Old and new fans of Miley Cyrus have been bumping “Flowers” for well over a month now. The breakup anthem, which was released on her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth’s birthday, spent multiple weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart, and it served as the lead single from Endless Summer Vacation, Cyrus’s eighth studio album, released today.
Endless Summer Vacation is like a greatest hits album, except with all new material. Spanning several genres, the record walks through nearly all of Cyrus’s eras, and she’s had many, many distinct eras. “Thousand Miles” featuring Brandi Carlile touches her bluesy roots; “Muddy Feet” featuring Sia has a decided rock feel. Multiple songs are a bit psychedelic, and every one of them is laid over a beat that could categorize it as a pop track.
The sonic differentiation could signify an identity crisis, but it’s the opposite. Cyrus knows exactly who she is. She’s had her share of identity crises, all of which the public experienced with her, and they’ve allowed her to become the confident, self-assured woman she is today, a clear theme of the album. But as any confident, self-assured woman would tell you, those traits are usually accompanied by moments of weakness and at least a sliver of imposter syndrome, a phenomenon she laments on “Wonder Woman,” the album’s penultimate track.
Even if Cyrus weren’t so sure of herself, the album would still be cohesive thanks to her strong vocals. Cyrus has fine-tuned her voice throughout her exploration of genres, and it’s now an instrument she expertly plays. Matured and perfectly raspy, Cyrus can belt with the best of them. Even when she’s crooning next to legends like Dolly Parton or Stevie Nicks, Cyrus holds her own, and several tracks on Endless Summer Vacation prove it.
The album isn’t without fault, though. “Flowers” is likely the only song that’ll have staying power in the zeitgeist a la “Party in the U.S.A.” and “Wrecking Ball.” Cyrus also noted that Endless Summer Vacation is, to her, split into an A side and a B side, the former comprised of tracks meant for the day and the latter tracks meant for the night, and it’s unclear where that transition happens. The artist compensates for the lack of clarity by having written and recorded an album of songs that can be played no matter the position of the sun.
If you’ve been a fan of Miley Cyrus since her Hannah Montana days, which so many of us have been, her new album is a joyous celebration of not only her personal arc, but the changes we all go through by the time we turn 30. No, most of us weren’t licking a hammer or twerking on national television in our early twenties, but we’ve all gone through our own version of that. Cyrus has always given us permission to be whomever we are in the moment, and now she’s given us an album to revel in the person we become after. Endless Summer Vacation will be on repeat for a while.
