That’s why Miley’s “Flowers” was the most-streamed song of V-Day 2023

In 2010, a leaked photo transformed Miley from a Disney princess into a Dank pioneer. Over a decade later, she’s still destigmatizing the plant with her tacky new hit “Flowers.”

I first tried weed around the same time that international pop star and provocateur Miley Cyrus did—or rather, around the same time it was publicly announced that she’d tried it. It was 2010, and grainy cellphone video (remember, this was the iPhone 4 era) leaked of the Disney Channel princess tearing up a dirty bong and piling up something so potent (TMZ reported it as Salvia) that she burst into infectious giggles and possibly hallucinated at seeing her boyfriend (and now ex-husband) Liam Hemsworth. It was shocking, even tingling, and it foreshadowed her reinvention as a millennial stoner icon in her bangerz era.

I honestly can’t say that the scandalous video gave me the courage to try weed, but it did reveal something to me. In the unguarded and sadly non-consensual shared video, I first saw Cyrus as a regular smoker without her Hannah Montana flair, enjoying a real moment. Granted, very few of us will ever share a joint with Wiz Khalifa or Snoop Dogg.

In a media landscape where few prominent women, let alone likable TV and film characters, openly smoked weed, Miley gave many young girls the proverbial thumbs-up that it’s okay to indulge in our vices, even though society is ready to portray us as pariahs .

More than a decade later, when she and Hemsworth divorced and she took issue with this bong “scandal,” both Cyrus and her attitude toward weed have changed. But it wasn’t a linear journey. And luckily for us, her longstanding affection for ganja often plays out in her music.

Interpolating an old Bruno Mars hit, her latest single “Flowers” uses a floral motif to create a self-love anthem following her recent divorce, and serves as a reaffirmation that no matter who she is romantically involved, she will always be just Miley and what she rolls up. “Flowers” feels like the relief of an exhale from holding the hit for too long or finally letting go of a man who never respected your love of weed.

Since that infamous leaked video, Cyrus has transformed into some sort of cannabis-smoking chameleon, changing her looks and attitude towards the green stuff. She lit lots of joints and blunts on stage during her rap-inspired era on the Bangerz tour, and in 2013 told Rolling Stone that weed was “the best drug in the world.” Her 2015 album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz felt like a Grateful Dead homage, crammed with lyrics like “Yeah, I smoke pot/ Yeah, I love peace/ But I don’t give a fuck/ I ain’t no hippy.” Yes.

She then said she quit in 2017 after years of high-profile use to focus on her then new album, the more romantic and pop-friendly Younger Now, which coincided with her reconciliation with Hemsworth. But she was puffing again in 2018, often with her own parents (her dad is apparently growing), then quit again around 2019 following vocal cord surgery after years of touring and overuse.

But in 2021, she was back in her stoner era, even dressing up as “Devil’s Salad” for a hilarious exchange with Mr. “I am Weed,” Machine Gun Kelly. I can’t say there’s a connection between their rocky relationships and their weed use, but many of us find ourselves drawn to our favorite strain in the midst of heartbreak. As Taylor Swift did with Lavender Haze, flowers and cannabis can herald the blossoming of new connections or remind us that even beautiful things come to an end.

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Taylor Swift sets the mood for the new album with “Lavender Haze”.

Many of Miley’s previous songs contain numerous references to drugs, alcohol and sex, such as “We Can’t Stop”, “Do My Thang”, “23” and “Dooo It!”. In these songs, Cyrus seems to revel in the newfound freedom of adulthood after growing up on Disney televisions. But this kind of bold ownership of perceived vices comes with stigma, the looming shadow of judgmental media and older generations expecting too much of her; even the 0.1% bear the burden of the war on drugs and the poison of prohibition, albeit to a lesser extent.

On the other hand, being a young, ultra-hit pop and now rock star means you should celebrate, and Miley has shared how her openness about sobriety has its own hurdles with those who look down on a break. Many of these songs sell a narrative, an idea of ​​who Miley Cyrus is, rather than reflecting the true fabric of her life. Many people have built professional images and brands out of their cannabis use; We rarely wonder what happens when the person behind it changes their mind.

But “Flowers” has a more mature tone and Miley brags about something beyond the imagination. Not only does she leave her bad relationship behind, but also the vampiric critics who circle around it. The song itself sounds more like Miley smoked a good Kush before coming to an epiphany, an introspective realization, rather than “dancing with Molly”; she’s buying herself some flowers, and why shouldn’t we all treat ourselves to a bouquet, smokeable or not? Her story, like her cannabis use, has always been her own.

Our personal relationships with weed are very similar to those with humans – fluid, changing, they can end or begin at any time. And many of us suffer from the specter of shame and stigma, even though our flowers can make us feel good. In an old interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Miley called cannabis her “first and true love,” and I would argue that it helps her love herself even more. She doesn’t have to actively use it to see its value in her life and when it’s better to abstain.

Like Miley, we can buy flowers, write our names in the sand, talk to ourselves for hours, and say things we don’t understand. We are never less than because we enjoy cannabis, embracing who we are.

It sounds like listeners are resonating with this message as well. Rolling Stone magazine reported that “Flowers” was one of this year’s Valentine’s Day songs on Spotify, with over 10.4 million streams. Keep it up Miley!

Amelia Williams

New York-based freelance cannabis journalist Amelia Williams is a graduate of San Francisco State University’s journalism program and a former budtender. Williams has contributed to GreenState, MG Magazine, Culture Magazine and Cannabis Now, Kirkus Reviews and The Bold Italic of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Check out Amelia Williams’ articles

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