No hit single and low streams: How Miley Cyrus’ new album became her biggest flop

Miley went from the biggest hit of her career with Flowers to her biggest commercial failure

2 days ago

Miley Cyrus is one of the greatest artists of her generation – a statement that is not hyperbole. Her distinctive raspy voice, endless stream of banger singles that always perform well commercially and an abundance of star power and charisma have made her a legendary artist despite the fact she’s never actually had a great album. Miley Cyrus has never had a magnum opus – but it’s not without trying. There are frequently flashes of true brilliance. Plastic Hearts, her 2020 rebirth, was her best attempt at a great album that still ended up with filler even though it was her best execution of vision. I truly thought after her last record Endless Summer Vacation performed so well that this latest era for Something Beautiful would be the time Miley Cyrus managed to give us her best album – but it’s ended up to be the biggest flop of her career.

The visuals are gorgeous, the passion is there, the talent never wavers. So what on earth has gone wrong?

A messy rollout

There’s been a bizarre coldness to the rollout of Something Beautiful, and I truly believe it’s been integral to the tepid release and how it’s descended into Miley Cyrus’ biggest flop. Miley announced the album with all her social posts in the third person, lengthy over explained paragraphs that stripped away her amazing personality into a cold and blunt explanation. This was obviously a curative choice from her and her team – but it missed the mark and it took away from what makes Miley special.

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Miley chose to release the prelude from the album, as well as the title track in quick succession but not as main singles. Something Beautiful as a title track is one of the best on the album and is not really like any sound she’s explored before – but it wasn’t pushed as the lead single. She followed up with End of the World – which has performed moderately but by Miley Cyrus standards has been a huge commercial failure for a lead single.

Flowers, her last lead single, debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit the top of the UK chart. It won a Grammy award for Record of the Year.

Miley’s been wearing archival Mugler for the visuals

Poor streams

For an artist as established and commercially successful as Miley Cyrus, the streaming performance for the album has been way less than what she’s used to. It feels like this album is just flying under the radar, and whereas in the past a Miley release has felt like a huge cultural moment it just hasn’t landed or has been overshadowed by the excitement for other records coming out. There’s way more buzz for Addison Rae releasing her debut on Friday online.

Mixed critical reaction

Some critics have hailed Something Beautiful as her best album, even notoriously quite hard to please ones like Anthony Fontana. And then on the flip side, the Pitchfork review is quite brutal and sees it come out with a score of 5.6.

She still slays, of course

But I truly believe the reason it’s not landing like it should is because Miley oversold it in the rollout as this big concept album inspired by Pink Floyd’s The Wall – and yet the release and the record just feels like a Miley album without a notable commercial hit single. It just sort of exists.

Miley is too talented to make mid music

Miley Cyrus has all the chops to make an album that not only doesn’t flop, but stands the test of time like her talent does. When she drops a cover like Heart of Glass, she can stop the world with how amazing she is. I can only dream of an album as good as Midnight Sky or Mother’s Daughter – hitting the heights of songwriting she managed on Slide Away. I always feel a bit lukewarm with the final product when it comes to a Miley album, but it’s never been as underperforming as this.

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