Miley Cyrus' Newest Album "Endless Summer Vacation"

By Chloe Chang

Photo by Vijat Mohindra

Miley Cyrus released her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation on March 10th! The 13-track album includes "Flowers," Cyrus' single from January 13th that has since accumulated more than 654 million streams on Spotify!

To celebrate Endless Summer Vacation, Cyrus had a combined documentary and performance with Disney+ called Miley Cyrus -- Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions). The "Backyard Sessions" began all the way back in 2012 when Cyrus covered songs such "Lilac Wine" by Elkie Brooks, "Look What They've Done to My Song Ma" by Melanie, and "Jolene" by Dolly Parton. Cyrus hasn't had another backyard session since 2020, the year that she performed for MTV Unplugged and Apple Music. The setlist for Miley Cyrus -- Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions) was not released beforehand, and fans were surprised to hear Cyrus perform "The Climb," a song from the 2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie!

Cyrus discussed her new album Endless Summer Vacation in Miley Cyrus -- Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions). She stated that the album is split into "a.m." and "p.m." to represent "acts." Cyrus explained that the "a.m." part "is representing morning time where there's like a buzz and an energy, and there's a potential of possibilities: it's a new day." On the other hand, the "p.m." part has a "slinky, seediness, and kind of a grime, but a glamor at the same time. In the evening, it’s a great time for rest, it’s a time to recover — or, it’s a time to go out and experience the wild side." Cyrus said that the vibes of Los Angeles play a part in the "p.m." because she said, "In L.A. there’s a certain energy to the night that you can kind of feel trouble boil up to the surface and it’s very inspiring to me.”

In Miley Cyrus -- Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), Cyrus talks about the context behind her new tracks, saying, "If you’re close to me and you listen to this album, it sounds like a conversation with me. There’s subtle shade. There’s, you know, honesty and truth, and there’s some wisdom and some humor. There’s some heaviness and depth. It represents who I am and I feel that the greatest records that I’ve been able to make or the greatest songs that I’ve been able to write they do exactly that. They really connect me and whoever is listening in a way that feels like an intimate honest conversation.”

One track in particular that Cyrus opens up about is "Thousand Miles" featuring Brandi Carlile, which was written for her sister, Noah. Cyrus revealed, “When I wrote ‘Thousand Miles’ it started as a song that was very different from the one that is on the album. I wrote it in 2016 or 2017 and it was after one of my really close friends lost her sister to suicide. I just couldn’t imagine not having my little sister in my life. I wrote this song for her. It was originally called ‘Happy Girl’ and it was, ‘I just wanna see you happy and all I really want is for you to be happy, girl.’”

Many artists and celebrities went to social media to congratulate Cyrus on her album and show their support including Kim Petras and Kat Graham!

Along with the album and Disney+ backyard session, Cyrus also released a music video for "River," the seventh track off Endless Summer Vacation. According to Cyrus, "River" was written in "a time in my life where I was going through just a lot emotionally and personally, and I guess all my songs kind of evolve. They can start as something that was a trouble, like, it just feels like it’s an April shower. It never stops raining. And then it started raining down like love.”

Listen to Endless Summer Vacation now on all platforms!