Used to Be Young
"Used to Be Young" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus. It was released on August 25, 2023, by Columbia Records, after the broadcast of the ABC documentary concert special Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions) the day before, and appears on the digital reissue of Cyrus's eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation (2023) as the fourth single. The song was written by Cyrus alongside Aldae and Michael Pollack, with the singer, Pollack, and Shawn Everett handling production.

"Used to Be Young" debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cyrus' 12th top-ten song and the second one from Endless Summer Vacation, following "Flowers".

Background

Cyrus first teased the song and an upcoming release in her June 2023 cover story for British Vogue; she revealed its lyrics: "I know I used to be crazy / I know I used to be fun / You say I used to be wild / I say I used to be young". On August 15, 2023, Cyrus posted a clip to her social media of a street covered in posters of her, captioned with song lyrics of her past eras along with the lyric "I say I used to be young". These posters were spotted in various cities worldwide that day, including Brussels, Los Angeles, New York City, and Paris. The words "Used to Be Young" also appeared on all of her music video thumbnails on YouTube.

Cyrus announced the single along with the ABC documentary concert special, Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions) through a trailer on her social media on August 17. She revealed the song's cover art and release date—August 25, 2023, a day after the broadcast of the special, an updated and "reimagined" version of Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions) (2023). A limited edition 7-inch vinyl of the song was made available to pre-order, along with its pre-save on streaming platforms. In an accompanying statement, Cyrus said that "Used to Be Young" is dedicated to her "loyal fans" for "loving every version of [her]". She revealed that she chose to release the song on August 25, 2023 as it marked a decade since her controversial 2013 MTV VMAs performance, as well as the release of her single "Wrecking Ball" (2013) and its respective music video. The singer posted the entirety of the song's lyrics on August 22 to her social media. Cyrus revealed it was written in 2021 during the initial stages of development of her eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation (2023); she "[painted] a sonic picture of [her] perspective to share with [her fans]".

Commercial performance
"Used to Be Young" became Miley Cyrus's 12th top-ten song on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number eight with 25.9 million in airplay audience, 17.8 million streams and 19,000 downloads. It debuted at number 2 on the Digital Song Sales, number 9 on Streaming Songs and number 19 on Radio Songs. It also marked Cyrus's second song to appear in the top ten of the Hot 100 in 2023, following "Flowers".

Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from YouTube.
 Miley Cyrus – vocals, songwriter, producer
 Michael Pollack – songwriter, producer, associated performer, celeste, keyboards, organ, piano, synthesizer
 Shawn Everett – producer, keyboards, synthesizer, engineer, mixing engineer, vocal engineer
 Gregory Aldae Hein – songwriter
 Pino Palladino – bass
 Delicate Steve – guitar
 Maxx Morando – drums, programmer, synthesizer 
 Ian Gold – engineer
 Pièce Eatah – engineer, vocal engineer
 Chris Gehringer – mastering engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Certifications

Release history

References

2023 singles
2023 songs
2020s ballads
Columbia Records singles
Miley Cyrus songs
Pop ballads
Songs written by Michael Pollack (musician)
Songs written by Gregory Hein
Songs written by Miley Cyrus