Less than two weeks ago, Miley Cyrus released her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation featuring 13 tracks and collaborations with Sia and Brandi Carlile. Created as a love letter to Los Angeles and diving into this “Staying in this moment forever” mindset, Miley Cyrus delivers an incredibly dreamy and infectious album. With her last album, Plastic Hearts, primarily consisting of glam rock sounds and pop melodies wrapped in studded leather, Endless Summer Vacation serves as a reminder to all that Miley has no fear when it comes to versatility and being a master of her unique sounds.
Starting strong with the only lead and pre-released single “Flowers,” this disco-infused and self-love anthem broke Spotify streaming records by becoming the record holder for the most streamed song in seven days and stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks straight. With lyrics of “I can hold my own hand” and “I can love myself better than you can,” “Flowers” highlights the independence and power in recognizing that you don’t need a plus one to feel complete– something that Cyrus grapples with throughout the new album. With the success of this song being astronomical, listeners were more than ready to dive into an endless summer vacation with Cyrus.
“Jaded” and “Muddy Feet (feat. Sia)” resembled the sounds and edginess of Plastic Hearts the best. While “Jaded” was a smooth pop-punk song all about regret and missed opportunities in a relationship, “Muddy Feet” is all about hating on someone who cheated on you and wreaking complete havoc. And Cyrus’s ability to write about the duality of failures committed by both sides of a relationship was incredibly powerful, and easily became favorites of the album.
“Rose Colored Lenses” felt so infectious with serotonin and was the most optimistic song on the album. While the track was slow, yet upbeat, it felt like the song was going on forever and ever in the best way possible. “We could stay like this forever, lost in wonderland / With our head above the clouds, falling stupid like we’re kids,” Cyrus sings. A dreamy love song was necessary for this album to feel balanced against all the angst and heartbreak, and “Rose Colored Lenses” delivered. Along the same vein of dream-like vibes, “Island” became a song all about figuring out whether Cyrus was happy with being alone in her own paradise or needing someone to stay with her on her own island. While the lyrics embody loneliness and feelings of missing someone, the song feels breezy and calm, just like you would feel on an island.
On the topic of missing and wanting someone, the synth-pop love song “Violet Chemistry” is all about meeting an old flame and the excitement and hesitation that comes with rekindling. The bridge of “Fingers start to dance along the figures and the shapes/ Mixing all the colors like we’re makin’ a Monet/ There’s something between us that’s too major to ignore/ May not be eternal but nocturnal, nothin’ more,” easily helps make the song more visual to the listener and the mixing of red and blue colors to make violet is a perfect addition to the song’s intention.
During Cyrus’s “Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions)” special that aired on Disney+, Cyrus unveiled that the ballad featuring Brandi Carlile, “Thousand Miles” is dedicated to her younger sister, Noah Cyrus.
“I wrote it in 2016 or 2017, and it was after one of my really close friends lost her sister to suicide,” Cyrus told in special. “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.'”
The song’s country-pop influence and the emotional tribute to Cyrus’s sister showed even more that Miley put her heart into the album and even gave her a chance to go back to her country-pop roots.
While the album feels incredibly cohesive and plays with the wild and soft side of Cyrus’s love life, this album felt almost too safe compared to what Cyrus is capable of. The promise of the album of embracing an endless summer with Sundazed parties and loose vibes was not entirely met with this album– instead, the album felt like the moment when the party has ended and everyone sits down and reflects on the night. Even with the album being mostly about the trials and triumphs of dealing with failed relationships and personal desires – something that is so incredibly vulnerable of Cyrus to lyricize and sing about – there were still moments where the album felt like it was missing something.
The album delivers to the mainstream pop audience and continues to land on the Billboard Hot 100, proving that Endless Summer Vacation is here to stay with Cyrus and her listeners. Through this album, Cyrus explores her vulnerability with heartbreak and divorce while embracing self-love and acceptance, and this level of authenticity is really anyone can ask for from an artist like her.
Our overall rating of the album: 7/10
Stream Endless Summer Vacation here.
For more information and updates on Miley, check out her official website.
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