After promising earlier in the week that she’d soon be returning to the spotlight, Miley Cyrus has returned in the splashy fashion that has become her MO ever since a little album called Bangerz had hands wringing all over the country. “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart” splits the difference between that sexed-up coming-of-age record, the zaniness of her Flaming Lips collab Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, and the staid, safe country-pop of last year’s relative flop, Younger Now.
With Mark Ronson at the helm, Miley rides a ’70s-country groove into oblivion in the high-powered video, that draws all-too-obvious comparison to the infamous OJ Simpson police chase through Los Angeles, imbuing those historic images with an apocalyptic vibe, and then there’s Miley’s look, which is more like a deranged ’80s prom queen. While it probably won’t cause as much outrage as her trashing of rap music did in mid-2017, it’s not aspirational. The video seemingly attempts to wedge gun control messaging into the visuals as well, but not clearly enough to imply anything specific.
Still, that seems to be what Cyrus is going for, she hasn’t stopped jamming together unrelated taboo subjects since her VMAs performance with Robin Thicke almost broke the internet — and introduced the verb “twerking” to members of the public who, truthfully, probably never should’ve known the term. If “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart” is indicative of Miley’s new phase, though, the sonics are a welcome left turn. Check out the video above and stay tuned for more new music from her coming soon.
