A sonic mirage? The mysterious reverb of distant guitar? A hazy musical apparition? Nonetheless the ear perceives the preliminary seconds of Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” the six-week Billboard Sizzling 100 No. 1 and record-breaking streaming smash, the seed behind the runaway monitor was planted throughout a easy writing train.
“The thought actually started with the phrase ‘flowers’ itself,” says “Flowers” co-writer Michael Pollack, chatting with Billboard from a music camp forward of the discharge of Cyrus’ new album Countless Summer season Trip. “It’s been actually unimaginable to look at,” he says of the fervent response to the music. “That is the sort of file you dream about having your complete profession and I’m so grateful to be part of it.”
Pollack has loved a charmed rise. When he was only a scholar at Vanderbilt College, he accompanied his idol Billy Joel on the piano throughout an viewers Q&A (he requested to come back as much as the stage, Joel accepted, and the following video went viral). Since that auspicious introduction to the general public sphere a decade in the past, he’s been an in depth collaborator to artists like Lauv, Ben Platt, Justin Bieber and Maroon 5. For the latter band he co-wrote “Recollections,” and with Bieber he collaborated on his Justice monitor “Holy.” On account of Pollack’s prolific discography, he shared the title of songwriter of the yr for 2022 on the BMI Pop Awards, tying with fellow chart-topper Omer Fedi.
In terms of Pollack’s harmonious musical relationship with Cyrus, the 2 first met in Could 2021 throughout a writing session. “We began working collectively periodically then, however actually hit our stride in January of 2022,” Pollack says. “There’s an countless checklist of what makes Miley particular as a collaborator, however certainly one of her biggest strengths is her style. Miley has impeccable style. She listens to and loves such a large breadth of music. Due to that, I don’t need to guess if one thing is nice or not once we’re writing. If Miley says one thing is nice, I belief her wholeheartedly.”
Pollack, who says he virtually at all times writes on the piano (“It’s the place I really feel most snug and it’s the place my greatest concepts have come”), is credited as a co-writer on “Flowers” alongside Gregory “Aldae” Hein and Cyrus. In terms of the music’s delivery, the songwriter says nearly all of the monitor simply got here into view.
“In comparison with different songs, the lyrics for ‘Flowers’ got here comparatively rapidly,” he notes. “The one line that gave us bother was the top of the pre-chorus.” Pollack is referring to when Cyrus potently muses, “I didn’t wanna go away you, I didn’t wanna lie.” “I believe it was actually vital to distinction the empowerment of the refrain with slightly little bit of disappointment and vulnerability, and that line ‘began to cry, however then remembered I’ does precisely that. I additionally love that the sentence is incomplete. It’s a delicate cliffhanger to take you to the refrain.”
Maybe that’s why “Flowers” soars with its singular sound, presenting a mix of genres that concurrently compete and gel collectively. Whereas a good friend advised him it delivered to thoughts Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” (alluding to its crescendos, disco violins and empowering theme, little doubt), many have additionally identified similarities to Bruno Mars’ “After I Was Your Man.” Pollack received’t touch upon the connection (maybe that’s Miley’s story to inform), however any listener can detect that the music boasts a refrain that’s the inverse of what Cyrus sings on “Flowers.” (Bruno croons, “I ought to have purchased you flowers and held your hand.” Curiously, Mars’ co-writer Philip Lawrence as soon as mentioned that “After I Was Your Man” was impressed partially by the artistry of Billy Joel.)
Pollack will say that the unique refrain was initially much less empowering than what it advanced into. “I keep in mind singing the tagline with the lyric, ‘However I may by no means love me like you’ll be able to,’ and Miley and Greg wished to flip the script and say, ‘Yeah, I can love me higher than you’ll be able to.’ As soon as we had the tagline established, the remainder of the lyric got here fairly rapidly.”
With that, a breakup anthem morphed right into a hardy unbiased roar versus one thing sorer. In accordance with Pollack: “That was definitely one of many greatest moments of the writing course of.”
Using that inspiration, an ephemeral and anthemic second in “Flowers” comes within the type of a cacophony of voices the place Cyrus proudly proclaims to the world, “I can love me higher, child, I can love me higher.” Pollack says the invention of that puzzle piece was his favourite second within the (excuse the metaphor) blossoming of the music. It got here late within the course of. “We had completed writing your entire music and sang it all the way down to see the way it flowed from prime to backside,” he recollects. “After the second refrain, Miley freestyled the post-chorus (when she says “I can love me higher”), however the way in which she initially sang it was on this cool, talky tone. That part introduced a sexiness to the file that we didn’t even understand it wanted.”
Whereas Pollack mentioned he “felt the magic” on the demo he recorded with Cyrus, the songwriter was shocked by its success. “We had been additionally so engulfed within the writing course of for the album that I didn’t actually overanalyze any of the person songs we made, however as a substitute simply centered on what we had been going to put in writing subsequent.”
Along with different cuts on Countless Summer season Trip, Pollack has different main tracks floating round, starting from the melancholy (Selena Gomez’s “My Thoughts and Me”) to the romantic (“Marry Me” from Jennifer Lopez and Maluma). Nevertheless it’s the record-breaking success of “Flowers” that has grown highest; not simply on the charts, however to develop into one of many greatest success tales in Cyrus’ already blockbuster legacy. (Rolling Stone went thus far to say that “Miley’s complete profession has been constructing to this second.”)
“I believe they’re all simple sorts of songs to put in writing, so long as there’s a real emotion to faucet into and an genuine muse,” says Pollack. “I personally battle to put in writing songs when nobody within the room can faucet into the supply of the emotion. Every of those songs is rooted in fact.”