Confused? We've got some answers on the singer's "super-exciting" collaboration with the Flaming Lips and her situation at RCA Records.
The signals coming from Miley Cyrus’ camp regarding upcoming music have been somewhat confusing of late.
The singer has been working on both a solo album and, over the past two years, one in collaboration with the Flaming Lips, that has been referred to as Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Pets (possibly in tribute to her late dog, Floyd) by Lips frontman Wayne Coyne. In a recent interview with Marie Claire, Cyrus said she wanted to give away the latter release for free -- and her manager Adam Leber chimed in, “If RCA wasn’t down the gratis plan, she was prepared to buy herself out of the label.”
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A source close to the singer called Billboard Monday in an effort to set a few things straight about the singer’s project with the Flaming Lips. The source declined to say what the release is called, how many songs are on it (Coyne said seven), or how or through whom it will be released, but did provide some details.
“It’s not a Miley record,” the source insisted. “It’s a project she’s been working on with the Flaming Lips. It’s amazing, it’s incredible, it just needs to be understood that it’s not a typical, straightforward Miley record -- we don’t want there to be confusion in the marketplace.”
As for what the project sounds like, “It is somewhat psychedelic rock, but Miley’s writing sensibilities lean toward pop, so it’s a nice, healthy mix of both,” the source continued. “But at the end of the day, it is Miley.” That description bears out Coyne’s description to Billboard in May: “Some of it reminds me of Portishead and Pink Floyd.”
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Two songs presumably pegged for the release have hit the Internet: A melancholy, midtempo track called “Tiger Dreams” that Cyrus and the Lips performed at an Adult Swim party in New York in May and a song called “Freaky” that the source said was actually an early demo.
The release is "a throwback to a time when people released [albums] that were synergistic and not just a collection of songs,” the source said. “She’s super-excited about it. The Flaming Lips are her favorite band and she’s wanted to work with them her entire life. I think people are really going to be surprised.”
The source stressed that Cyrus remains signed to RCA Records, no matter how or with whom the project with the Flaming Lips is released. “RCA has been a phenomenal partner,” the source says. “They let an artist be an artist, and there’s zero animosity. They’ve been a part of this every step of the way."
RCA CEO Peter Edge declined to comment on the Flaming Lips release, but confirmed to Billboard that she’s “absolutely with RCA -- we have a great relationship with her and there’s been no falling-out whatsoever.”