Miley Cyrus

American singer who released the record-breaking 2023 single "Flowers" from her album Endless Summer Vacation.

Miley Cyrus is an American singer whose eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation (2023) includes the lead single "Flowers," released by Columbia Records on January 12, 2023, in some countries and January 13 worldwide. The song was written by Cyrus with Gregory "Aldae" Hein and Michael Pollack, and produced by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson. "Flowers" is a disco, funk, and pop rock song whose lyrics express an ex-lover's acceptance of independence. It received positive reviews and was a massive commercial success, becoming the best-selling global single of 2023 with 2.7 billion subscription stream equivalents globally, according to the IFPI. In the US, it debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent eight non-consecutive weeks atop the chart, becoming Cyrus's second number-one song after "Wrecking Ball" (2013). The song also spent 57 weeks at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, the longest-running number-one on any Billboard airplay chart.

Quick Facts

Birth name

Destiny Hope Cyrus

Born

23 November 1992

Birthplace

Franklin, Tennessee, U.S.

Occupation

Singer
songwriter
actress
director

Years active

2001–present

Spouse

Liam Hemsworth, December 23, 2018, January 28, 2020

Mother

Tish Cyrus

Father

Billy Ray Cyrus

Facts from the source article.

Lore & Background

Cyrus wrote "Flowers" with Hein and Pollack in January 2022 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California. The song came together as a ballad around a piano, originally with a "slower and sadder" feel, according to Pollack, who said: "We started with the chorus and, if I remember correctly, the lyric, melody, and progression started to form simultaneously. It practically wrote itself." The initial demo was a stripped-back ballad with only Cyrus singing and Pollack on Rhodes piano, then evolved into the uptempo final version produced by Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon. On December 31, 2022, while hosting her NBC live special Miley's New Year's Eve Party, Cyrus announced "Flowers" would be released simultaneously in all markets on January 13, 2023. The demo version was released digitally on March 3, 2023, and included on the digital version of Endless Summer Vacation.

Reader's Guide

The song's chorus is allegedly a paraphrase of Bruno Mars's "When I Was Your Man" (2012), but editors of Billboard noted the songs only feature similar lyrical elements, so the writers of "When I Was Your Man" are not required to be credited as co-writers. Following its release, several publications suggested "Flowers" was a response song directed at Cyrus's ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, as it was released on Hemsworth's birthday and the lyrics refer to their Malibu, California, home which burned down in the November 2018 Woolsey Fire. Hemsworth had reportedly dedicated "When I Was Your Man" to Cyrus. The song debuted atop the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. US charts. It topped 60 different charts in over 40 countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Singapore, Germany, South Africa, France, and the United Kingdom. After its performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, it saw a surge in streaming numbers and sales and returned to the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2024.

Did You Know?

It became the fastest song in Spotify history to surpass one billion streams, doing so in 112 days.
The song won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, marking Cyrus's first career Grammy wins.