On the same day that it was reported that Miley Cyrus and her boyfriend of nearly a year, Cody Simpson, had broken up, the pop diva released a fiery disco empowerment anthem in which she audaciously proclaims, “I was born to run, I don’t belong to anyone/Oh no, I don’t need to be loved by you.”
Just hours before Cyrus’s “Midnight Sky†single and its glitzy video dropped Thursday night, news broke of the Cyrus/Simpson split. The pop star, 27, and the Australian singer/actor/model, 23, had first been romantically linked back in October 2019, two months after Cyrus’s separation from her husband Liam Hemsworth. The couple seemed close, even getting coordinating tattoos, and earlier this month, Simpson had declared, “In love with my best friend” in his Instagram Stories, referring to Cyrus.
In an Instagram Live chat with fans leading up to Thursday’s “Midnight Sky†premiere, Cyrus confirmed the breakup rumors, saying, “For right now, two halves can’t make a whole, and we’re individually just working on ourselves to become the people that we want to be.†However, despite the feistiness of the “Midnight Sky†chorus, she made it clear that there is absolutely no bad blood between her and Simpson. “Don’t make it some drama story if next week we’re out hanging out or getting pizza,†she said. “We’ve been friends for 10 years, and we’re going to continue to be friends. So, just don’t make it something that it is not.â€
It’s unlikely that “Midnight Sky†is solely about Simpson. One section definitely seems to reference Cyrus’s decade-long relationship with Hemsworth, as she sings, “Lotta years went by with my hands tied up in your ropes/Forever and ever, no more.” Another line seems to be about Cyrus’s brief 2019 fling with reality star Kaitlynn Carter: “See my lips on her mouth/Everybody’s talking now, baby.” A press release states that “Midnight Sky†was “inspired by the past year of [Cyrus’s] life,†and that the self-directed video “takes viewers through Miley’s creative vision which displays her complete control of the narrative often told through the mouths of the media. Miley is at peace with who she is and has nothing to prove.â€
Regardless of which ex, or exes, or other recent real-life experiences informed “Midnight Sky,†the bachelorette lifestyle clearly agrees with Cyrus. Reminiscent of Stevie Nicks’s “Edge of Seventeen,†inspired by other ‘80s rock icons like Joan Jett and Debbie Harry, and co-written with Andrew Watt, OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, and Louis Bell, the driving disco earworm signals a triumphant return to uptempo party jams following Cyrus’s last full-length album, 2017’s mellower and folksier Younger Now. Her seventh LP, She Is Miley Cyrus, is slated to come out later this year and will also feature two tracks released in 2019, the feminist protest song “Mother’s Daughter” and the divorce song “Slide Away.”
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