Seven years have passed since Miley Cyrus crossed our screens on a wrecking ball. The singer made an impact with her video for “Wrecking Ball,” a release that changed the direction of her career forever: she exposed the tear left by her ex and tore down the last remaining image of her. as a Disney star.
“Wrecking Ball” is the result of the pain she went through when she parted ways with Australian actor Liam Hemsworth, whom she met in 2009 when they starred in “The Last Song” together. On August 25, 2013, Miley told her side of her story in 3 minutes and 41 seconds. At 20 years old, she cried out from a place full of frustration and helplessness: the relationship did not end on good terms, despite having fought for her survival.
She transparently confessed that she had put her ex on a pedestal and that she was never going to be able to get over it: "I put you high up in the sky / And now, you're not coming down." She also showed a certain fear seeing herself so clinging to the past. "Wrecking Ball" is a symbol of mourning for the couple that no longer exists, but also for the version of Miley that died with the separation.
The music video, with the wrecking ball as the protagonist, makes reference to this internal destruction. Miley reinvented herself and left behind various aspects of her life: she said goodbye to a relationship after four years, buried the image of her as a Disney star and completely renewed herself as an artist. This profound change modified both her sound and her image.
Liam Hemsworth returned to her life almost four years later and the couple's resurrection was immortalized with "Malibu", where Miley was immensely in love with her. At the end of 2018 they surprised with a secret marriage, but a few months later they revealed that they were going to divorce. Once again, the singer turned to music to share the intim-cy of her separation: in August 2019, she released her single “Slide Away” and opened the doors with the phrase “Once upon a time, it was paradise”. .
Miley, after a decade of going back and forth with Liam, looked forward and showed her personal growth. “Slide Away” is the flip side of “Wrecking Ball”: she made her acceptance, maturity and desire to continue moving towards the future evident, without being tied to any kind of grudge. The melody is led by a guitar that sails on its own echo and is accompanied by hypnotizing choirs: thus, the song evokes nostalgia, but without hints of sadness.
It is remarkable the change in perspective that Miley had from one separation to another. This time, she decides to get away from her and stop fighting over something that is not going to bear fruit. In 2013, she turned to Liam and accused him of ripping her apart: "All you ever did was wreck me." In “Slide Away”, she accepts a new ending and acknowledges that she is not the same girl she was when she met her ex, with lines like “Baby we were found, but now we're lost / So it's time to let it go” and “Move on, we're not 17 / I'm not who I used to be”.
The video of her is flooded with a feeling of liberation. In “Slide Away”, the singer wanders through a party that has already ended, where only the remains of a wild night remain. Miley ends up floating in a pool, an act that symbolizes her state of peace after ten years of a relationship full of ups and downs and turbulence, and she makes it clear that she, finally, was able to leave the past behind her.
