MILEY CYRUS SHARES “SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL”
Credit of Columbia Records. Protected under fair use.
Miley Cyrus has released her ninth studio album Something Beautiful, a sweeping, genre-bending project that doubles as a visual experience and personal reckoning. Arriving May 30 via Columbia Records, the album will be followed by a companion musical film premiering at the Tribeca Festival on June 6 and hitting theaters for a limited global run later this month.
Executive produced alongside Shawn Everett, Something Beautiful is a progressive pop deep-dive that prioritizes introspection over immediacy. Across 13 tracks and two haunting interludes, Cyrus explores themes of impermanence, ego, healing, heartbreak, and the strange, shimmering peace that comes after destruction. “The nastiest times of our life do have a point of beauty,” she said ahead of the album’s release. “They are the shadow, they are the charcoal, they are the shading.”
The journey begins with “Prelude,” a spoken-word opener that sets the tone in a wash of surrealism and trust. “The beauty one finds alone is a prayer that wants to be shared,” she intones, as the production glows around her. It’s the kind of existential table-setting that only works when the artist has fully committed, and Miley has.
From there, the album swerves. The jazzy title track, “Something Beautiful,” distorts itself mid-song into a sonic spiral, echoing the disorientation she channels throughout. Lead single “End of the World” offers brief relief, even if it imagines dancing through apocalypse. Ballad “More to Lose” delivers the emotional gut punch, reminiscent of earlier gems like “The Climb,” while “Easy Lover” simmers with heartbreak, sarcasm, and soul.
The project also leans into Miley’s love for psychedelic textures and glam rock theatrics. On the disco-slick “Walk of Fame,” she struts past judgment with Brittany Howard in tow. “Every time I walk, it’s a walk of fame,” she declares. Naomi Campbell lends spoken-word glamour to “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved,” adding high-fashion chaos to Miley’s self-liberation anthem. Later, on “Reborn,” she ascends from ego death with quiet defiance: “You’re so beautiful,” she repeats, as if convincing both herself and the listener.
Collaborators span an impressive spectrum: Molly Rankin (Alvvays), Flea, Danielle Haim, Pino Palladino, and Adam Granduciel (The War on Drugs), among others, filling out the album’s rich sonic world. There’s no single genre here, but rather dreamy yet wounded undertone.
Closing track “Give Me Love” offers the album’s quiet thesis. After 45 minutes of confronting shadows, it’s a breath of clarity. “Once you get past the gray,” Miley sings, “there’s something beautiful.” For an artist who’s shape-shifted through every corner of pop, this is her clearest form yet: flawed, free, and finally at peace.
Listen to Something Beautiful here.
