As advertised on New Year’s Eve, Miley Cyrus returns today with “Flowers,” the lead single off her forthcoming eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation. The song arrives on her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth’s 33rd birthday, and while that makes it very tempting to read this song as some kind of scorned lover’s reprisal, that would kind of be missing the point. It’s about self-love, not finger-pointing.
Produced by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson and written by Cyrus along with ALDAE and Michael Pollack, “Flowers” is a crisp pop tune with a confident bass strut and disco strings on the chorus. It’s a departure from the glammy rock of 2020’s Plastic Hearts and the country-pop of 2017’s Younger Now, the singer’s two most recent LPs, and it sounds very L.A., which is fitting, since Miley has described Endless Summer Vacation as a “love letter” to that city.
In the first verse, Cyrus makes her most direct reference to Hemsworth. The couple shared a home in Malibu that burned to the ground as a result of the Wolsey fire that ravaged Southern California in 2018. In August of the following year, Hemsworth filed for divorce.
We were good, we were gold
Kind of dream that can’t be sold
We were right ’til we weren’t
Built a home and watched it burn
Miley insists in the pre-chorus that she didn’t want the relationship to end. She was devastated until she realized a few things about herself. She’s resilient, for one, and in some ways, she’s better off alone.
I can buy myself flowers
Write my name in the sand
Talk to myself for hours
Say things you don’t understand
She ends the chorus with a self-affirmation, not a taunt: “I can love me better than you can.” By the second verse, she’s made peace with how things turned out. It’s time for a reset.
Paint my nails cherry-red
Match the roses that you left
No remorse, no regret
I forget every word you said
“Flowers” arrived alongside a video featuring Miley walking around L.A. in a sparkly gown, exercising in black underwear, and dancing in helicopter spotlights on the roof of her house. Standard Miley stuff.
You can read all the lyrics to “Flowers” on Genius now.
