Back at it! Miley Cyrus released her new single, “Midnight Sky,” and its music video at midnight on Friday, August 14.
The Grammy nominee, 27, cowrote the track with Dua Lipa, Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh, and she directed the colorful, retro-inspired visual herself.
“It’s been a long night and the mirror is telling me to go home / But it’s been a long time since I’ve felt this good on my own,” Cyrus sings. “Nine years went by with my hands tied up in your ropes / Forever and ever, no more.”
The Hannah Montana alum has been teasing “Midnight Sky” on social media for more than a week. She started on August 4 by sharing a clip from her 2007 video “Start All Over” with the caption, “Meet Miley Cyrus….. again. #SheIsComing #ButForRealThisTime.” Then, hours before the official release, she uploaded a montage looking back on her most iconic videos including 2008’s “7 Things,” 2009’s “Party in the U.S.A.” and 2013’s “Wrecking Ball.”
“Midnight Sky” is the latest single from Cyrus’ forthcoming seventh studio album, She Is Miley Cyrus. The LP is also expected to include “Mother’s Daughter” and “Slide Away,” two songs she released in 2019. The latter was inspired by her split from Liam Hemsworth, whom she married in December 2018 after nine years of dating on and off. The Last Song costars called it quits in August 2019 and finalized their divorce in January.
After a monthlong romance with Kaitlynn Carter, Cyrus moved on with Cody Simpson in October 2019. They were quarantined together in Los Angeles for much of the COVID-19 pandemic before news broke of their split hours before “Midnight Sky” dropped. Prior to their breakup, Cyrus made her directorial debut with the video for Simpson’s song “Captain’s Dance With the Devil.”
“[Quarantine] really opened my eyes to how much is possible on your own,” the singer and poet, 23, told Vanity Fair in May. “I think it’s something that a lot of us are learning during this time … how much is possible with what you have around or just with your own visions in your own bedroom — what you can create.”
