Steven Meisel
"I wrote it in a really different way," Miley says. "The chorus was originally: 'I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand, but I can't love me better than you can.'"
Miley Cyrus says her mega-hit "Flowers" was not originally written to be an empowering post-breakup anthem.
In a new interview with British Vogue to promote her album "Endless Summer Vacation," the pop star opened up about her process writing the chart-topping song.
First of all, she dismisses any attempt at getting her help in decoding the lyrics or the viral music video (fan theories abound, all centered on her ex Liam Hemsworth).
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
"I never need to be a master at the craft of tricking an audience," Cyrus said of the various theories. "It will set itself on fire all by itself."
She then went on to explain how "Flowers" evolved in the writing process and was not strictly autobiographical.
Columbia Records/Getty
Miley Cyrus Drops 'Flowers' on Liam Hemsworth's Birthday -- Why Fans Think It's About Him
View Story"I wrote it in a really different way," she said of earlier drafts. "The chorus was originally: 'I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand, but I can't love me better than you can.' It used to be more, like, 1950s. The saddest song. Like: 'Sure, I can be my own lover, but you're so much better.'"
But she ended up deciding to jettison the depressive message, "The song is a little fake it till you make it."
"Which I’m a big fan of," she added.
Miley and Liam first met on the set of "The Last Song" in 2010 when they were both still teenagers. He proposed two-and-a-half years later, though they would be off-again, on-again before moving in together ahead of the fire that destroyed their home in 2018.
A month later, they were married, but by August 2019, they were separated. They continued in this tumultuous way until their divorce was finalized in January 2020.
They have since both gone on to date and be in relationships with other people.
