Miley Cyrus Is Back But On Her Own Terms

Miley Cyrus is a breath of fresh air in the music video for her new single, Jaded. The song serves as the third promotional single for her eighth album, Endless Summer Vacation, released in March. 

“Isn’t it a shame that it ended like that? Said goodbye forever, but you never unpacked. We went to Hell, but we never came back.” Yet, despite Jaded’s sorrowful lyrics, the video shows us a carefree and emotionally healed Cyrus. After its premiere on YouTube on May 16, the fan theories surrounding the meaning behind every shot of the video flooded social media. And the comparisons between Jaded and Cyrus’ previous music videos make a lot of sense. 

Known for her unapologetic personality, Cyrus has shared her life with fans since her Hannah Montana days. We (certified smiler since 2007 alert!) went through it all together. We witnessed her be introduced to fame and went through the vehement years of being a teenager as a collective. We saw her go through many different phases, fall in and out of love, face losses, and cherish life in a way only she can do – she’s just being Miley! So, it is no surprise most of her fans can readily pinpoint the parallels between each piece of her work. 

Jaded talks about the end of her longest relationship. With many of Cyrus’ songs dedicated to her ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth, it is heartbreakingly beautiful to go through their timeline. But, the (perhaps unintentional) “Easter eggs” in her songs were not the only topic being discussed by her fans. In the past few years, Cyrus has notoriously distanced herself from social media; on a personal and professional level. As a result, her most recent bodies of work, ESV and Plastic Hearts (2020) did not receive nearly the same promo that artists on her level usually do. During the PH era, a lot was (rightfully) blamed on her previous label, RCA Records. Now, under Columbia Records, everyone expected more. 

Four days after Jaded’s music video release, Cyrus announced she would be the cover of British Vogue for the upcoming issue of June 2023. The photoshoot? Breathtaking. Probably one of her best. “She’s a gas,” as Giles Hattersley, features director of British Vogue, describes. The interview? Well, despite being beautifully written and capturing her personality to a tee, it sparked a lot of mixed feelings amongst her fans. 

“Singing for hundreds of thousands of people isn’t really the thing that I love. There’s no connection. There’s no safety,” Cyrus explained after revealing she has no plans of touring again. “After the last [headline arena] show I did [in 2014], I kind of looked at it as more of a question. And I can’t. Not only ‘can’t,’ because can’t is your capability, but my desire. Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfilment other than mine?”

Yup. That totally sucks. 

Many fans, like me, from all over the globe, have never gotten the chance to see her live yet for plenty of personal reasons (and have separate savings accounts just in case a tour was announced). Some only got to see her during the festival runs she did for the past couple of years after the pandemic lockdown was over – which is not the same as seeing an artist performing their own tour. Others have seen her multiple times, but does watching your favourite artist perform live ever get boring? 

The fandom remains divided. 

On one side, there are people genuinely hurt. They think Cyrus’s recent lack of connection with her fans is her fault. How can she expect to feel close to them if she doesn’t even try? No Instagram lives, Twitter interactions, album promo, or small events dedicated to her more devoted smilers. Things that have happened in the past created an intimate bond between Cyrus and her fan base that we all miss. 

On the other side, there are people with a more unembellished opinion. They believe that she does not owe us anything regardless of the best-friend-like relationship Cyrus has built with fans throughout the years. She’s a celebrity we all like, and it’s as simple as that. 

Let’s be real. 

The connection we all are fortunate to have with modern celebrities is a perk of technology and globalization and how it brings us much closer. Back in the day, getting an interview with a little inside look at how your favourite singer spent a day off was the peak of intimacy. Today, we see them All. The. Time. Doing, literally, everything. Grocery shopping, lying on their couch, eating at fancy restaurants, playing with their dogs, visiting their grandmas – not only through the lenses of creepy paparazzi but through their own phones’ lenses. They share it all with us in real-time. And that, inevitably, created a sense of entitlement for the public. 

Cyrus has been in the public eye even before her own fame. As one of the children of famous country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, she has been in front of cameras since childhood. So not only her fans got to watch her grow up, but people who don’t have much of a liking for her also got to witness it all too. “Now that I’m an adult, I realise how harshly I was judged. I was harshly judged as a child by adults, and now, as an adult, I realise that I would never harshly judge a child,” Cyrus tells Hattersley.

No one can truly understand what that is like and what it does to you other than megastars like her. As much as we all sympathize with her feelings as fans – after all, standing up for her from misogynistic and ignorant comments during all these years is not easy either – we will never be in her shoes. 

Cyrus has been making music since before worrying about charts was a huge thing. She was raised surrounded by famous, talented musicians and has a genuine love for the craft. Yes, she reached a stardom that only a handful of people have accomplished in music history. She probably had made enough money to never have to worry about working ever again within the first year of Hannah Montana, back in 2006. She’s now 30. She does not have to worry about promoting her albums or making controversial decisions to establish herself in the industry or to prove to people she is not a Disney character anymore. Her success is organic (hello, #1 worldwide hit Flowers!). 

She also shared with British Vogue that her body is physically tired. She has chronic pain and inflammation from all the constant work acting and performing for most of her life. 

She is a songwriter and a singer. We love her, but her music is what introduced her to us all. That is what we all should be here for. And, as the interview ended with her sharing lyrics of an upcoming song, I don’t think her stopping making music is something we got to stress about. 

Now that all of this is said… 

I miss her. I miss her being active on social media to the point my entire Instagram timeline was her endless memes and weird edits for hours. I miss her meet & greets even though I never got to go to one – seeing her interact with smilers with so much intimacy warmed my heart and made me long for the day it would finally be my turn. I miss her lives during quarantine. 

Perhaps, doing festival runs for so long has made her forget what it is like to have an entire crowd attend a concert exclusively for her. Or maybe, all the personal life-changing events she has been through in the past few years (divorce, the loss of a home and loved ones, vocal surgery, and so on) have brought her so much closer to her family and friends and made her realize social media and travelling the world to perform is not her priority at the moment. The theories are almost as endless as her summer vacation. 

Cyrus is undoubtedly full of light – and still young. As she enters the third decade of her life with one of Hollywood’s most extensive lists of achievements, she is openly living her best moment. She is in a healthy relationship with musician Maxx Morando, still making worldwide hits, sober, and genuinely enjoying the life she was given. Like all of us, she has evolved and changed opinions multiple times. The decision not to tour may not be forever. Or it may be.

Regardless, despite wishing she would interact with us more often and waiting for the opportunity to feel closer to her during a tour, there is only one thing we can really do as fans. Enjoy her music. And respect the moment she is living as a person.