It's been a little over two years since Miley Cyrus shared her last studio album Endless Summer Vacation. She's kept herself plenty busy in the meantime, sharing a handful of singles, dusting off an old hit with a living legend, and finally winning some Grammys. Late last year, she confirmed she was working on her ninth album, saying it'd be called Something Beautiful and that it was inspired by Pink Floyd's The Wall -- the album but also its accompanying rock-opera movie. Today, the official album announcement has arrived.
Something Beautiful, the visual album, is out in May. It'll have 13 original tracks, and Cyrus co-executive produced it with returning collaborator Shawn Everett, who also worked on Beyoncé's Cyrus-featuring country album Cowboy Carter. Everett's worked on plenty of big pop albums, but has also produced and/or mixed for indie darlings like Alvvays, Fabiana Palladino, and Iceage. This could sound like anything!
For the visual component of Something Beautiful, Cyrus found inspiration in the 2018 Nic Cage-starring horror flick Mandy, one of her all-time favorites. She reached out to its director Panos Cosmatos, who then became "heavily involved" in Something Beautiful. (She initially wanted to do a bit of a Mandy remake that never got off the ground.) The album cover isn't exactly scary, but it does feature some wacky couture that makes her look like a glamorous villain. It's archival 1997 Mugler, if you're wondering, and that's the cover art above. Cyrus hasn't revealed the album's tracklist yet.
In other Cyrus news, last week a judge ruled she must face a lawsuit over claims that her Record Of The Year-winning mega-hit "Flowers" copied Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man." Mars is not involved in the lawsuit; it's being brought forward by Tempo Music Investments, a company that claims to have an ownership stake in the "When I Was Your Man" copyright. Tempo attorney Alex Weingarten said the company is "thrilled but not the least surprised" by the decision and "extremely confident in prevailing" in the case.
Watch the trailer for Cyrus' "pop opera" below.
Something Beautiful is out 5/30 via Columbia.
