Miley Cyrus is hard at work on a new album titled Something Beautiful, which she says is inspired by Pink Floyd’s seminal 1979 concept album The Wall and its accompanying film.
Cyrus opened up about her latest project in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, describing it as “a visual album” slated for release in 2025. On the music side, she’s collaborating with veteran indie producer Shawn Everett, while the visuals are from director Panos Cosmatos, best known for the 2018 horror film Mandy, which Cyrus cited as a reference point for her new material.
Most of all, however, Cyrus wants to capture the same feeling she got when she watched The Wall as a teenager. “We really leaned in. And so I have this heart-first attachment to it,” she said about the 1982 companion film. “My idea was making The Wall, but with a better wardrobe and more glamorous and filled with pop culture.”
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Cyrus described the album as “hypnotizing and glamorous” and called the project “a concept album that’s an attempt to medicate somewhat of a sick culture through music.” She elaborated on the visual aspect, saying, “It was important for me that every song has these healing sound properties. The songs, whether they’re about destruction or heartbreak or death, they’re presented in a way that is beautiful, because the nastiest times of our life do have a point of beauty. They are the shadow, they are the charcoal, they are the shading. You can’t have a painting without highlights and contrast.”
Cosmatos is certainly a fan, describing the record as “more experimental than anything she’s ever done, but in a pop way that I love.” Everett echoed his claims, telling the magazine that when working with Cyrus, “You kind of feel like you’ve known her forever, and she gives you the grace to feel that way.”
In addition to collaborating with Cosmatos and Everett, Cyrus enlisted her boyfriend Maxx Morando, producer and drummer for the band Liily, to produce multiple songs on the project. Morando, who also worked on Cyrus’ last album Endless Summer Vacation, helmed the song “Something Beautiful” with Cyrus.
Elsewhere in her chat with Harper’s Bazaar, Cyrus discussed reaching out to Chappell Roan as her profile skyrocketed this summer. “I wish people would not give her a hard time,” Cyrus said. “It’s probably really hard coming into this business with phones and Instagram. That wasn’t always a part of my life, and I’m not a part of it now. I don’t even have my Instagram password.”
After taking home her first set of Grammy wins earlier this year, Cyrus has been fairly quiet throughout 2024. She contributed a cover of “Psycho Killer” for The Talking Heads tribute album Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense. She also joined Beyoncé for the COWBOY CARTER duet “II MOST WANTED,” which we named as Song of the Week upon release.
