“We really leaned in,” Miley explained of the album’s visuals to Harper’s Bazaar last November, adding she has a “heart-first attachment” to the 1982 movie. “My idea was making The Wall, but with a better wardrobe and more glamorous and filled with pop culture.”
That theme also drips through the album’s sound, where she mixed psychedelic rock production with intimate lyrics. Miley noted that “every song has these healing sound properties,” as Something Beautiful is supposed to reflect multiple stages in life.
“The songs, whether they’re about destruction or heartbreak or death, they’re presented in a way that is beautiful, because the nastiest times of our life do have a point of beauty,” she continued. “They are the shadow, they are the charcoal, they are the shading. You can’t have a painting without highlights and contrast.”
