Miley Cyrus has had a complicated relationship with one of her signature hits, “Party in the U.S.A.” With its infectious melody and lyrics that you can’t help but sing along to, “Party in the U.S.A.” took the world by storm when it was released in 2009, with stans calling it “the new national anthem.” Despite its anthemic attitude, Cyrus has long had a love-hate relationship with the wildly popular track co-written by Jessie J, Dr. Luke, and Claude Kelly.
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“Party in the U.S.A.” was recorded for Cyrus’ The Time of Our Lives EP and released as a promotional single in coordination with the launch of her clothing line at Walmart. Though the song quickly achieved critical acclaim and massive chart success, Cyrus admitted not long after the song’s release that she didn’t identify with it, particularly the lyric, and the Jay-Z song was on.
“I’ve never heard a Jay-Z song. I don’t listen to pop music,” she said in an interview on her fan website, MileyWorld, in 2009. “[‘Party in the U.S.A.’] is not even my style of music…I didn’t write it [and] I didn’t expect it to be popular, originally. It was just something that I wanted to do and I needed some songs and it turned out for the best.”
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Her critical take aside, Cyrus also expressed gratitude for the song’s success. “I’m really blessed for it to have done as well as it has. Totally blessed,” she continued. “God has definitely put me in an amazing position with amazing people.”
In a since-deleted Instagram video posted by Cyrus’ then-husband Liam Hemsworth in May 2019, he could be seen singing the lyrics to “Party in the U.S.A.” That’s when Cyrus took to her own Instagram Stories to state, “I hate it, but for some reason, the people love it,” in reference to the song.
She’s since reconciled with “Party in the U.S.A.,” performing it in a New York City subway station in disguise alongside Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2017 and applauded its use when people took to their balconies singing the song in celebration of Joe Biden’s presidential win in 2020. She also shared a fan-made video that dubs “Party” into a video of Biden playing a song on his phone. “Now THIS is a PARTY IN THE USA!” she captioned the November 2020 tweet.
Even though the song was made for the United States, its impact couldn’t be confined by country borders. It debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a Top 10 hit in countries ranging from Canada to Australia. It is one of 120 songs in history to be certified diamond by the RIAA for sales of more than 10 million copies.
Photo by: Vijat Mohindra/NBC
