering how or why Cyrus could still be so “petty” by continuing to reference Hemsworth in her music (he being the dominant “muse” for the last few years), know this: women don’t forget their romantic slights. Their Love Is A Battlefield wounds. They can talk about it for the rest of their life (especially if it’s profitable), spend ages dissecting what went wrong or what caused the about-face in a man’s attitude toward her. Taylor Swift has created arguably the most enduring career out of it. And the obvious answer to “what went wrong,” of course, is that the girl in question “got too comfortable.” Was made to believe that she could ever truly be accepted without some form of veneer. But men, whether “cognizant” of it or not, need the veneers they swear mean nothing in order to stay “interested.” Miley is done playing that game, providing the first single from Endless Summer Vacation (a Del Rey-sounding project, to be sure) that firmly plants her in the sologamy camp. Indeed, she’s planned the release perfectly not only to shade Hemsworth, but for the imminence of Valentine’s Day a.k.a. Singles Awareness Day. Cue the tie-ins of various flower companies playing the song.

    And yet, with the video that Cyrus has made for “Flowers,” she’s essentially building on what Red Hot Chili Peppers said long ago: “Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner/Sometimes I feel like my only friend/Is the city I live in/The City of Angels.” Her tone, naturally, is far more jubilant as we see her strutting through the streets (and bridges) of L.A. (because, as she stated, Endless Summer Vacation is a “love letter” to that city). To help capture the sun-soaked isolation of Los Angeles, Cyrus secured model-turned-creative director Jacob Bixenman to helm the video. And, despite formerly loving Troye Sivan (another Ariana Grande favorite), Bixenman can still clearly appreciate the female form as he proceeds to showcase Miley swimming in her backyard and then performing some of the intense workout methods that have clearly given her the toned body we see before us. Indeed, some of her very deliberate positions (no Ari allusion intended) come across as a direct taunt at anyone who would ever dare to leave her and/or force her to leave them by treating her “less than.”

    From the series of backyard exercises to the tranquil shower session, it’s evident that all these blatant forms of self-care are a means to emphasize to the viewer that what Miley says is true: no one will ever be able to take care of you (nay, give as much of a shit about you) as well as you can. Especially if you have millions of dollars to aid with that care. Emerging from the shower in what can only be called a power suit (complete with dramatic shoulder pads) with no shirt on underneath, Miley then whole-heartedly confirms she can take herself dancing as she engages in some solo choreography inside her house that reminds one of Cameron Diaz’s moves as Amanda in The Holiday.

    By the end, as Miley finds herself on her roof with a helicopter looming above (again, it’s L.A.), she’s proven herself to be the new Queen of/Spokeswoman for Sologamy. Because, no, Ari didn’t much stick to her guns with the underlying message of “thank u, next” (she is, in the end, a self-proclaimed “needy” person a.k.a. a Cancer). But if anyone could stay consistent on this front, perhaps it’s Miley. Maybe she’ll end up truly being the exemplar of sologamy…rendering it no longer billable as the symptom of a “sad, ‘old’ cat lady,” but a hot puta who knows her worth and isn’t willing to compromise it for the so-called sake of not being “alone.”

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Miley Cyrus Heavily Imitates Lana Del Rey Stylings in Teaser for Endless Summer Vacation

    Miley Cyrus Heavily Imitates Lana Del Rey Stylings in Teaser for Endless Summer Vacation

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    Along with announcing that her next album will be released March 10th, the same day as Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Miley Cyrus also seems to be giving a nod to Lana in other ways with the teaser for her forthcoming eighth record, Endless Summer Vacation. The title itself smacking of Del Rey’s rolodex of stock vocabulary for many of her CA-themed songs. Indeed, she even had a tour in 2015 called Endless Summer, with Courtney Love and Grimes as the openers on varying legs of the North American crusade to promote Ultraviolence. But, of course, like that latter title taking from something else in 60s and 70s-era pop culture (i.e., A Clockwork Orange), so, too, does Endless Summer have its roots in the name of a greatest hits album from The Beach Boys. And, yes, anyone who knows Del Rey’s work on even the most cursory level is aware that she’s just about as “goo-goo-eyed” over California as The Beach Boys. As such, she’s become something of the unofficial spokesperson for the state in a way that said band used to be—giving it an update with her darker motifs pertaining to decay and ruin (though she’s all for finding beauty in that as well).

    Seeming to inuit the weight of taking up the mantle for a band that wrote a Golden State anthem as untouchable as “California Girls,” Del Rey finally had to name-check a Beach Boy in Norman Fucking Rockwell’s “The Greatest,” singing of “Dennis’ last stop before Kokomo” as a reference to his 1983 death after the preceding line, “I miss the bar where the Beach Boys would go.” In this instance, “Kokomo”—the paradisiacal (and fictional) island off the Florida Keys—is meant to represent Heaven, where Del Rey would like to imagine that Dennis went after drinking all day on December 28th and then jumping into the water in Marina Del Rey (how appropriate for another Lana connection). His drunken stupor led to his drowning and, much later, immortalization in a Del Rey song. In fact, the entire crux of “The Greatest” expresses a deep yearning and nostalgia for the music of the past (in the spirit of The Beach Boys), and even the way the music industry used to be (replete with free-wheeling sexual predators and all).

