Stream or skip?

“As if I would see my body stands in a mirror and hurts to be seen.” Something beautiful If a visual accompaniment to Miley Cyrus' album of the same name – her ninth – and in the film that Cyrus wrote and staged together with Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter, she is fabulous and lost in a dream. Something beautiful The recording contains a cross -section of top -class employees, and some of them appear here like Naomi Campbell and Brittany Howard. for Something beautiful The visual journey, Cyrus, also worked with the director of photography Benoît Debie, a veteran of films with Wim Wenders and Gaspar Noé. (Oh, and Lost riverRyan Goslings Wacko government debut.) So let's go live into the opening names of the film, where Miley tries to frame a speed train in the eye of her mind.

The Gist: It is ultimately fleeting, she says when her words appear on the screen. “Your eyes cannot prevent the passing landscapes from being swallowed at an endless distance.” With pictures of petals that develop and dripping water, it is the spoken word intro too Something beautifulAnd from there, the film follows the track list of the album pretty much, just like the first look is the ravish Diamond Baubles-and-Filament number from cover art.

Already before Something beautiful She already appeared as a visual album, so that we can understand the ambitious, concept -related collection of this film as directly from Mileys Psyche. The title track, which deals in the traps of R&B and indie, shows them with sparks and hard, almost non -unanimous grades. At some point she wears a Monchhichi-like silencer. “Witness, commit to yourself, that I am owned – yes,” sings Miley. Is that
“Something nice” in the room with us now? Because crescendo is beaten and lost in the shade.

“End of the World” is next, and as a lead single of the album, it flirts to a mild disco beat with Eskarte Pop. For this one in Emerald Green, which is draped over the drum Riser; Picasso is mentioned in passing, just like Botticelli later. Then it is time for “more to loose”, a kind of pop-torch song, in which the look changes from a mere shoulder dress to a skullable mask made of hose over a silhouetted black coat. A xylophone is in the distance, and suddenly Miley follows the wider world in this outfit. A Hollywood sound stage, a dressing room. Maybe it's just us, but we have thought about it between the fit and the lyrical topics The substance.

Love – the real way forever, friendly or even for a night – obsession, and both parties who are looking for something they know for the sublime is bad. These are the ideas with which Miley Cyrus works Something beautifulAnd she pours the intensity into the many close -ups during her visual accompaniment. Brittany Howard, the mighty singer and guitarist of the recently recessed Alabama Shakes, appears in the clip for “Walk of Fame” -Wo Miley also Arnold Schwarzenegger's star grows and for the Gregorian vocal speed “Every girl who has ever loved”, becomes Cyrus from Naomi Campbell. They strut, they pose, they reef on Madonna's “Vogue”. “Come to the people you dreamed of.”

Which films will they remind you? In 2023, Cyrus accompanied her eighth album with another part of the visual pizazz. Endless summer vacation (back yard meetings) was an accompanying concert special that was created by Cyrus Something beautiful Co-director Jacob Bixenman, which contained appearances inside and on the site of a fantastic house from the middle of the century with a view of LA.

Value value to look at: As a star and co-director and writer, Miley is about all this thing. Props on Something beautiful The costume designer Bradley Kenneth, who looks completely different, but still part of a complete aesthetic package.

Unforgettable dialogue: “I go with the concrete as if it were a stage.” Kühnkeit has always been Miley Cyrus' guide as a singer and performer and the graphic that she attached to the songs Something beautiful Add a wealth of experience.

Sex and skin: Not really – or let's say “sexual situations”. Mileys look throughout can be revealing, and at some point she and the real friend Maxx Morando make up in a rainstorm.

Our attitude: In 2023, Endless summer (backyard sessions) Was cool, but it didn't go far enough. Whenever Miley Cyrus found a groove that really left her wild and wild trademark out of the chain, it would cut it to sit-down interview segments that felt like an advertising pap. Something beautifulIn contrast, there are no such restrictions. For one thing, there are no interviews at all. This is a pure concept through and through where frames full of darkness and sexuality, romance are filled and canceled with damage. Instead of interviews, Cyrus immerses every component of their characteristics into frequent close -ups as if they were the eyes and mouth of their film themselves. Mileys ID speaks to us, shows itself for us and whether she is pursuing Hollywood and Vine at night, turning into a threatening, tempting dream visitor or playing with her own picture as a star and as a woman. Something beautiful All places go. Not only in your thoughts or between the ligaments of an LP, but out here. After all, a “visual album” should not only exist between the ears.

Our call: Stream it! Miley Cyrus: Something nice Is not just a collection of advertising videos. As a visual expansion of her album of the same name, Cyrus supports her songs with interpretative vignettes full of fashion from a runway in the head and various designed sides of her personality. When it finally signals the end of the world, it is a mind to lean into it. Something beautiful can also eat you alive.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a writer based in Chicago. As the veteran of alternative weekly trenches, his work also performed in Entertainment Weekly, PitchFork, The All Music Guide and The Village Voice.