Miley Cyrus is working on a new album, ‘Something Beautiful’, and it’s inspired by Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
‘Something Beautiful’, as Cyrus has discussed in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, is going to be a visual album, too, and while the singer hasn’t revealed a release date, it’s thought to be coming out next year.
She explained that she saw The Wall as a teenager with one of her brothers and a close friend, renting a limousine, smoking cannabis, and wearing 1970s-style fur coats for the experience. She said: “We really leaned in. And so I have this heart-first attachment to it. My idea was making The Wall, but with a better wardrobe and more glamorous and filled with pop culture.”
She described the vibe of her album as “hypnotising and glamorous,” saying: “It’s a concept album that’s an attempt to medicate somewhat of a sick culture through music.
“I would like to be a human psychedelic for people. I don’t want anyone trying to be like me or imitate me or even be inspired by me. I want to impact frequencies in your body that make you vibrate at a different level.”
Discussing the visual element, she said that it is “driving the sound.” She added: “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.”
Cyrus also said that her boyfriend Maxx Morando, the drummer for Los Angeles band Liily, has been working with her on ‘Something Beautiful’, producing a number of songs and working on the title track. She said about working with a partner on her music, “I worked with my dad forever. That’s how me and my ex-husband [Liam Hemsworth] met each other. I’ve always worked with the people that I love. And Maxx just inspires me so much.”
Also working with Cyrus on the upcoming album is Shawn Everett, who previously worked with her on the 2023 album ‘Endless Summer Vacation’ and can list Alabama Shakes, The War On Drugs, Kacey Musgraves and The Killers among the other big names he’s worked with.
Cyrus has been in the studio recording with Everett over the last few months, and he spoke about the wide range of references she draws from, explaining: “She’ll want it to feel like this specific runway show or something. I love when she talks like that. For me, it opens up a whole world.”
One of Cyrus’ inspirations is the 2018 horror movie Mandy, which stars Nicolas Cage as a lumberjack who hunts down the cult that killed his girlfriend. One of Cyrus’ favourite films – she named her dog Mandy because of it – she said that she considered remaking it a musical.
“I wanted to play Nicolas Cage,” she said. “I love that it’s a romance revenge story. Romance and revenge – those are some of the greatest tragedies. I forever and always will be interested in those.”
Cyrus reached out to the movie’s director, Panos Cosmatos, and while the remake of Mandy never came to fruition, he’s still heavily involved in ‘Something Beautiful’. Discussing the influence of The Wall, Cosmatos said: “[The album is] more experimental than anything she’s ever done, but in a pop way that I love.”
Also in the interview, Cyrus – who reached out to Chappell Roan after the singer asked fans to treat her with more respect on TikTok – said that she wishes “people would not give her a hard time,” adding: “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.”
For her part, Roan spoke of Cyrus’ influence in a video message for the former Hannah Montana star’s induction into the Disney Legends in August, saying: “The thing that I admire about Miley Cyrus is that she constantly reinvents herself and always works. For a lot of artists, it can seem inauthentic or out of the blue, but she’s very open about her transformations artistically and personally, and she’s so true to herself. She puts out music that is so authentic.
“Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana tour with Jonas Brothers opening was my first concert ever. She came down in a box from the ceiling. I was like, ‘How do I do that one day?’ I still think about it. I still think about the show. I want to be like Hannah Montana.
“There’s a lot of crossover between Miley and my project, and it’s just like, I’m such a fan too.”