    Miley isn’t exactly conveying that sentiment (not yet anyway) in her Endless Summer Vacation teaser, but she is performing the whole “California myth” shtick, going so far as to deem the album “a love letter to Los Angeles” (what Billie Eilish also called her filmed-for-Disney concert at the Hollywood Bowl—literally: Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles). One can imagine Del Rey internally commenting (in the style of Janis Ian in Mean Girls) of Miley saying such a thing, “Hey, that’s only okay when I say it.” And it’s true, Del Rey was the one who jump-started California’s shift back toward being the apple of the U.S.’ eye, even amid all of its many and increasing climate disasters ranging from fires to floods. She being the one to remain consistently committed to it while other musicians only dabble (even California native Katy Perry, who tried to one-up The Beach Boys with her own “California Gurls”).

    But it isn’t just that Miley is serving up “California as a concept” vibes for Endless Summer Vacation that reeks of Del Rey. She’s even taken to adopting the ethereal spoken word manner of Del Rey that first materialized on Honeymoon’s “Burnt Norton,” wherein she recites the T. S. Eliot poem of the same name. A manner that was ultimately a precursor for releasing a spoken word album of her poetry book, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. The album itself offers fourteen of the thirty poems from the book spoken by Del Rey, with musical accompaniments by her usual bitch, Jack Antonoff. Among the offerings was the, you guessed it, “L.A. love letter” called “LA Who Am I To Love You.” The answer to that being: a native of the state of New York who rightly turned her back on NYC and the East Coast in general by fleeing to the West. Miley, too, fled the East in favor of the West, but being from Tennessee makes it slightly less “traitorous” by East Coast standards. Especially New York ones that perpetually champion that eponymous city as the “greatest” in the world despite kind of being the shittiest.

    Maybe that’s why Miley feels that she can also try her hand at bringing “profundity” to L.A. with some spoken word verses in the Endless Summer Vacation teaser that include, “We met each other on the neon dinghy. Past the manta rays and palm trees. Glowing creatures beamed down from great heights. Electric eels in red venom. In the sky, we could see the riders on horseback.” It sounds like a lot of acid and/or weed-induced nonsense, which continues with, “On comets, coming toward us kicking up with laughter” (side note: the way she says “On comets” briefly makes one think she might just continue with, “On Cupid, on Donner, on Blitzen…”). Throughout this entire time, we’re shown “impressionistic” imagery that so often gets associated with California, namely a pool, paraded again toward the end of the teaser in spotlighted darkness next to empty outdoor furniture. As the Bret Easton Ellis-inspired (think: Less Than Zero) musical ambience continues, Cyrus gets even more faux poetic with the lines, “My friend Big Twitchy rode the boat to the light, surfed the north break. We danced until there was nothing left. Just me and Twitchy. ‘Cause that’s all we knew.”

    Having commenced the teaser with a close-up on a clear, blue pool that harkens back to the “Slide Away” single cover, we’re reminded of a visual like “Blue Jeans,” where Del Rey firmly established her California aesthetics in music video format. Another scene in Miley’s teaser includes a looming, blurred-out helicopter that correlates to Del Rey’s “High by the Beach” video motif. Shaky camera work trying to focus on a bleach blonde, cherry red lipstick’d Cyrus wearing black shades adds to the DIY/“found footage” look she’s going for. Of the very variety that Del Rey repopularized with “Video Games.” Elsewhere, an image of a 5G cell phone tower posing as a palm tree additionally evokes the dystopian feel Del Rey has also cultivated in her lyrical portrayals of Los Angeles and California. Not to mention highlighting the “ersatz” quality L.A. and CA are frequently mocked for. And yet, for as maligned and made fun of as this milieu still is, it seems to keep inspiring. Even if much of that inspiration appears to be yielding similar statements and visuals. All of which can now be linked back to Del Rey kickstarting the “California trend” with her sophomore record (heralded by “West Coast” being the first single from it).

    In any case, it is said that all great artists inspire imitations (e.g., Easton Ellis ripping off Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays for Less Than Zero). And Del Rey herself is but an imitative pastiche of so many California-centric bands and musicians past. So perhaps there’s no harm done, per se, by Miley emulating the chanteuse she once collaborated with on “Don’t Call Me Angel” (which seems to be crying out for a follow-up single from just the two of them entitled “Call Me City of Angels”). She might even have something slightly new to say about the state. But don’t get your hopes up on that front. Only time—and California—will tell.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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