In her feelings! Miley Cyrus sang her new breakup anthem, “Midnight Sky,” at the MTV VMAs during an emotional rendition on Sunday, August 30. The performance of her newest song at the 2020 Video Music Awards was her first after parting ways with boyfriend Cody Simpson earlier in the month.
Different colors flashed on the stage while the singer, 27, belted out her latest single in a black dress with a high slit. She seemingly referenced her 2013 song “Wrecking Ball” at the end when she hopped on top of a disco ball hanging from a chain and finished her performance.
On the track, Miley says she was “born to run” and “doesn’t belong to anyone.” She continues, “I don’t need to be loved by you (By you) / Fire in my lungs, can’t bite the devil on my tongue, you know / I don’t need to be loved by you.”
Fans speculated the song was about her breakup with ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, but it also seemed to reflect on her romances with Kaitlynn Carter and Cody after her divorce. “See my lips on her mouth, everybody’s talkin’ now, baby,” the former Disney Channel star sings at one point. “See his hands ’round my waist, thought you’d never be replaced, baby,” she continues later in the tune.
While Miley and Cody went their separate ways on good terms after a 10-month romance — he even promoted “Midnight Sky” on Instagram when it came out — she left her relationship with Liam, 30, on less than good terms. During an interview with SiriusXM Hits 1 on Friday, August 14, she even called their breakup “traumatic.” Reflecting on how she felt after the sudden split, she said, “Losing the house in Malibu and going through a really public breakup — I think I just really needed some clarity. … It was just really important to me to be able to, like, really sit with my thoughts.”
The formerly married couple were first linked in 2008 while filming The Last Song together. In May 2012, the Hunger Games star popped the question and the two started making wedding plans. After splitting in 2013, they got back together in 2016 and Miley started wearing her engagement ring once more. After a fire destroyed their Malibu home in November 2018, they finally tied the knot just one month later. However, the marriage only lasted eight months before a rep for the “Can’t Be Tamed” singer confirmed the couple had “agreed to separate.” Their divorce was officially finalized in January 2020.
Miley publicly mourned the relationship at the 2019 VMAs on her hit song “Slide Away,” which she revealed on August 19 she wrote before ever walking down the aisle. “I wrote ‘Slide Away’ before my breakup. I wrote ‘Slide Away’ in February of the year before,” she said on Apple Music’s Essentials Radio. “I just keep speaking these things into existence.”