花束 (2023)

"Flowers" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus from her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation (2023). Columbia Records released it as the album's lead single on January 12, 2023, in some countries and on January 13 worldwide. Cyrus wrote "Flowers" with Gregory "Aldae" Hein and Michael Pollack, while Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson handled the production. A disco, funk and pop rock song, its lyrics express an ex-lover's acceptance of being independent after no longer feeling the need to rely on someone else to be complete.

"Flowers" received positive reviews from music critics and was a massive commercial success, breaking many records. It was the best-selling global single of 2023, earning 2.7 billion subscription streams equivalents globally, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), making it Cyrus's most successful single worldwide to date. In the United States, the single debuted at number one and spent eight non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in addition to becoming Cyrus's second number-one song on the chart, after "Wrecking Ball" (2013). "Flowers" spent 57 weeks at the top of Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, becoming the longest-running number one-song on any Billboard airplay chart, and earned the most cumulative weeks atop all Billboard airplay charts of all time. The song was also a commercial success worldwide, debuting atop the Billboard Global 200 chart and staying at the summit for thirteen non-consecutive weeks. It topped 60 different charts of over 40 different countries, including in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Singapore, Germany, South Africa, France and the United Kingdom. It also broke a string of records on streaming services, including the Spotify record for the most-streamed song in a week (during both its first and second week), the fastest song in Spotify history to surpass one billion streams (doing so in 112 days), and the fastest female song to surpass two billion streams on Spotify (doing so in 502 days).

Jacob Bixenman directed the music video for "Flowers", which features Cyrus performing dances in several locations, including an outdoor pool, a backyard, and on the roof of her house. Photography took place in Los Angeles with scenes shot at Elysian Park. Cyrus performed the song live on the album's accompanying documentary concert special, Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), and My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, and at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. At the latter ceremony, "Flowers" won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, and also received a nomination for Song of the Year, marking Cyrus' career-first set of Grammy wins. Following the song's performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, it saw a surge in streaming numbers and sales and returned to the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2024. The song also won Best International Song at the Brit Awards 2024.

Production and release

"Flowers" was written by Miley Cyrus, Gregory "Aldae" Hein, and Michael Pollack in January 2022 in Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Hollywood, California. During a week of sessions, with the composers gathered around a piano, the song came together as a ballad, originally with a "slower and sadder" feel, according to Pollack. He said: "We started with the chorus and, if I remember correctly, the lyric, melody, and progression started to form simultaneously. It's one of those 'circle of fifths's songs where the melody informs the progression and vice versa. It practically wrote itself." The initial demo version of the song was a stripped-back ballad, only consisting of Cyrus singing and Pollack playing the Rhodes piano. Then it evolved into the uptempo song. Its final version was produced by Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon.

On December 31, 2022, while hosting her NBC live special Miley's New Year's Eve Party, Cyrus announced "Flowers" would be released simultaneously in all markets on January 13, 2023. The song was released on January 13 at UTC+00:00, which was still January 12 in some parts of the world. The demo version of the song was released digitally on March 3, 2023. It was also included on the digital version of Endless Summer Vacation album.