by Claudia Fennell '24 on April 8, 2023
A&E Co-Editor

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Arts & Entertainment

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 30-year-old singer and pop sensation Miley Cyrus released her eighth studio recorded album titled Endless Summer Vacation on Friday, March 10, 2023. This album follows her 2020 album Plastic Hearts, a hit sensation rock pop album. Since 2020, the singer has finalized her divorce with her ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth, and many are speculating that he is the center focus of the album since Cyrus released the lead single of her new album on his birthday. The two were dating on and off for 10 years, and Miley is reinventing herself now as a newly single woman by releasing this lively, self-confident album.

The lead single of the album, “Flowers,” was released on Jan. 12, and has become a massive success on the charts. This week the song was at the top of the Billboard Global Charts again for the seventh week in a row, with 97.9 million streams so far. This lead single is a fast-paced, upbeat, anthem for female independence which includes verses like, “Started to cry but then remembered I/I can buy myself flowers/Write my name in the sand/Talk to myself for hours/Say things you don’t understand.” Setting the tone for the album, this lead single is a representation of the new independent woman that Miley has become after her divorce. The first verse of the song references a catastrophic house fire that burned Cyrus and Hermsworth’s home to the ground. In a 2020 Rolling Stones interview, Cyrus explained that this fire was symbolic in her mind of her relationship. Cyrus stated, “the fire did what I couldn’t do myself… It removed me from what no longer served its purpose.” Cyrus writes about this event in ‘Flowers’ with the verse, “Kinda dream that can’t be sold/We were right ‘til we weren’t/Built a home and watched it burn.”

Preceding the release of her new album, Cyrus took to Instagram to share her thoughts on the content behind the album. She started out by explaining that the album is meant to be divided into two parts, ‘a.m.’ and ‘p.m’, or morning and night. The first half of the album is meant to represent the morning, in which there is light, energy, and endless possibilities to be had. In the second half of the album, however, the singer describes a nighttime setting, which creates the feelings of “grime but glamor at the same time.” This represents ways in which one can go out and create new experiences in nightlife but also find relaxation at the end of the day.

 This album contains a unique blend of emotions, encompassing the feelings that arise during different hours of the day. Created on her path of self-discovery and independence, Cyrus’s Endless Summer Vacation is an empowering, must-listen to album.