Judging by the first single and video, “Something Beautiful” is one of the most ambitious projects of Cyrus’ career so far
Miley Cyrus has released the new video for the title track of her new concept album, Something Beautiful. She dropped the song and its stylish live-performance video today shortly after revealing another album track, the spoken-word “Prelude.” Cyrus directed the video for the single, which is part of a full-length film, with Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter, while Benoît Debie (Spring Breakers) handles cinematography. Panos Cosmatos, whose 2018 horror film Mandy is an influence on the project, is a producer on the movie.
The title track starts out as an alt-R&B ballad, before exploding into distorted rock in its choruses. “Tell me something beautiful tonight/ until your lips turn blue,” Miley sings at the start of the song, over chillwave synths and a loping baseline, soon joined by what sounds like a genuine horn section. She wrote the track with several collaborators, including singer-songwriter Ryan Beatty and Maxx Morando, who is also her boyfriend.
Trending Stories
“The visual component of this is driving the sound,” Cyrus said last year, comparing Something Beautiful to Pink Floyd’s 1979 concept album. “And so I have this heart-first attachment to it. My idea was making The Wall, but with a better wardrobe and more glamorous and filled with pop culture. … The songs, whether they’re about destruction or heartbreak or death, they’re presented in a way that is beautiful, because the nastiest times of our life do have a point of beauty.”
The album is the follow-up to 2023’s Endless Summer Vacation, which yielded the smash “Flowers” and earned Cyrus her belated first Grammy recognition.
