Released on May 30, 2025, as the fourth single from Something Beautiful, Miley Cyrus’ Easy Lover didn’t just arrive fully formed—it arrived fully reclaimed.
First conceived in the Plastic Hearts era, left untouched, and later offered to Beyoncé, the song lingered until it found its true home in Cyrus’ hands. “Tell ’em, B” isn’t a mystery anymore.
It’s a breadcrumb trail from a rejected country submission to a funk-inflected self-exorcism—with Brittany Howard on electric guitar, no less.
Before this, Cyrus had released three singles from Something Beautiful—End of the World, More to Love, and the title track.
As Billboard noted, she debuted Easy Lover live during a 45-minute set to a small crowd with her band, including Jonathan Rado of the indie rock duo Foxygen.
The track had been teased for some time, but it was during that performance the song began its second life.
“Easy Lover” by Miley Cyrus is about clinging to a destructive but irresistible relationship, where passion persists despite pain and emotional chaos.
You’re my baby, you’re the only one / You drive me crazy, oh, but I still miss you when you’re gone
This opening frames obsession as comfort, not a crisis. It’s got the cadence of a late-night text you swore you wouldn’t send.
The mood’s already unsettled—and Cyrus leans into it. No illusion of calm, just dependency disguised as romance.
Every second, every hour / It’s in your nature to light me up
This isn’t flattery. It’s a diagnosis. The repetition mimics fixation, while “light me up” feels more like combustion than love. There’s pleasure in the burn, but no safety net.
I love to hate ya, but I can’t stand it when you’re gone
The paradox is the point. This line holds no resolution, only friction. Cyrus isn’t pretending to rise above it—she’s sinking into it willingly.
So I call you once every hour
It’s comedic in its honesty. Clingy, relentless, a little pathetic—and completely relatable. That over-attachment? She’s owning it.
You got the love I always needed / Tie me to horses and I still wouldn’t leave ya / But you’re not an easy lover
Here’s the bruised centre of the song. The image of being tied to horses and still staying put is so outrageous it becomes vivid.
And that final line is the chorus Miley refused to give up for four years.
The tension is in its simplicity: you give me everything, and still, you make it hard.
You’re a wildfire, and I’m in your path / I’ve decided I wanna keep on dancin’ in the ashes
She’s not escaping. She’s surrendering. This isn’t resilience in the face of heartbreak; it’s complicit masochism dressed in glitter.
The decision to “dance in the ashes” suggests that the destruction has already happened—and she’s staying for the embers.
And so I call out, “Let it burn”
No rescue fantasy here. She’s fanning the flames herself. The vocal delivery teeters between defiance and resignation.
No, I just can’t give you up (repeated)
The repetition mirrors the addictive loop of a toxic bond. It’s as catchy as it is disquieting. There’s no attempt at a clean break, no breakthrough moment.
Tell ’em, B
More than a shoutout. It’s a timestamp, a wink to the song’s journey and transformation.
As Miley explained, “I had written originally that song around Plastic Heart days and never got the production quite where I wanted it, but I had written it with a totally different verse but the chorus, I had always loved that chorus… and when Beyoncé was looking for songs on her country record, I remembered that chorus and was like that would work really well for country.”
Brittany Howard’s guitar lines coil and thrash through the track, underscoring its chaos with raw, livewire emotion.
Easy Lover sounds like it was dipped in 80s gloss and then roughed up.
The synth-bass groove and guitar scratches echo Prince as much as they nod to the electro-funk of Carly Simon’s You Belong to Me.
It’s cinematic but warped—a smoke-filled club track for heartbreak veterans.
The chorus is engineered for replay but resists perfection. That’s what makes it sting.
And Cyrus, now firmly in her 30s, sings with a kind of sensual exhaustion that younger pop stars just can’t fake.
It’s liberation, yes—but the tired, glitter-smudged kind that comes after too many years dancing through smoke.
Some songs plead. Others posture. This one just confesses.
The genius of Easy Lover isn’t in its fireworks. It’s in the slow flicker of a flame that should’ve gone out years ago—but didn’t. And maybe still won’t.
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Miley Cyrus Easy Lover Lyrics
Verse 1
(Ooh-woo) You’re my baby, you’re the only one
You drive me crazy, oh, but I still miss you when you’re gone
Every second, every hour
(Ooh-woo) It’s in your nature, to light me up
I love to hate ya, uh, but I can’t stand it when you’re gone
So I call you once every hour
Chorus
You got the love I always needed
Tie me to horses and I still wouldn’t leave ya
But you’re not an easy lover
Verse 2
You’re a wildfire, mmh, and I’m in your path (Ooh-woo)
I’ve decided I wanna keep on dancin’ in the ashes
And so I call out, “Let it burn” (Ooh-woo)
Chorus
You got thе love I always needed
Tie mе to horses and I still wouldn’t leave ya
But you’re not an easy lover (Ooh-woo)
Post-Chorus
No, I just can’t give you up, no, I just can’t give you up (Ooh-woo)
No, I just can’t give you up, no, I just can’t give you up
But you’re not an easy lover (You’re not an easy, you’re not an easy)
Easy lover, hey
Chorus
You got the love I always needed (Ah)
Tie me to horses, I still wouldn’t leave you (Tell ’em, B)
But you’re not an easy lover (You’re not an easy, you’re not an easy, ah)
You make it hard to touch another (You make it hard)
Anything goes when we’re under cover (Covers)
But you’re not an easy lover (You’re not an easy, you’re not an easy)
(Easy lover, ooh-woo)
Post-Chorus
No, I just can’t give you up, no, I just can’t give you up (Can’t give you up, ooh-woo)
No, I just can’t give you up, no, I just can’t give you up
But you’re not an easy lover (You’re not an easy, you’re not an easy)
No, I just can’t give you up, no, I just can’t give you up (Ooh-woo)
No, I just can’t give you up, no, I just can’t give you up
But you’re not an easy lover (You’re not an easy, you’re not an easy)
(Ooh-woo)
