Miley Cyrus Used To Be Young
After hearing a clip of Miley Cyrus’ “Used to Be Young,” I made a TikTok, making fun of how I came home from a birthday party before midnight to watch Gilmore Girls on my bean bag. The caption joked that I was old and washed up (I initially debated making a senior citizen joke).
No one who knows me would say that I have already outgrown college—I am still very much a child at heart—but I have also changed in so many ways from the person who walked onto Notre Dame’s campus 3 years ago. Less starry-eyed about all the possibilities and far less terrified of them, too. I have made a thousand mistakes, but they formed who I am.
I’m sure at least a quarter of my most memorable failures are available on someone’s camera roll or Snapchat memories. Still, I couldn’t imagine dealing with every action being readily accessible to the world. Being famous is one thing; growing up overly visible is another.
Anyone who stood even marginally plugged into pop culture in the early 2010s can recall Cyrus’ twerking, “Wrecking Ball” days. She was just another child star gone wild. A Britney in the making. Nothing new.
We judged her harshly; she was only our age, if not younger.
Miley Cyrus’ “Used to Be Young” is a “care-frontation” to all who condemned her and a love letter to youth in one beautiful, moving package. The music video appears to be filmed in one shot, with Cyrus’ emotions ranging from teary-eyed and vulnerable to grinning and wistful throughout the three-and-a-half minutes. With her blonde hair and Mickey Mouse t-shirt, she is no longer shying away from her Disney roots, but she isn’t rejecting who she was in the years following her Disney era either.
” Me and who you say / I was yesterday / Have gone our separate ways… / …You say I used to be wild / I say I was young,” Cyrus sings.
Regarding the “care-frontation,” she is singing to our parents and all the “grown-ups” who condemned her when they should have known better than anyone that she was only working through all the extremes of young adulthood. She was testing her boundaries and figuring out who she was. It just so happened that for her, pushing boundaries looked more like grinding on Robin Thicke on the 2013 VMA stage (rather than, say, getting drunk and crashing on a friend’s futon). They say she used to be wild. But now, at 30 years old and officially a grown-up, she knows she used to be young, and they should’ve known that, too.
Secondly, the love letter to youth comes from the nostalgia that arises throughout her expressions in the video and the song’s lyrics. I could pick a dozen examples to showcase this, but my favorite one comes along in the second verse:
” Take one, pour it out / It’s not worth crying ’bout / The things you can’t erase,” Cyrus sings.
In the music video, she smiles when she says these lines. It seems almost contradictory to the remorse the lines invoke, but it feels natural when you watch Cyrus sing them. This song is neither an apology for her wild years nor a cry to get them back and live it all over again. It’s nostalgia and acceptance. It’s also a message for the youth entering their “wild stages.” And those getting ready to leave them behind: Save your tears for tragedy. You’re growing up and moving on because you’re ready.
” Left my living fast / Somewhere in the past / And took another road / Turns out crowded rooms / Empty out as soon / There’s somewhere else to go, oh,” Cyrus sings.
The song is also a love letter to us, the youth. She’s singing to the ones that grew up watching and idolizing her. She’s not apologizing for being a “bad role model.” Instead, she’s letting us in on the secret: none of this is permanent. And that is something to take comfort in and slightly lament over. Some days, staying up until three a.m. and traipsing through the street. With people you met two hours ago will seem crazy. As well as stealing traffic cones to use as dorm decorations or running through the lakes in freezing weather. Moments throughout these four years will appear wild. But for now? We’re having a good run—within reason, of course.
” Those nights remain not wasted / I remember everyone / I know I used to be crazy / That’s ’cause I used to be young,” Cyrus sings.
They say youth remains wasted on the young, but that is untrue. There hasn’t been a single moment of my time at Notre Dame that I wasn’t learning until my brain hurt. Working until my body ached. Or living to my fullest until I thought my heart couldn’t take anymore. One day, this young version of myself will pass on and make way for the wiser, experienced, mature Joy. But until then, I will love foolishly. I will live fervently. I will have fun and be wild—and you should too.