Noah Cyrus is gearing up to release her debut solo album, and with her latest single “Every Beginning Ends,” she’s got none other than Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard in her corner. Listen to the two’s new duet below.
A slow country ballad, “Every Beginning Ends” mourns the beginning of the end of a relationship. “You went to sleep without saying you loved me,” Cyrus first sings, prompting Gibbard to reply,. “I guess I thought you already knew.” The opening is just one of many call-and-response lyrics in the track, as the artists draw up all those dreaded signs of two people falling out of love.
In a statement, Cyrus recalled working with Gibbard, a veteran of emotional songwriting. “That was such a surreal experience,” she said. “I’ve always been such a huge fan, so it was pretty daunting to get in the room with him, but once we got to work it all came very naturally.”
“We talked about past relationships, failed relationships, our parents’ relationships, and relationships that have lasted forever,” Cyrus continued. “He told me his dad has a saying: ‘You have to wake up and choose to love someone every day,’ and it sparked this conversational song about the twilight of a relationship and the reluctance to admit that something has run its course. I relate to that in many ways, not only with me, but also just with my parents’ relationship. Writing about that gave me more understanding.”
Gibbard spoke highly of the youngest Cyrus in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “I kept coming back to it and just basking in her brilliance,” he said. “It’s easy to be mysterious. It’s easy to be aloof. It’s easy to be cool. It’s so much harder to be earnest, and it’s so much harder because she’s really opening herself up with a lot of these songs.” In a live video directed by legendary music filmmaker Lance Bangs, Cyrus and Gibbard perform “Every Beginnings Ends” in Gibbard’s Seattle studio. Check out the clip below.
“Every Beginning Ends” appears on Cyrus’ upcoming first full-length, The Hardest Part. The LP drops September 16th, and pre-orders are ongoing. Come October, Cyrus will embark on a North American tour. Check out her forthcoming shows and the artwork and tracklist for The Hardest Part below, then grab tickets via Ticketmaster.
September 16th is also album release day for Gibbard, who, with Death Cab for Cutie, will release the LP Asphalt Meadows. Pre-order that project here, and grab tickets to Death Cab’s upcoming tour via Ticketmaster.
The Hardest Part Artwork:
The Hardest Part Tracklist:
01. Noah (Stand Still)
02. Ready To Go
03. Mr. Percocet
04. Every Beginning Ends
05. Hardest Part
06. I Just Want a Lover
07. Unfinished
08. My Side of the Bed
09. I Burned LA Down
10. Loretta’s Song
Noah Cyrus 2022 Tour Dates:
10/04 — Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
10/05 — Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey
10/07 – 10/09 — Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/09 — Houston, TX @ House of Blues
10/10 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Tower Theatre
10/11 — Fort Worth, TX @ Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall
10/13 — Dallas, TX @ Echo Lounge
10/14 – 10/16 — Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/16 — Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
10/17 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
10/19 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
10/20 — Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
10/21 — Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
10/22 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
10/24 — Montreal, QC @ Le Studio TD
10/25 — Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix
10/27 — Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
10/28 — Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
10/29 — Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre
10/31 — Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
11/01 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Grand at Complex
11/03 — San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
11/04 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
