Miley Cyrus
American singer who released the record-breaking 2023 single "Flowers" from her album *Endless Summer Vacation*.
Miley Cyrus is an American singer whose eighth studio album *Endless Summer Vacation* (2023) includes the lead single "Flowers," released by Columbia Records on January 12, 2023, in some countries and January 13 worldwide. The song was written by Cyrus with Gregory "Aldae" Hein and Michael Pollack, and produced by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson. "Flowers" is a disco, funk, and pop rock song whose lyrics express an ex-lover's acceptance of independence. It received positive reviews and was a massive commercial success, becoming the best-selling global single of 2023 with 2.7 billion subscription stream equivalents globally, according to the IFPI. In the US, it debuted at number one on the *Billboard* Hot 100 and spent eight non-consecutive weeks atop the chart, becoming Cyrus's second number-one song after "Wrecking Ball" (2013). The song also spent 57 weeks at the top of the *Billboard* Adult Contemporary chart, the longest-running number-one on any *Billboard* airplay chart.
- Role
- Industry Peer & Confidante
- Affiliation
- Pop Music Industry
- Connection Type
- Professional Friendship
- Status
- Active Collaborator (Support)
- Shared Background
- Former Child Stars
- Public Debut
- Social Media Acknowledgement
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
Cyrus wrote "Flowers" with Hein and Pollack in January 2022 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California. The song came together as a ballad around a piano, originally with a "slower and sadder" feel, according to Pollack, who said: "We started with the chorus and, if I remember correctly, the lyric, melody, and progression started to form simultaneously. It practically wrote itself." The initial demo was a stripped-back ballad with only Cyrus singing and Pollack on Rhodes piano, then evolved into the uptempo final version produced by Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon. On December 31, 2022, while hosting her NBC live special *Miley's New Year's Eve Party*, Cyrus announced "Flowers" would be released simultaneously in all markets on January 13, 2023. The demo version was released digitally on March 3, 2023, and included on the digital version of *Endless Summer Vacation*.
In Their Own Story
The song broke several Spotify records: it earned over 7.7 million plays in its first 24 hours globally. On January 20, 2023, it achieved the second-highest single-day streams for a non-seasonal song at the time, with over 18.4 million global plays. During its first full seven days (January 13–20, 2023), it earned 96,032,624 plays globally, becoming the biggest week in the platform's history. In the next seven days (January 21–27, 2023), it earned 115,156,896 plays, breaking the record again. It became the fastest song to cross 100 million plays on Spotify globally (seven days), and on May 4, 2023, it became the fastest song to earn 1 billion plays globally (112 days). The music video, directed by Jacob Bixenman, features Cyrus performing dances at an outdoor pool, a backyard, and on the roof of her house, with photography in Los Angeles and scenes shot at Elysian Park. Cyrus performed the song live on the documentary concert special *Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions)*, on *My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman*, and at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, where it won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, and was nominated for Song of the Year—Cyrus's first set of Grammy wins. The song also won Best International Song at the Brit Awards 2024.
Reader's Guide
The song's chorus is allegedly a paraphrase of Bruno Mars's "When I Was Your Man" (2012), but editors of *Billboard* noted the songs only feature similar lyrical elements, so the writers of "When I Was Your Man" are not required to be credited as co-writers. Following its release, several publications suggested "Flowers" was a response song directed at Cyrus's ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, as it was released on Hemsworth's birthday and the lyrics refer to their Malibu, California, home which burned down in the November 2018 Woolsey Fire. Hemsworth had reportedly dedicated "When I Was Your Man" to Cyrus. The song debuted atop the *Billboard* Global 200 and *Billboard* Global Excl. US charts. It topped 60 different charts in over 40 countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Singapore, Germany, South Africa, France, and the United Kingdom. After its performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, it saw a surge in streaming numbers and sales and returned to the top ten of the *Billboard* Hot 100 in February 2024.
Did You Know?
- "Flowers" earned 2.7 billion subscription stream equivalents globally in 2023, making it the best-selling global single of the year according to the IFPI.
- The song spent 57 weeks at number one on the *Billboard* Adult Contemporary chart, the longest run for any song on any *Billboard* airplay chart.
- It became the fastest song in Spotify history to surpass one billion streams, doing so in 112 days.
- Cyrus wrote "Flowers" with Hein and Pollack in January 2022, and the initial demo was a stripped-back ballad with only Cyrus singing and Pollack on Rhodes piano.
- The song won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, marking Cyrus's first career Grammy wins.