What do Miley Cyrus’ “Used To Be Young”lyrics mean?
What do Miley Cyrus’ “Used to Be Young” lyrics mean? In the song, Cyrus reflects on her life and where she is today. She talks about going to “open bars” and how it leads to broken hearts.
The chorus of the song pinpoints her public image of where she was when she was younger—”crazy,” “wild,” and “fun.” But, it all dwindles down to constantly growing.
“These lyrics were written almost 2 years ago at the beginning of my ESV,” she wrote in the Instagram caption referencing her hit album Endless Summer Vacation. “It was at a time I felt misunderstood. I have spent the last 18 months painting a sonic picture of my perspective to share with you. The time has arrived to release a song that I could perfect forever. Although my work is done, this song will continue to write itself everyday. The fact it remains unfinished is a part of its beauty. That is my life at this moment ….. unfinished yet complete.” In an another video, she describes the song as “optimistic and there’s a sadness. It’s allowing sadness and joy to happen simultaneously which happens all the time. More importantly it’s looking towards the future and where I’m going.”
The release date of the song is very significant to the singer. “I decided to release ‘Used To Be Young’ on August 25 because this particular date historically has been important to me personally and in my career,” she said in an Instagram post promoting the single. On August 25, 2010, it was reportedly the first time that Liam Hemsworth broke up with Miley. August 25, 2013 is also the ten-year anniversary of her hit “Wrecking Ball,” which is also rumored to be about Liam. Miley made headlines later that day as she twerked on Robin Thicke at the MTV VMAs. It was a shocking transformation after her Disney days.
Speaking of Disney days, in the music video for “Used To Be Young” Miley wears a Mickey Mouse shirt. Miley started her career as the star of Hannah Montana. In her interviews that were released simultaneously with the single, she reviewed her outfits from her career and fondly. She joked, “Hannah’s for kids while Miley is for grown ass men in heels.”
“It’s super emotional because I am kind of a mini-me of my mom [Tish] and I could see her inside of the camera by using a technology where I could livestream with my mom from inside of the camera,” she said in a press statement about filming the music video. “So, we could see each other and as she was dancing it just made me cry, it made me laugh, it brought up so many real emotions and I think it’s really letting people into true emotion, which I don’t feel we get to see very much these days.”
Miley’s Disney peer Selena Gomez also released her new single, “Single Soon.” She shared her guest appearance on Hannah Montana with the caption “@mileycyrus and I both have a SINGLE SOON and we are releasing on the same day. We have been friends since we USED TO BE YOUNG. Excited for August 25th!” Cyrus quote-tweeted the same clip on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing, “@selenagomez and I are both dropping our new SINGLEs SOON… I say we USED TO BE YOUNG.”
Endless Summer Vacation includes the hit single “Flowers” which references her marriage to Liam Hemsworth. Cyrus and Hemsworth married in 2018 and announced their split less than a year later in 2019. The couple definitely had their ups and downs—including a pretty disastrous experience in late 2018, when California wildfires wiped out their home in Malibu. Cyrus told Howard Stern that she and the 30-year-old Hunger Games star “lost everything.” Miley references the disaster in the first verse “We were right ’til we weren’t / Built a home and watched it burn.”
