Earlier this year, Miley Cyrus released Something Beautiful, which we called the best album of her career. A couple days ago, she revealed she was expanding that universe with a deluxe version that includes new songs -- one written with Lindsay Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood, another with David Byrne. Now we get to hear both of those star-studded collabs in full.
"Secrets," which features Buckingham and Fleetwood, comes with a video directed by Cyrus, Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter. The song was written as a message to her dad Billy Ray Cyrus. Earlier this year on Monica Lewinsky’s Reclaiming podcast, Cyrus shared: “I wrote this song about my dad because I wanted him to tell me — even though they were secrets, even though I didn’t really want to know — I wanted to be the one he felt safe enough to tell.”
In an Instagram post, Cyrus added:
This song was written as a peace offering for someone I had lost for a time but always loved. In my experience, forgiveness and freedom are one and the same.
Thank you to Lindsey Buckingham & Mick Fleetwood for bringing magic to the music.
This song is for my dad.
The second single "Lockdown" featuring Byrne is a fitting sister track to "Secrets." Both singles have crossover themes of love, imprisonment, and trust. "Secrets, I wanna keep your secrets," Cyrus proclaims on the opening line of the titular song. "Love is not a prison/ I'm not a guard, no/ So even when I'm holding you/ I won't lock you up," she sings later on. Thenthe lyrics of "Lockdown" similarly name and act as a counterpart: "I won't lie, baby, you're my secret/ Oh, your love stays on lockdown."
Despite the lyrical ties, both songs couldn't sound more sonically different. In fact, the surprising highlight is the 13-minute collab with Byrne -- a sexy and psychedelic dub rabbit hole. It feels like a time-traveling anthem; we float through space alongside Cyrus' lustful vocals, Byrne's feral screams, spiraling organs, and galaxy-exploding brass instrumentation.
Check out both below.
Something Beautiful Deluxe is out today via Columbia.
