Miley Cyrus opens her new album, ‘Something Beautiful’ with a cinematic prelude that feels like the beginning of a film. A monologue rolls into a swelling orchestral sequence, setting the tone for an album that explores love, loss, identity and surrender. It feels like a complete vision, not just a collection of songs and fitting she has a film to accompany it.
The title track follows that opening with a sound that feels relaxed and spacious at first, slowly building into something more chaotic. When Miley sings “I’m so obsessed” over the change up in the production it mirrors the messiness of infatuation. It sets the mood for the album’s recurring themes in all its intensity and confusion.
The mood lifts briefly on ‘End of the World’ which pairs a bright instrumental with a message about living fully in the face of uncertainty. While the sentiment is positive, the track itself feels underwhelming. It doesn’t leave much of a mark and is one of the few moments where the production feels a little too safe.
From there, the tone begins to shift. ‘More to Lose’ captures the slow unraveling of a relationship. There is clarity and weight in Miley’s delivery, and the production has a quiet richness to it. It feels considered and reflective rather than dramatic.
There are moments of unpredictability too. “Easy Lover” opens with urgency then slides into a more fluid, stripped back groove. It reflects a kind of emotional back and forth as Miley resists letting go completely. In contrast, ‘Golden Burning Sun’ leans into hope. It is steady, full of quiet promise and emotional clarity. The synth textures build slowly around her voice, which is full of resolve.
Later in the album, ‘Walk of Fame’ is a clear statement piece. Brittany Howard adds a sense of drama from the start with a vocal intro that recalls to Bronski Beat’s ‘Smalltown Boy’. Miley walks the line between performance and confession, turning a moment of departure into something theatrical. It runs a little long, but Howard’s outro adds a sense of weight that justifies its length in the end.
The highlight of the album is ‘Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved’ where Miley reclaims the idea of being everything and not just someone’s idea of beauty or desire. Naomi Campbell’s spoken outro, with her repeated calls to “Pose,” gives the track a surreal energy that plays beautifully against the steady build of synths and percussion. That energy flows straight into ‘Reborn’ where Miley sings about stripping everything back in order to experience something purer and freer. The track is uplifting but does wander a little, one of a few songs on the record that could have benefited from a tighter edit.
The album ends with “Give Me Love” a stark and intimate track that brings the pace down. The synths fall away and Miley sings with quiet intensity about the tension between fear and hope. The lines “Behind the curtain, heaven awaits” and “Behind the curtain, terror awaits” end the verses respectively capturing the album’s core message that surrendering to love means facing both the light and the darkness.
‘Something Beautiful’ marks a first in her discography. It feels more realised than her other projects. The production is polished, the writing is thoughtful, and her voice sounds the strongest it’s ever been, not in power, but in presence. You feel like you’re really hearing her. Across her career, she has tried on many identities but this time, she’s not playing a part. This feels like Miley Cyrus, the artist.
