Graphic by Sophie Goldstein
Miley Cyrus is back and ready with new music for the summer! Coming off of the success of her last album “Endless Summer Vacation,” which reached No. 3 on Billboard 200, people began anticipating what her next move might be.
Harper Bazaar’s art issue in November of 2024 revealed that Cyrus was working on an experimental, visual pop album called “Something Beautiful.” In the article, she referenced some of her inspirations being Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and the 2018 horror movie “Mandy,” starring Nicholas Cage.
However, fans had to wait until March 24, 2025, for her to make an official teaser on her Instagram. Her post contained a picture of the upcoming album’s artwork, with the caption announcing that the album “Something Beautiful,” made up of 13 original tracks, is set to release May 30. The next day, she posted the trailer for her film “Something Beautiful” set to arrive sometime in June.
For those worried about the wait, fret not! Cyrus has already provided three songs from her album: “Prelude,” “Something Beautiful” and “End of the World.”
“Prelude” was the first to be released on March 31, 2025. It does exactly what the title of the track suggests by setting a precedence of what fans can expect — lyrical imagery and unpacking the complex nuances of beauty.
Cyrus’ spoken lyrics carry the weight of trying finding beauty in the mundane things but juxtaposes it with the realizing the consequences of it being finite, idolized and causing loneliness. “Like when a fistful of ashes/ Your hands can’t save the things that have already been dissolved into air,” she sings. “Like walking alone through a lucid dream/ Like saying your name aloud in an empty room.”
At the end of the song, she comes to the conclusion that, “But the beauty one finds alone/ Is a prayer that longs to be shared.” Off of first listen, it just seems like a jumble of words thrown into a prelude, but you find the beauty — see what I did there — in the picture she paints for her listeners to relate to.
“Something Beautiful,” the second track of the album, unfortunately, did not impress me. I can tell she was trying to experiment with her sound on this track, but the thrashing of the production made it too wacky of a song for me to actually enjoy.
Unlike “Prelude,” she uses overdone onomatopoeias like “flash,” “bang” and “spark” to get her point, on beauty being found in intimacy with a romantic partner, across. Even the end left me feeling like she could have been more creative than singing “Eat my heart, break my soul/ Take my parts, let me go.” Her boyfriend, Maxx Morando, producer and member of the band Liily, helped her with this song so he could partially be to blame as well.
The best song for me out of this bunch was definitely “End of the World.” It has the potential to be the song of the summer, with nostalgic 70s pop vibes that makes you wish it was already summer so you could listen to it in your car with the top down and wind blowing in your hair.
She gorgeously depicts that beauty lies in people being present in their own unique life experiences. “And throw a party like McCartney with some help of my friends/ Yeah, let’s go down to Malibu and watch the sun fade out once more.”
“McCartney” and “Malibu” are both references to her desires. “McCartney” symbolizes who she wants to be — an icon in the music scene that can gracefully adapt to multiple genres and the beauty of her fame.
“Malibu” serves as a symbol for her personal life. This reference dates back to her single in 2017 called “Malibu,” that was written about her tumultuous relationship with long-term boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth.
Despite facing this adversity, she has found beauty in being able to overcome personal issues that have become public knowledge. She has become more of a private person who is content with the simple pleasures of enjoying the beach.
I am hoping for more songs like this on her upcoming album. While I do think it is important to differentiate herself as an artist that can do more than pop, I feel the route she took on the song, “Something Beautiful,” was not necessary.
“Prelude,” “Something Beautiful” and “End of the World” are all available for streaming on major music platforms.
This story was written by Alison McMillan. She can be reached at alison.mcmillan@marquette.edu.