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Miley Cyrus is on top of the world! The 30-year-old singer is riding high on the success of her new album, Endless Summer Vacation, and seems determined to prove she's well and truly moved on after her divorce from Liam Hemsworth.
Miley and Liam (33) were in an on-off relationship from 2009 before tying the knot in December 2018. They separated just eight months later and divorced in February 2020.
“Everyone was blaming her for the divorce and calling her this wild child, but that wasn’t fair. Their relationship and marriage was toxic and she was heartbroken,” a source told People magazine.
The source also added that Miley is the "healthiest and happiest" she’s been in a long time. She's finally ready to tell her side of the story after having "had time to process and heal from the divorce".
READ MORE| ‘It was a disaster’: Miley Cyrus on her short-lived marriage to Liam Hemsworth
And it's through her music that Miley is having her say. Endless Summer Vacation is her eighth studio album, and while she doesn't explicitly refer to Liam it's not a stretch to conclude that some of her lyrics are about the Australian actor.
"She's not trying to bash Liam, but she feels like she has every right to own the narrative after everyone was picking her apart after the breakup," the source says.
Take the track Flowers. In the video, Miley seems to hark back to one of the couple's red carpet appearances where she did a dance while speaking to Access Hollywood. During the interview Miley began grinding on Liam, who quickly backed away and said, "We're not doing this. Not on the carpet."
WAIT A MINUTE pic.twitter.com/YA76DVsz7T
The song is clearly a direct response to Bruno Mars' 2013 track, When I Was Your Man.
While Bruno sings, "I should have bought you flowers, And held your hand", a defiant Miley sings, “I can buy myself flowers . . . And I can hold my own hand.”
The lyrics also mention how she and Liam lost their Malibu home in a wildfire, and how this also affected they relationship over time.
“We were right / Till we weren’t / Built a home and watched it burn”
Fans have also speculated about the gold dress Miley wears in the Flowers video. Is it a reference to a similar dress that Liam's Hunger Games co-star Jennifer Lawrence wore at the movie's premiere in 2012?
The song Jaded tells a story of regret and missed opportunities in a failed relationship. Miley seems to be admitting to not speaking up about what was wrong, but now she’s had time to reflect, she feels weighed down by the burden of what went unsaid.
With its gloomy beat, the ninth track, Muddy Feet, has all the makings of a revenge song. It hints at infidelity, including the scent of "perfume that I didn't buy" and a mud trail throughout the house. And each verse expresses an enraged desire to kick a partner out of her life.
On the 11th song, Island, a reflective Miley seems to be singing to herself about her inability to settle down, and wonders:
"Am I stranded on an island / Or have I landed in paradise?"
The two-time Grammy nominee provides insight into her songwriting process in the Disney+ special Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions).
“When I write a song, I try to be really descriptive in my lyrics and paint a picture of the moment in time that the song stemmed from,” Miley said.
“If you’re a friend of mine and you’re close to me and you listen to this album, it sounds like a conversation with me. There’s subtle shade, there’s honesty and truth and there’s some wisdom and there’s some humour, and there’s some heaviness and depth.”
Sources: people.com, pitchfork.com, los angeles time.com, theblast.com, geonews.com
