2009–10: The Time of Our Lives and Can't Be Tamed
In 2009, Cyrus starred as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana in
Hannah Montana: The Movie. Both the film and its soundtrack, which contained twelve songs performed by Cyrus,
[87] achieved commercial success.
[88][89] The soundtrack's lead single, "
The Climb", became a
Top 40 hit in twelve countries
[90] and introduced Cyrus to listeners outside her typical teen pop audience.
[91] Cyrus had considered ending
Hannah Montana after its third season, which finished production on June 5, 2009,
[92] but Disney retained and exercised its option for a fourth season.
[93] In September 2009, she participated in the
charity single "
Just Stand Up!" in support of the anti-cancer campaign
Stand Up to Cancer[94] and in the
City of Hope Benefit Concert in support of cancer research and training programs.
[95] She also became involved in
Disney's Friends for Change, an
environmentalist group, for which she recorded the charity single "
Send It On" along with several other Disney Channel stars.
[96] Shortly afterwards, Cyrus launched the
third Hannah Montana soundtrack. The album debuted at number two on the
Billboard 200, with first week sales of 137,000 copies.
[97]
This was significantly lower than the first week sales for Cyrus'
previous albums, and the soundtrack became her first to not receive an
RIAA certification. The soundtrack did, however, spawn the single "
He Could Be the One", which entered the Top 10 of the Hot 100.
[59] In March 2009, Cyrus published
Miles to Go, a memoir co-written by Hilary Liftin chronicling her life through age sixteen.
[98]
In 2009, Cyrus launched her first clothing line with
Max Azria, which was sold exclusively at
Wal Mart.
[99][100] To promote the clothing line, Cyrus released her first extended play,
The Time of Our Lives on August 31, 2009.
[101] Cyrus said
The Time of Our Lives
"is a transitioning album. [...] really to introduce people to what I
want my next record to sound like and with time I will be able to do
that a little more."
[102] The album debuted at number 3 on the
Billboard 200, with first week sales of 62,000 copies.
[103] The following week, however, the album rose to number 2 on the chart, selling 153,000 copies.
[104] "Party in the U.S.A.", the album's lead single, debuted at number two on the
Billboard Hot 100, making it her highest charting single to date.
[105] To promote the album, Cyrus embarked on the
Wonder World Tour. The tour proved to be critically and commercially successful, grossing over $67.1 million worldwide.
[106] On December 7, 2009, Cyrus performed for
Queen Elizabeth II and numerous other members of the
British Royal Family at the
Royal Variety Performance in
Blackpool,
North West England.
[107]
Cyrus had already begun transitioning to a more grown-up image in
late 2008, when her representatives negotiated a deal for novelist
Nicholas Sparks to write the screenplay and novel basis for a film that would serve as a
star vehicle for Cyrus by introducing her to audiences older than the young fans she had gained through
Hannah Montana.
[108] Sparks and co-writer Jeff Van Wie developed
The Last Song.
[108] It was important to Cyrus that she not be
type cast
as a singer: "I didn't want to be a singer in another film. I don't
want to do that anymore. You have no idea how many musicals show up on
my door. I want to do something a little more serious."
[109] Production on
The Last Song lasted from June 15, 2009, to August 18, 2009.
[110] Cyrus starred in
The Last Song, which was released on March 31, 2010 and received generally poor reviews, as did Cyrus's performance.
[111] Nonetheless, the film was commercially successful, grossing more than $88 million at the worldwide box office.
[112] According to box-office analyst Exhibitor Relations, the film marked "a successful transition to adult roles for Miley Cyrus."
[113] Before leaving to work on the film, Cyrus ended her nine-month relationship with model
Justin Gaston.
[114] While filming later that month, Cyrus began dating her co-star in
The Last Song, Australian actor
Liam Hemsworth.
[115] She later called him her "first serious boyfriend".
[116] Though the couple initially broke up shortly after the film's release,>
[117] they later reconciled.
[118] During this time period, production on the fourth and final season of
Hannah Montana began.
[119] The fourth and final season began airing on Disney Channel on July 11, 2010, and concluded on January 16, 2011.
[120]
While working on these appearances, Cyrus began recording for her
third studio album. In the midst of this, Cyrus appeared on the charity
singles "
We Are the World: 25 for Haiti" and "
Everybody Hurts", both of which were recorded for the
2010 Haiti earthquake.
[121][122] Her third studio album,
Can't Be Tamed, was released on June 21, 2010.
[123] This would become her last album to be released through Hollywood Records. The album debuted at number 3 on the
Billboard
200, with first week sales of 106,000 copies. This made it the lowest
first week sales for one of Cyrus' studio albums, and her first studio
album to not peak at number one on the
Billboard 200 chart. The
album only went on to sell a total of 343,000 copies in the United
States to date, failing to receive an RIAA certification.
[124] The album was preceded by the lead single, "
Can't Be Tamed". The single was released for sale on May 18, 2010, and peaked at number eight on the
Billboard Hot 100.
[125] The album's second and final single, "
Who Owns My Heart", was released only in select European countries.
[126][127] In February 2011, Cyrus confirmed she would be embarking on her
Gypsy Heart Tour, which featured no North American dates.
[128]
Cyrus later explained "Right now I just want to go to the places where I
am getting the most love and Australia and South America have done that
for me."
[129]
The tour began in South America on April 29, 2011 and concluded on July
2 in Australia. The outfits and dance routines used by Cyrus while
promoting
Can't Be Tamed were considerably more provocative than previous performances, arousing media criticism.
[130]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miley_Cyrus
