Miley Cyrus Teases Her New “Visual Album”

Miley Cyrus bought herself “Flowers,” then got her flowers from the public with her first Grammy wins and the Disney Legend award. Now, she’s looking ahead to the future. In her new Harper’s Bazaar cover story, published on Nov. 20, the singer teased her new album, which is scheduled to be released in 2025 and will include some “experimental” sounds and visuals.

Cyrus revealed that the album is titled Something Beautiful, named after one of the songs she co-wrote with her boyfriend Maxx Morando, who also produced several of its tracks. “I worked with my dad forever. That’s how me and my ex-husband met each other. I’ve always worked with the people that I love,” she said. “And Maxx just inspires me so much.”

She described Something Beautiful as “hypnotizing and glamorous,” but made with a specific mission in mind. “It’s a concept album that’s an attempt to medicate somewhat of a sick culture through music,” she said. “I would like to be a human psychedelic for people... I want to impact frequencies in your body that make you vibrate at a different level.”

However, Cyrus says the visuals are more important than ever for this album, stating that the “visual component is driving the sound” of the music.

“It was important for me that every song has these healing sound properties,” she explained. “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.”

Miley’s Visual Inspirations

Harper’s Bazaar called Something Beautiful a “visual album,” a term famously used by Cyrus’ “II Most Wanted” collaborator Beyoncé for her 2013 self-titled album, which had a music video for every song.

While Cyrus didn’t confirm which form her visuals would take, she did reveal her two primary inspirations, including Pink Floyd’s rock-and-roll film The Wall, which she first saw as a teenager. “We really leaned in. And so I have this heart-first attachment to it,” she said. “My idea was making The Wall, but with a better wardrobe and more glamorous and filled with pop culture.”

She was also inspired by Nicolas Cage’s 2018 horror film Mandy. She even reached out to director Panos Cosmatos in hopes of remaking it as a musical. That idea didn’t pan out, but Cosmatos is now heavily involved in the visuals. “[The album is] more experimental than anything she’s ever done, but in a pop way that I love,” he told the outlet.

Cyrus’ other major touchstone for this era is high-fashion archives, especially Thierry Mugler’s 1995 couture show. Another producer on the album, Shawn Everett, emphasized how much her visuals are dictating the music this time around. “She’ll want it to feel like this specific runway show or something,” he told the outlet. “I love when she talks like that. For me, it opens up a whole world.”