While Taylor Swift remains the indisputable queen of putting Easter eggs in music videos—I mean, have you seen the one for Lover?—it seems Miley Cyrus is taking a page out of Swift’s book, releasing a music video that fans think is chock full of nods to her relationship and subsequent breakup with Liam Hemsworth.
On Friday, September 7, Cyrus dropped the hotly-anticipated music video for her new single “Slide Away.” We’ve all agreed the song was undoubtedly a breakup anthem following her divorce from her husband of less than a year. Lyrics like, “So won’t you slide away. Back to the ocean, I’ll go back to the city lights” and “Move on, we’re not 17” seem to be nods to Hemsworth’s home of Australia and how they met and fell in love when she was 17. (RIP The Last Song.)
As if that wasn’t enough for fans, the music video contains a lot of things that could point to their relationship. In the video, a bored and unimpressed Cyrus wanders through a house as a raucous party unfolds around her. The premise itself is a clear parallel to one of her most famous videos, “We Can’t Stop,” in which the singer throws a wild house party and happily indulges in the partying. Now, as she sings lyrics like, “I want my house in the hills / Don’t want the whiskey and pills” and “I’m not who I used to be” fans can see how much she—and presumably her relationship with Hemsworth—has changed since then. Many fans also assumed the partying and shots of empty liquor and pill bottles could be a reference to Hemsworth’s alleged drug use. (Hemsworth’s reps denied those rumors.)
Eventually in the video, Cyrus heads into the pool, alone, and seems to find peace floating in the water. My interpretation: This is Cyrus letting her fans know she’s found happiness post-breakup—potentially with her rumored new girlfriend, Kaitlynn Carter.
(Can we also take a moment here to also recognize how amazing Cyrus looks in this video? She can truly pull off the wet-hair-don’t-care look, not to mention that chain metal dress that’s giving us serious Kendall Jenner/Paris Hilton 21st birthday dress vibes. And don’t even get me started on that glittery gold eyeshadow that looks straight out of Euphoria.)
