Miley Cyrus, Slide Away | Track Review 🎵

Grammy-nominated pop artist Miley Cyrus delivers a beautiful, personal, and relatable breakup record with single “Slide Away.”  

Miley Cyrus is quite a talented artist by my estimations.  The thing with Cyrus is, sometimes, she seems to have a difficult time finding the proper niche you might say.  She did well for herself with her ‘rebrand’ with her Grammy-nominated, 2013 album, Bangerz. Since then, she’s struggled a bit to fit in just the right sound, style, and etc.  Younger Now (2017) was a better album than it was given credit for, though the ‘about face’ from Bangerz and a lack of strong commercial singles hurt it cause.  As for her 2019 EP, She is Coming, well, she needed some better songwriting, at least beyond “Mother’s Daughter.” “Slide Away,” her latest single, is a winner though, perhaps because it is so personal.

“Once upon a time, it was paradise / Once upon a time, I was paralyzed / Think I’m gonna miss these harbor lights / But it’s time to let it go…” “Slide Away” dabbles in a topic that’s readymade for success – breaking up.  Sadly, Miley Cyrus and hubby Liam Hemsworth decided to go their separate ways.  Often, when musicians separate/divorce, their musical output is affected by it either negatively (Robin Thicke’s godawful Paula) or positively (The Black Key’s Turn Blue).  “Slide Away” yields positive results, thanks to beautiful production work (Andrew Wyatt and Mike WiLL Made-It), strong vocals (duh, M.C. could always sing), and strong songwriting.  Besides the excerpt from the verse, the pre-chorus and chorus sections standout.  On the pre-chorus, notably, Cyrus, “Don’t want the whiskey and pills,” while on the chorus, she’s going back to the city, while he (Liam) returns to the ocean (Australia):

“So, won’t you slide away?
Back to the ocean, I’ll go back to the city lights.”

Final Thoughts

“Move on, we’re not 17 / I’m not who I used to be.” Fair enough Miley, fair enough.  Ultimately, “Slide Away” is a winning moment for the pop star.  She’s honest and open, and she has a great, relatable them, and quality writing to work with.  A second, varied verse would’ve been nice, but “Slide Away” still feels like a step in the right direction.

Miley Cyrus • Slide Away [Single] • RCA • Release: 8.16.19

Photo Credit: RCA