A new Miley Cyrus visual experience will soon be upon us. On Monday, March 24, the Grammy-winning hitmaker announced her ninth studio album Something Beautiful. Cyrus revealed the news via her Instagram page, sharing the album’s cover and teasing the album as having a “bold aesthetic and visual storytelling.”
In a November 2024 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Cyrus teased that the album would be inspired by Pink Floyd’s The Wall and that it would center around music videos. “The visual component of this is driving the sound,” Cyrus said. “It was important for me that every song has these healing sound properties. 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.”
Cyrus has several iconic music videos to her credit, featuring her swinging from a giant wrecking ball, dressed like a giant baby, or partying it up in a house with her friends. Always adventurous and sometimes controversial, Cyrus’ videos have proven timeless, even if she’s admitted she’d like to forget some of them. Ahead of her hotly anticipated visual album, we’ve ranked her best videos.
10
‘Can’t Be Tamed’ (2010)
Director: Robert Hales
Perhaps this is where for Cyrus’ journey as visual storyteller began. Upon it’s release in 2010, the infamous “Can’t Be Tamed” video saw her dressed as a bird breaking out of a cage, moving through a museum surrounded by costumed dancers. The video from director Robert Hales was considered a major departure for the star as she was rising in the mainstream, a few years before she truly crossed over to more adult pop fare in the Bangers era.
As her Disney Channel show Hannah Montana was still on the air, the video proved controversial among parents, but thus began Cyrus carving out her post-Disney path. The song is extremely catchy, and the visuals of the video are memorable.
9
‘Party in the U.S.A.’ (2009)
Director: Chris Applebaum
While times are tumultuous in the U.S.A., we can’t deny that Cyrus’ breakthrough hit, “Party in the U.S.A.” is still anything but pure fun. Its equally exciting video takes inspiration from her southern upbringing, as she arrives in a ‘79 Pontiac to a drive-in theater modeled after the place where her parents met, and turns up the festivities throughout the night.
Though this is one of the earliest videos of her main pop girly era, the elaborate choreography and homages to films like Grease set the stage for a promising music career. Cyrus has released more artistically ambitious work in the years since to be sure, but there’s a case to be made for “Party in the U.S.A” still being in the running for the most iconic and referenced Cyrus bop.
8
‘Slide Away’ (2019)
Director: Alexandre Moors
On the heels of Cyrus’ divorce from her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, she released a standalone single and video for “Slide Away.” In the video, she is seen in the final hours of a house party in a pool, which is trashed with glitter, bottles, and playing cards. She reflects on a lost love, lamenting having given so much of herself to a relationship that didn’t last.
Hard-core fans will notice the parallels to another video of hers, “We Can’t Stop,” but at this point, Cyrus has grown up, and decided she wants more for herself.
7
‘River’ (2023)
Director: Jacob Bixenman
Though Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation era came and went pretty quickly, the album’s hits were undeniable. One standout track, “River,” is rife with double entendres and metaphors.The massively iconic “Flowers” video devoured much of the attention in this era. but the black-and-white “River” video deserves a lot of praise for its moodiness and craft.
The video is just as sexy as the song, and features a happily divorced Cyrus hitting the dancefloor with a group of shirtless dancers, as rain begins to pour, symbolizing a reborn Cyrus. The “River” video was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing.
6
‘Mother’s Daughter’ (2019)
Director: Alexandre Moors
Cyrus’ video for “Mother’s Daughter” is a celebration of the women who inspire her. In the video, she busts moves in a red leather catsuit, while showcasing a variety of women and femme-presenting people. Plus-sized model Angelina Duplisea taps into her own personal royalty as she sits upon a couch nude, holding a handed fan.
Clean water activist Mari “Little Miss Flint” Copeny also appears in the video, dressed as a superhero. The “Mother’s Daughter” video also features cameos from dancer Amazon Ashley, transgender model and disabilities activist Aaron Philip, and of course, her mother Tish Cyrus.
5
‘Flowers’ (2023)
Director: Marcell Rév
At the end of the day, all we have is ourselves — a lesson Cyrus reiterates in her “Flowers” video. In the video, Cyrus finds joy in her own company as she walks through Los Angeles, streaks through her sprinklers, exercises outside, and dances on her roof.
Cyrus has weathered several storms, but here, she is not only surviving, but she is thriving. About a decade into her career on the more adult pop side of things, long after shedding the Disney Channel image, Cyrus achieved her biggest hit ever, by many metrics. Thanks in part to a glossy video that sent internet sleuths searching for hidden meanings, “Flowers” broke Spotfy’s record for most streamed song in a week, and won two Grammys including Record of the Year.
4
‘Midnight Sky’ (2020)
Director: Miley Cyrus
Cyrus has never been afraid of being the sole star of her videos, so self-directing the “Midnight Sky” video during the COVID-19 pandemic came naturally to her. In the video, Cyrus rings in her rock era in a room full of mirrors, debuting a fresh new mullet while slaying a black Chanel bodysuit.
Combining elements of rock and disco, Cyrus masters the moves of her idols while displaying her own creativity and versatility. “Midnight Sky” was acclaimed by music critics, appearing on many year-end best lists in 2020. The accompanying video is certainly one of Cyrus’s best visual moments, honoring greats like David Bowie, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, and Pat Benetar while still feeling fresh.
3
‘We Can’t Stop’ (2013)
Director: Diane Martel
For her first post-Disney release, Cyrus kicked things off with a bang. The video for “We Can’t Stop” takes place at a house party, where every guest is doing something wild. Dancers are twerking, Cyrus dances with teddy bears, and pink goo pours out of a woman’s sliced off fingers.
These are the trippy festivities only Cyrus can dream of, and while this particular video proved polarizing. It’s a really fun video on the surface, but some fans and critics have lauded the video for being much thematically deeper than it appears. “We Can’t Stop” is one of the most iconc pop songs and videos of the early 2010s, and Cyrus simply couldn’t stop delivering more hits after this.
2
‘BB Talk’ (2015)
Director: Miley Cyrus & Diane Martel
Cyrus’ psychedelic album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz often flies under the radar, but it is one of her most sonically and visually ambitious to date. In the video for “BB Talk”, Cyrus is dressed as a baby, begging for her boyfriend, — who, at the time, was rumored to be The White Lotus actor Patrick Schwarzenegger — to stop infantilizing her.
As she sits in a high chair, crawls around on the floor, and throws fits, viewers can’t help but laugh. Despite her tangible frustrations, Cyrus is able to find the humor in this situation.”BB Talk” has been divisive among fans and critics, but it absolutely deserves points for its boldness.
1
‘Wrecking Ball’ (2013)
Director: Terry Richardson
Having delivered what was (arguably) the best pop ballad of the 2010s, Cyrus needed an equally memorable video. In the visual for “Wrecking Ball,” Cyrus channels Sinead O’Connor as the camera closes up to her face. Later on, she embraces the pain of her first public breakup with Hemsworth, — with whom she would later on reconcile, marry, then ultimately divorce — by licking a hammer, then swinging naked from a wrecking ball.
While Cyrus has dropped several gems since then, it was “Wrecking Ball” that set her apart from her millennial peers, showing that she was bound to be her generation’s sonic and visual provocateur. It’s a pop-culture touchstone, and won MTV’s Video Music Award for Video of the Year.
