Miley Cyrus Opens up About the Tragic Event That Inspired Her Emotional Song "Thousand Miles"
Which she eventually dedicated to her younger sister, Noah Cyrus.
Earlier this month, Miley Cyrus released her eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation. The singer-slash-songwriter has opened up about one of the most emotional tracks — “Thousand Miles” featuring Brandi Carlile.
The country-pop ballad ended up being a tribute to Miley’s younger sister, Noah Cyrus. However, it started off as a completely different track about losing someone to suicide.
“When I wrote ‘Thousand Miles,’ it started as a song that was very different from the one that is on the album,” Miley said during her Endless Summer Vacation Backyard Sessions special. “I wrote it in 2016 or 2017, and it was after one of my really close friends lost her sister to suicide. I just couldn’t imagine not having my little sister in my life. I wrote this song for her. It was originally called ‘Happy Girl,’ and it was, ‘I just wanna see you happy and all I really want is for you to be happy, girl.’”
Miley also shared some of the lyrics to the original song. She sang, “There was a friend of mine. Her name was Darlene, but all of us called her Becky. I don’t know why. I knew she was hurting. But I never thought I’d wake up to that call. Never at all. I remember on that day I promised you the world. But soon realized the world ain’t what you need. Now all I want is simply for you to be happy, girl. Even if that is a world without me.”
The Disney Channel alum elaborated on the final version of the track, adding, “It was about happiness and sisterhood, and it just makes me emotional, because now the song is filled with so much joy in the music and it’s become something so far from the sadness that inspired the song.”
Listen to “Thousand Miles” below.
