PRead more than 100 million streams in one week on Spotify. It’s a record. At the top of all rankings worldwide and in France, as well as on all streaming platforms, “Flowers” is the hit of the winter. We ourselves have been listening to this song by Miley Cyrus for two weeks (we never thought that we would write this sentence one day), her first number 1 in ten years.
For what ? Because she wrote this anthem to disco-pop resilience with Michael Pollack and Aldae, writers of hits written specifically for Justin Bieber? Because it’s being produced by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, the architects of the glorious Harry Styles revival? Because their music video has us recovering from a broken heart by hitting the gym six hours a day and rubbing our tight abs in an Yves Saint Laurent sundress on the well-mottled furniture of a gorgeous mid-century California mansion Gold, in black underwear or in a dark men’s suit? Or because this “revenge pop” hit was released at the same time as Shakiras vs. Gerard Pique and piqued our curiosity?
ALSO READShakira takes revenge on Gerard Piqué in the song
The sound of revenge
For gossip lovers, the target here would be her ex-husband, Australian actor Liam Hemsworth, who allegedly cheated on her at the very house featured in this clip starring Jennifer Lawrence, his co-star hunger games…The Clues: Miley released the song on her ex’s birthday, reminisces about her Malibu home that burned down and responds to verses from a Bruno Mars song that was played at their wedding. But only this last piece of information is verifiable. The chorus of “When I Was Your Man”: “I should’ve bought you flowers / And held your hand / I should have given you all my lessons / When I had the chance / To take you to every party ’cause you do everything wanted danced “. We let you listen to the chorus of “Flowers” for comparison…
Born Destiny Hope Cyrus in Nashville, Tennessee, Miley Cyrus is the daughter of country music superstar Billy Ray Cyrus (who recently made a name for herself with her duet with Lil Nas X “Old Town Road”). At birth, Dolly Parton, another country star, bends over her cradle to shower her with love, fame and beauty. A blessed and smiling child, her parents nicknamed her “Smiley”, which would later become Miley… As a chaste and Christian teenager, she wears a “Ring of Purity” as a symbol of her virginity. In 2006, America spotted her as the new star of the Disney stable: Hannah Montana, schoolgirl by day and pop star by night. She is 12 years old and the youth on the other side of the Atlantic adores her. Touring, pubs, TV, recording studio… His life is a rodeo that never really stops. She was only 16 when she released her first pop-rock hit as Miley Cyrus, “Party in the USA,” produced by then-airwave genius Dr. Hatch. The voice is young, the beat saturated, not quite from childhood. But at 17 and with an estimated fortune of $100 million, she’s one of the richest teenagers in the country.
She diligently takes comedy lessons, wants to be successful in the cinema, even embodies Lola in the remake of the French film lol. Following in the footsteps of Britney Spears, another ex-child star who spent time with Mickey before his rebellion, she signed with RCA in 2013 and hired the same producers as the sulphurous blonde for her transition into adulthood. This one is radical. Shaved temples, short platinum blonde curls, red mouth, she sticks out her tongue (a gesture that will become her trademark) and strips completely in front of Terry Richardson’s camera, revealing her tattoos. Miley explodes her sexuality, her moves becoming more and more suggestive, especially in the clip from “Wrecking Ball” (a tube again signed by Dr. Luke) where she’s downright licking hammers, chains and wrecking ball. Farewell to the wise American who prays to God. With her now deep voice, she opens up about her pansexuality and shocks the country with her increasingly daring performances, pretending to masturbate with a giant foam finger (at the 2013 VMAs), riding an inflatable penis, riding the stage with a strap-on… All of this seems a bit vain and vulgar, but let’s not play prudes, we’ve all seen (even experienced) more or less shameful teenage crises.
Musically, the hits are efficient but soulless, straight out of well-oiled radio gear machines. In short, she leaves us unmoved except for her duet with Mark Ronson (“Nothing Breaks Like a Heart”) and that amazing move aside: an experimental and ambitious collaboration with psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips. In Miley Cyrus and her dead petz, which she makes available free of charge, she finally rejects the overformatted patterns of pop and happily enjoys 23 self-written songs. There are bound to be some lengths, but there are also nuggets (including the soaring “Space Bootz”). An artist is born?
She seems to poke fun at and play with everything, especially during the big fairs she organizes for the New Year (this year she and her godmother Dolly Parton received Paris Hilton, Sia, Fletcher, David Byrne, Rae Sremmurd…), with public and television broadcasting. She remains one of the most influential singers in the world. Two hundred million followers follow his gigantic stadium concerts, his Gucci campaigns and his sexy looks on Instagram. Six of his albums reached number 1 in the charts, five of his world tours were sold out, his last and seventh studio album plastic hearts released in 2020 has accumulated 3 billion streams… On the cover of his next work Endless summer vacation, a love letter to Los Angeles, where it was recorded, she powerfully swings her tight, muscular frame in front of Brianna Capozzi’s lens. At 30, Miley Cyrus seems to have her destiny firmly under control.
Endless summer vacation (released March 10, 2023 by Sony Music/Columbia)
