‘Endless Summer Vacation’: What We Learned From Miley Cyrus’ Sharpest, Most Independent Album Yet

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Endless Summer Vacation by Miley Cyrus is the ideal way to say goodbye to troubled pasts and hello to fresh beginnings. By focusing on the independence aspect while thinking back on previous relationships and eventually accepting the heartbreak while embracing fresh love for herself and others, Cyrus capitalizes on the independence theme that the enlightened divorce bop "Flowers" teased.

The pop star's eighth studio album is as much a declaration of moving forward as a sophisticated synthesis of her artistic legacy. Moments of flawless, current-day radio pop are interspersed with country, psychedelic rock, and synthesizers from the 1980s. The end effect is a potent aesthetic statement that is as clear-eyed and concentrated as Cyrus appears to have been in her thirties.

Here are some of the main ideas and observations I had about Endless Summer Vacation.

It’s not a straightforward divorce album.

Cyrus' more blunt sentiments on the dissolution of her marriage to her longtime beau Liam Hemsworth were found in Plastic Hearts (and the one-off kiss-off song "Slide Away"). As she says in "Jaded," the two had gone "through hell" together, going through on-and-off engagements, a terrible home fire, and, finally, a tumultuous marriage that ended sooner than either of them had imagined. Some assumed Cyrus was working on an album-length evaluation of her marriage that would prove much harsher than her previous albums after hearing "Flowers" and the various fan interpretations of all the potentially dubious references to Hemsworth's supposed adultery. Although there are poignant break-up moments on Endless Summer Vacation, she sings, "You smell like perfume that I didn't buy," on the visceral "Muddy Feet." — Cyrus is content with her landing and is solidly in the present.

Much of the album is focused on budding romance and intimacy — and features Cyrus’ new beau.

For the majority of the tracks on Endless Summer Vacation, Cyrus steers clear of all the "Flowers" discussion and instead concentrates on love and sex. As the second single, "River," demonstrates, the songs are humming with the anticipation of finding new love and the end to romantic and sexual dry spells. Other songs, such as "Rose Colored Lenses," "You," and "Violet Chemistry," are drenched in the euphoria of finding a new partner who makes you feel as though you're the only two people in the world. To take things a step further, Cyrus even co-wrote a couple of these new songs with her most recent boyfriend, who is probably the source of the album's more upbeat tunes. Performing on red carpets alongside guitarist Maxx Morando, Her name appears on "Handstand" and "Violet Chemistry" as a writer and producer.

The features are surprisingly subdued.

Many people anticipated big-voiced sing-offs between the stars when it was announced that Brandi Carlile and Sia would be included on the album. Instead, Sia and Carlile both contribute stunning harmonies and ad-libs to their own songs, keeping Cyrus in the spotlight. In the credits, Cyrus' obvious vision is never overshadowed by her more unexpected colleagues, such as the director Harmony Korine ("Handstand"), James Blake ("Violet Chemistry"), and Greg Kurstin ("Jaded").

Cyrus is oddly more authentic when she lets herself be all creative versions of herself at once.

Throughout her time at Disney, Cyrus has wildly alternated between various musical genres and outspoken political remarks. She has always gone all the way in while creating a new version of herself, letting go of her past in the process. Endless Summer Vacation ebbs and flows in perfect harmony, feeling like a pure distillation of her whole discography. The forward-thinking pop production by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, while drawing inspiration from Nashville, keeps the sound consistent and leaves enough room for returning collaborators like Mike Will Made-It to bring something fresh to the table with Cyrus. Cyrus has never had a more focused approach to her music. She is shooting to kill this time.

Above all else, the focus of this album is Miley.

Each song's central figure is a resolutely independent Miley Cyrus, who thoughtfully considers what it means to be your own partner. Songs like "Thousand Miles," "Island," and "Wonder Woman" focus explicitly on the difficulties of acting as your own support system: both the grief that frequently drives you to that realization and the freedom and comfort that follow. Yet unlike her earlier songs about connection and love, Cyrus generally shuns the self-loathing and reliance of her earlier works. She doesn't display herself as a warning sign as she did in most Plastic Hearts; instead, she subtly emphasizes that only the resilient will survive.

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