Before Miley Cyrus had written lyrics to her 2025 single “More to Lose,” Miley Cyrus lied to her godmother Dolly Parton about having a finished “hit.” After visiting Parton in 2023, Cyrus played her a new song, “Something Beautiful,” which would become the title track of her forthcoming album. The single, which was eventually released in March 2025, was only the beginning of the album, and Cyrus was still working through several other songs that were nowhere near finished.
“She [Parton] goes, ‘Alright, I see what you’re doing. Got any hits?” recalled Cyrus of Parton’s initial reaction. “And I’m like, ‘I do actually.’ She goes, ‘Oh really? What’s it called?’”
Put on the spot, Cyrus blurted out the title of a song she hadn’t even written yet, “More to Lose.” Parton’s prodding prompted Cyrus to work on wrapping up the songs and the album sooner than expected.
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‘A movie star in a worn-out coat’
Co-written by Cyrus, her longtime collaborator Michael Pollack, and Autumn Rowe, who also co-penned Kylie Minogue‘s 2014 hit “Sexy Love,” Jon Batiste‘s “We Are,” Leona Lewis’ “Collide,” and produced by BJ Burton (Bon Iver), and Jonathan Rado (The Killers, Father John Misty) and Shawn Everett (Kacey Musgraves, Alabama Shakes), the emotionally charged ballad is an anthem of sorts, of moving on from relationships long gone.
The more I stay, the less I go
We’re toe to toe, but I’m hanging on the wire
Stumbled down the same road before
Say I’m leavin’, but I’m only playing liar
‘Cause when you’re lookin’ like
A movie star in a worn-out coat
Yeah, throw away my mind
And it happens all the time
I stay
When the ecstasy is far away
And I pray
That it’s comin’ ’round again
And you say it
But I wish it wasn’t true, oh
I knew someday that one would have to choose
I just thought we had more to lose
“I said, ‘We got to write this song,’” said Cyrus. “He [Pollack] goes, ‘Well, let’s do it.’ He had a song that he had already started with another writer who I had never met [Autumn Rowe], and I had never heard any of it, but he goes, ‘It’s funny, I think some of this melody will work that I’ve been working on.’ And so I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know, but I told her I’ll send it to her, so we’ve got to write this ASAP.’”
Cyrus said she added in her own inflections to the song, but it was important that the “More to Lose” sound as raw as possible. “I add my harmonies, ad-libs at the end, but it’s really a song that’s more of a story, and I never want that to be interrupted or overthought or chasing perfection,” said Cyrus on Instagram. “I never wanted ‘More to Lose’ to feel perfect. I wanted it to sound meaningful and emotional.”
“Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved”
After finally recording and playing “More to Lose” for Parton, she said to Cyrus, “Got any more?” Cyrus then mentioned another song she had not finished at the time, which also appears on Something Beautiful, “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved.”
“I was like, ‘I do actually, and I think you’re really going to like the title.’ And meanwhile I’m going, ‘What titles do I have in my head?’ And I’m like, ‘I’ve got a song called ‘Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved,’ and you’re going to love that,” Cyrus said. “She goes, ‘Damn.’ She’s like, ‘I love that title, that should be your everything. You should have a makeup line, all these things.’ I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, no, I am, I’m working on it.’ I hadn’t even written the song yet, so all because of her, did those two songs ever get created.”
For Cyrus, Something Beautiful, which will be released with an accompanying film on May 30, was inspired by painful moments in life as well as the joyful ones. In the music video for “More to Lose,” directed by Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter, Cyrus appears near tears as she belts out the ballad.
“There’s such a spectrum to beauty, and some of it incorporates heartbreak and loss or death or pain, but sometimes it’s flowers and rainbows, like I said, and new love, which I got to display on that screen,” she said. “I feel like there’s always something to look forward to. Everything that I’ve ever lost, I’ve gained tenfold.”
Photo: Katherine Bomboy/NBC
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