Miley Cyrus announced their fourth Backyard sessions on Friday (March 03). This “stripped-back” concert series by the artist already has a long tradition. As in 2020 for the album Plastic Hearts, the new Backyard sessions will be released alongside their new album Endless Summer Vacation, which will be released on Friday (March 10).
The singer has been working with Disney for the first time in almost 13 years. Disney+ is allowed to show fans the first live performance of their single “Flowers”. Disney+ also announced that Miley Cyrus will sing “seven more tracks from the album, one of her chart-topping classics and a special performance with Rufus Wainwright.” The concert, like the video for Flowers, was filmed at Frank Sinatra’s former home in Los Angeles. That classic, as Cyrus announced on Sunday (March 5th), is her song “The Climb”. This song was released 14 years ago along with her Disney film Hannah Montana The Movie.
It’s been 14 years since The Climb was released.
In celebration watch my backyard sessions performance of this special song streaming only on @DisneyPlus March 10th at 1pm ET/10am #EndlessSummerVacation pic.twitter.com/SM2hW0MqIL
— Miley Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) March 5, 2023
Interviews and new information about ENDLESS SUMMER VACATION
In addition, the special will include “exclusive interviews” at the famous house. Cyrus previously posted a snippet of the interviews on Monday (March 6) and announced that her album will be divided into two sections: AM and PM.
ESV THE ALBUM FRIDAY MIDNIGHT, BYS FRIDAY 1PM ET @DisneyPlus pic.twitter.com/e2ucPAbFNe
— Miley Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) March 6, 2023
With this subdivision, the artist wants to divide the album into two ‘acts’. “AM represents the morning hours when you feel a certain energy and potential for new possibilities. […] And the night hours are associated with dirt but also glamour, and in the evenings you can rest well but also go out and experience the wild side of LA.”
The backyard sessions have a long tradition
However, the Backyard Sessions hasn’t always been a big event on a streaming platform like Disney+. After the end of her Disney series Hannah Montana, the then unsigned Miley Cyrus decided to offer her fans the first backyard sessions on YouTube. Among other things, she performed the song “Jolene” by her godmother Dolly Parton. This cover also caught the attention of Pharrell Williams, among others, who went on to become a producer on her record Bangerz.
In 2015, Cyrus brought back the backyard sessions—then on the YouTube channel of her nonprofit, The Happy Hippie Foundation. She covered “Don’t Dream It’s Over” with Ariana Grande and “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”.
Then in 2020, Cyrus produced the first Backyard sessions not released on their own YouTube channels. Instead, she performed both a Backyard “unplugged” session with MTV and another session with Apple Music. So she appeared for the first time with her own songs like “Midnight Sky” and “Angels Like You” in her backyard sessions. Nevertheless, the sessions continued to focus on covers by other artists. Among other things, Cyrus sang a country-tinged version of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More”.
The new album “Endless Summer Vacation” will be released on Friday (March 10) and the accompanying Backyard sessions will be released on Disney+ on the same day at 7 p.m.