I Want My Loved Ones to Go with Me<\/a><\/em>. Produced by Cyrus, Mike Crossey, and PJ Harding, the LP is clear-eyed and quietly confident, offering the clearest portrait yet of Cyrus as an artist and a person. Sonically, Cyrus leans into dreamy folk and indie soundscapes, tastefully weaving in threads of country, pop, and rock without subjecting the music to bloat.<\/p>\n\n\tLyrically, the LP showcases Cyrus\u2019s natural ability as a narrative songwriter, as she makes peace with a particularly tumultuous period of her life with hard-earned vulnerability and an ear for the poetic. There\u2019s a quiet confidence to the music and to Cyrus\u2019s performance, something she attributes to entering a new phase of her life.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe record that you\u2019re hearing is from an adult woman,\u201d Cyrus says, catching up with Rolling Stone<\/em> the day of the record\u2019s release. \u201cI was 21 when we released The Hardest Part.<\/em> I\u2019m 25 now, and I do feel like there\u2019s a significant difference. In those three years I experienced a lot of growth, and it was important to me to show that growth within the record.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tThe music also contextualizes Cyrus within her famous family. Her brother Braison, also a musician, wrote the Fleet Foxes collaboration \u201cDon\u2019t Put It All on Me,\u201d a searching and subtly rendered ballad that points to Noah\u2019s tendency to take on the problems of her loved ones. Billy Ray\u2019s influence is heard on \u201cWith You,\u201d a sweet and simple love song that happens to be the first song the superstar ever wrote. And Cyrus\u2019s paternal grandfather, Ron Cyrus, recites a hymn written by his own father, Eldon Lindsey Cyrus, at the end of the track \u201cApple Tree.\u201d Cyrus named the album after that hymn, which contains the line, \u201cI want my loved ones to go with me,\u201d and released the record on her grandfather\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\t\u201cThe album, whether it\u2019s super clear or not, is quite conceptual,\u201d Cyrus says. \u201cIt is about a lot of the same of characters. They relate to each other and relate to different parts of my life and different points in my life, whether that\u2019s my great-grandfather or my father or my mother, or even my fianc\u00e9 or my brother writing a song. There\u2019s so much of my family\u2019s lineage that inspires and is inside of this record.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThose family connections go beyond the recorded music, too. The day after the album\u2019s release, Cyrus made her Grand Ole Opry debut, performing on the same hallowed stage she watched her father stand on when she was a child. The full-circle nature of the moment was not lost on Cyrus, who called the opportunity \u201can honor and a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI grew up watching my dad play the Opry,\u201d she says. \u201cThe Opry, like the album, has this nostalgic feeling that brings you back to a sense of family. For me, it\u2019s going to be really cool to be going back there as an adult. And for my first time back there as an adult, I\u2019m going to be on the stage, which is such a huge moment in any artist\u2019s career.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile her father\u2019s country influence is clearly still strong, Cyrus is a voracious listener with wide-ranging appetites. Accordingly, I Want My Loved Ones to Go with Me<\/em> boasts an eclectic roster of guest artists, one that gives greater insight into the kind of music that has shaped Cyrus\u2019s artistry.<\/p>\n\n\tFleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold brings his trademark pastoral croon to \u201cDon\u2019t Put It All on Me.\u201d Quickly rising country up-and-comer Ella Langley helps lighten the mood on \u201cWay of the World,\u201d a deceptively upbeat tune about the life cycle of grief. Blake Shelton co-signs Cyrus\u2019s country bona fides on \u201cNew Country,\u201d bridging generational gaps in the process. And perhaps the most surprising collaborator is the cult singer-songwriter Bill Callahan, who lends his rich, reedy baritone \u2014 Cyrus calls it \u201cthe voice of God\u201d \u2014 to closing track \u201cXXX.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n\n