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Miley’s Breakup TikTok Anthem: Flowers
ANNA ARMELIN | CONTENT WRITER
Miley Cyrus can buy herself flowers, she can write her name in the sand, she can take herself dancing, and she can hold her own hand. This is the message of the pop star’s latest single, Flowers. Not only has Cyrus’ new breakup anthem broken records with its popularity, but its success has been fuelled by conspiracies on TikTok about the meaning behind its lyrics. The song has smashed Spotify’s one-week streaming record, and topped charts around the world including in the UK, Australia, Canada, and China. The song, reportedly about Cyrus’ divorce from Australian actor Liam Hemsworth, has become an anthem for women becoming stronger after heartbreak. Cyrus even released it on her ex-husband’s birthday, spawning countless headlines, TikToks, and memes about Hemsworth’s rumoured shortcomings.
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Miley Cyrus has been praised by her fellow female artists, in the spirit of breakup hits and their power to enable women to speak to their female audiences about the pain of heartbreak. Gloria Gaynor, whose 1978 breakup anthem I Will Survive cemented her status as a musical icon, has shared and commented on Cyrus’ hit.
“I’m in Nashville working on new music and just heard Flowers for the first time,” Gaynor has said. “Your song carries the torch of empowerment and encourages everyone to find the strength in themselves to persevere and thrive. Well done, Miley!”
Not only is Miley’s hit single a great show of how female musicians are using their music to action their empowerment, but it also highlights the power of TikTok in promoting artists at a larger scale than ever before. TikTok has become an essential promotion tool for music artists and their record labels. Songs that trend on the platform often end up charting on the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50.
Additionally, 67% of the app’s users are more likely to seek out songs on music-streaming services after hearing them on TikTok, according to a November 2021 study conducted for TikTok by the music-analytics company MRC Data.
We can see how Miley’s single has been accelerated by the TikTok-created hype around it, the conspiracies about her breakup, speculations about the release date and its meaning. But ultimately, its success comes from the sheer fact that it is a strong, empowering breakup song.
