The 21st century’s glam rock queen Miley Cyrus has let the world in to another sneak peek of her upcoming visual album, Something Beautiful, in the form of the disco-laced “End of the World.” Cyrus’s once-in-a-generation vocals are set against a glimmer-filled mix of guitars, synths and fun hooks.
Starting the song is a vocal and synth hook that perfectly sets the tone and mood of the song. Cyrus’s harmonic vocal layers hit a fine balance between powerful and ethereal, which is a perfect way to describe this song. The shifts in energy are each perfectly executed. In the first verse, the buildup from the bass synth, drum kit to the guitars, and bass guitar creates a good amount of anticipation and tension to be let out in the chorus. The chorus itself introduces some counter-rhythms between the loose vocal runs and sharp keys. A sparkly synth pad is slowly filtered in during the second verse, which keeps the changing phases feeling new and fresh. Each element of this mix has the sole purpose of adding glamour to the rock-backed beat and does so beautifully with a contagious beat and shimmering tonality.
This instrumentation is a wonderful backdrop for the lyrics, as well. The song holds a bittersweet message of hopefulness as Cyrus sings “lets pretend it’s not the end of the world.” In the pre-chorus, Cyrus asks to “show me how you’d hold me if tomorrow wasn’t coming for sure,” showing a heartbreaking uncertainty for the future. The song pulls off a balancing act between tragedy and loving with such ease that you forget the sadness in some of the lines. While the song is woven with woe, the end message is not to be drowned in sorrow, but to make the best of what you have.
Something Beautiful is poised to be the most Miley that Miley has ever Miley’ed, and I, for one, am counting down the nights till its release on the 30th of May. “End of The World” is a glamour-fused rock single that is set to become a fan favorite very soon.
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