Miley Cyrus took a moment during TikTok’s fan-only listening event for her new album “Something Beautiful” to give the 100-person audience a heads up: “My next album is about to be extremely experimental, so have fun with that,” she said. “‘Something Beautiful’ is just the appetizer.”
By that point, the room had already heard the album in full, as Cyrus had chosen Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont to preview her ninth record (out Friday) for fans that were lucky enough to secure an invite through social media. But what they didn’t expect was a surprise performance from Cyrus, who appeared after album playback to debut a handful of songs from the project as well as a few fan favorites, including an impromptu rendition of her earlier hit “The Climb.”
The evening, in partnership between TikTok and Cyrus, was certainly for fans, as she consistently acknowledged how intricately they knew every adlib and key change. Dressed in archival Mugler, she took the makeshift stage at the front of the room — which also counted actress Anya Taylor-Joy in the audience — and began with “More to Lose,” the sweeping ballad that she previously released as a single.
“I’ve been experimenting with this album for the past year or two by having these nights at Chateau, they were invite-only, super exclusive, just my closest friends and my family,” she said at the beginning of the set. “This was the way that I kind of discovered the album, because if it can’t stand up with me and Michael Pollack on the piano, who I wrote these songs with, [Jonathan] Rado on the guitar, and Maxx Morando on the drums, then what are we even doing?… So making the album and fully realizing it all and watching it become this butterfly and have this metamorphosis, this evolution, it’s so reflective of my life and everything that I’m experiencing and I pour that into the production. But at the heart of this album, it’s still been us, really. It’s been us three in a room making this album for the past couple of years.”
Cyrus segued into the live debut of “Easy Lover” and her Grammy-winning smash “Flowers,” describing it as “one of the most exciting songs I’ve ever gotten to put out into the universe.” She continued with a makeshift cover of “The Climb” that Pollack — who previously worked with Cyrus on “Flowers” and others, including Beyoncé and Justin Bieber — knew how to play, much to Cyrus’ surprise. She then concluded with “End of the World,” describing how she wrote it in the very room she was standing.
“That song was written in this room,” she said. “It totally changed and morphed just from being right here in this place under the ceiling, and this place has so many memories for me that I’m not going to tell you about. You’ll think differently of me. But all jokes aside, I just want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for all your support over all this time and on this album. It’s totally a devotion and dedication to the ride that we’ve been on together, and I look forward to it continuing to places we couldn’t even imagine.”
There was one last surprise in store for the evening as an attendee stood up just as she finished addressing the crowd to propose to his boyfriend. “Go get a room! Put it on my bill. If you want a bed, I’ll charge it to my card,” she said as the room erupted.
“Something Beautiful” arrives this Friday, followed by its visual film on June 6.
