Miley Cyrus- Something Beautiful
Label: Columbia
Producers: Miley Cyrus, Shawn Everett, BJ Burton, Ian Gold, Kid Harpoon, Maxx Morando, Alec O’Hanley, Michael Pollack, Jonathan Rado, Molly Rankin, Max Taylor-Sheppard
Miley Cyrus has spent the past two decades, and roughly two-thirds of her entire life, as a constant presence in the pop-culture zeitgeist. She is most certainly deserving of inclusion on the shortlist of pop mega-stars, but she has always traversed down a boldly singular artistic path. Sure, she’s got a sizable canon of bona-fide hits, but her consistency in terms of both pure chart success as well as stylistic direction has never been linear. And that’s one of the many reasons we love her. Her commercial power has never been as lucrative as that of contemporaries like Beyonce and Taylor Swift, but her recorded output has most certainly been just as dazzling and artistically pivotal.
With 2023’s Endless Summer Vacation and its lead single, “Flowers”, Cyrus finally achieved the dominant, worldwide pop moment that had been eluding her, resulting in record-breaking chart success and her first taste of Grammy Award glory. If you thought such widespread mainstream success would lead her down a more conventional path, you obviously don’t know Miley Cyrus very well. Her ninth studio effort, Something Beautiful is as unique an artistic swing as she has made thus far: a visual concept album that she asserts was directly inspired by Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Not exactly the obvious ingredients for more pop domination in 2025, but definitely the makings for a fascinating and ambitious record that Cyrus pulls off impressively well. This is not Miley’s most accessible album, but it is arguably her most deeply inspired and gorgeously executed.
Tied together by abstract pop interludes that craft a luminous backdrop of dancey disco beats, smooth jazz stylings, and a glitzy, orchestral rock tapestry, these performances push Cyrus in all the very best ways: vocally, thematically, musically, and emotionally. It’s an avant-garde leaning, but never-too-artsy, smorgasbord of euphoric pop drama. She experiments sonically with both grace and guts, and without ever sacrificing the reliable contagion of her catalog. The lush trappings further elevate the uniquely commanding seduction of her signature rasp in a multitude of ways. Radiant ballads like the title track, “Golden Burning Sun”, and especially the devastating “More to Lose” immediately rank among her finest vocal performances. Conversely, tracks like “End of the World” and “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” are insatiable disco-tinged romps that brilliantly bang and bop, while “Easy Lover” and “Walk of Fame” breathe delicious dance-rock fire, blisteringly bolstered by Brittany Howard’s guitar and vocal contributions, respectively. This is a tremendously moving and entertaining collection, featuring plenty of singular highlights, but also thoroughly tethered together by the richly executed aesthetic.
Something Beautiful is indeed just that. And while it’s unlikely that this record will become the mainstream juggernaut that it undoubtedly deserves to be, it immediately stands as one of Cyrus’ very best records, and one of the most ambitious pop efforts among her field of contemporary peers. In other words, Miley’s mission is accomplished, and one of the most rewarding pop catalogs of this generation further grows in new and progressive directions.
Track Listing:
- “Prelude” (Miley Cyrus, Maxx Morando, Cole Haeden, Shawn Everett, Jonathan Rado, Michael Pollack)
- “Something Beautiful” (Cyrus, Morando, Max Taylor-Sheppard, Pollack, Ryan Beatty)
- “End of the World” (Cyrus, Pollack, Gregory Aldae Hein, Everett, Rado, Molly Rankin, Alec O’Hanley)
- “More to Lose” (Cyrus, Pollack, Autumn Rowe)
- “Interlude 1” (Cyrus, Morando, Taylor-Sheppard, Everett, Rado, Pollack)
- “Easy Lover” (Cyrus, Pollack, Ryan Tedder, Omer Fedi)
- “Interlude 2” (Cyrus, Morando, Everett, Rado, Pollack)
- “Golden Burning Sun” (Cyrus, Pollack, Everett, Rado, Bibi Bourelly, Tobias Jesso Jr.)
- “Walk of Fame” featuring Brittany Howard (Cyrus, Morando, Pollack, Everett, Brittany Howard, Rado)
- “Pretend You’re God” (Cyrus, Morando, Hein, Pollack, Andrew Wyatt)
- “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” featuring Naomi Campbell (Cyrus, Pollack, Everett, O’Hanley, Rado, Marie Davidson, David Dewaele, Stephen Dewaele, Pierre Guerineau, Rankin)
- “Reborn” (Cyrus, Hein, Pollack, Morando, Taylor-Sheppard, Everett, Rado, Ethan Shevin, Gold)
- “Give Me Love” (Cyrus, Tom Hull, Tyler Johnson)
The 706 
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