Analysis of "Goodbye" by Miley Cyrus

 Miley Ray Cyrus, born Destiny Hope Cyrus, took the entertainment world by stormwhen she was just thirteen-years-old.  In 2006, following a long casting process, Cyrus was cast as the star of Disney’s new television show, Hannah Montana,about a regular teenage girl who lives a double life as a famous pop star.  The series premiered with what, at the time, was a record of 5.4 million viewers.  This was only the beginning of what Cyrus would achieve as she continued her blink-of-an-eye rise in fame in both the television and music worlds.  Initially only performing and releasing albums as her fictional alter-ego, Cyrus got a chance to break away and record as herself, first accompanied by a Hannah Montana disc, then finally on a solo record.  Cyrus amassed young fans worldwide and became a popular topic for the media.  Her song, “Goodbye,” which she co-wrote, uses several poetic devices to convey sadness, longing, and hope.
The emotionally-loaded lyrics of “Goodbye” tell the story of a girl who is longing for the past.  She is speaking to a boy who is no longer in her life as she is reminiscing on their relationship and her “memories come back to life.”  She wakes up every day and all she can think about is what she misses about her ex-boyfriend.  She remembers every bittersweet detail, “those simple things” that made her love him.  She misses the way things used to be and wishes she could forget “saying goodbye,” implying that she regrets their break-up.  Amazingly, while she is caught up in longing and remembering, her cell phone rings and it is the boy she has been thinking about.  He is having the exact same memories and regrets.  The majority of the song is full of yearning and sadness, but the ending holds hope and the possibility of reconciliation and happiness.
Cyrus’s “Goodbye” features several poetic devices, which contribute to the song’s themes.  In the first verse, personification is used in the line, “memories come back to life.”  Because the listener understands that memories are not actually alive, it is clear that the speaker means that she was suppressing these thoughts and now the memories are more vivid than ever.  The next poetic device is employed in the chorus.  “I remember when we kissed/I still feel it on my lips” is an example of hyperbole.  The speaker cannot literally still feel the kiss on her lips, but the memory lingers so strongly that it is as if she can.  The chorus also contains synecdoche.  In the phrase, “[t]he memory I wannaforget/Is goodbye,” ‘goodbye’ is referring to the entire break-up.  Thus, part of the scenario is representing the whole.  The second verse features imagery in the line, “through my tears, I sang along.”  This phrase calls to mind a very clear image of a girl crying and singing and also evokes the emotion of empathy.  Imagery is also demonstrated in the chorus when the speaker says, “you danced with me/With no music playing.”  This line also conveys a very specific image of a young couple dancing to nothing, which the listener is meant to see as sweet.  The many poetic devices throughout the song evoke emotion, allow the listener to identify with the speaker, and contribute to the overall themes.
The song “Goodbye” is full of longing.  Its use of poetic devices, especially personification and hyperbole, amplifies both the speaker’s feelings of loss and sadness, and the listener’s experience.  The song itself completely exemplifies how a teenage girl feels when she is rethinking an unsettling separation.  Providing the pop genre with a quintessential break-up song, Miley Cyrus shows that she can do more than Hannah Montana’s feel-good dance tunes.