Miley Cyrus covered Billie Eilish’s “My Future” kicking off BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge Month starting this September. The Live Lounge is closed because of the pandemic. So Cyrus created a set full of tiny glowing candles and a backing band. The band all following social distancing precautions and covering their faces with masks. The overall spacious warm stage area and red-carpet recall images of old-time starlets in jazz lounges.
Cyrus’s captivating performance includes her belting out the lyrics from the start, while Eilish sounds like she is holding back something in the first verse. There is a grittiness to the way Cyrus sings. This turns the song from a slow cool, crisp, beautiful ballad, into something reminiscent of a lively pop-tune. The overall feeling is a faster and brighter song.
The original, as well as the cover, begin with only a piano accompaniment. Halfway through, drums, guitar, and the rest of the band jump in changing the direction of the song. The piano in the beginning of the cover is already bright sounding. It blends smoothly when the rest of the instrumental voices kick in, after a stark dramatic pause between the sections.
Overall, the performance is a lot of fun and Cyrus clearly got into the show. She finishes with a flourish after the last line “see you in a couple of years,” adding a spoken line “but probably not” and sticking her tongue out, making the last line a whole lot less ambiguous.
See covers of Miley Cyrus here and more covers of Billie Eilish here.
