It’s been nearly 12 hours since Miley Cyrus’s EP She Is Coming was released, and fans have had some time to process its seven tracks. While most of the songs focus on Cyrus’s own identity and lifestyle, some believe that her husband Liam Hemsworth inspired the last song on the EP, “The Most.”
Cyrus told Vanity Fair earlier this year that she wrote most of her album before she lost her and Hemsworth’s home in the Woolsey Fire—and by extension, before they got married. “When people hear my music they hear a fragment of time, something I feel or felt right then,” she said. “By the time it gets to your ears I may have grown past it, but I am truest to who I am at that very second.”
Given that context, here are the lyrics of the song, via Genius, and how fans are interpreting them to be about Hemsworth.
Intro
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Verse 1
This winter was as cold as you and I
I know you’re home, hoping I’m alright
How many times have I left you in the deep?
I don’t know why you still believe in me
Cyrus and Hemsworth have spent the last 10 years together, although they weren’t dating for all of that time. The two got engaged in 2012, and ultimately split in 2013. It wasn’t until January 2016 that they started dating and ultimately got engaged again. They got married in December 2019.
If Cyrus wrote this song before she lost her house in the Woolsey Fire, it could reflect their relationship at that time. The two would both sometimes be apart for work assignments and doing their own thing. In August 2018, TMZ reported that the two had no plans to ever get married. “Their engagement back in October 2016 was a symbol of commitment, but it was enough of a symbol for them,” one source said at the time. “Miley has actually said she doesn’t want to get married, despite the engagement. She doesn’t think it makes a relationship better.”
But if she wrote it after the fire, the lyrics could take on a different meaning. The Woolsey Fire happened at the end of fall—back in November 2018—and the two lost their Malibu home. “The winter was as cold as you and I…” could refer to that literal recovery period as the couple coped with the loss of their home. And the lyric “I know you’re home, hoping I’m alright” could be a nod to where they were when the fire happened. Hemsworth was literally in Malibu during the fire and saved all the couple’s animals. Cyrus, meanwhile, was away in South Africa, filming her upcoming episode of Black Mirror.
Chorus
Oh, and even in my darkest days, even in my lowest place
You love me the most
Cyrus spoke to Vanity Fair about how the Woolsey Fire brought the two closer than ever before. “When you experience what we experienced together with someone, it is like glue,” she said. “You’re the only two people in the world who can understand.”
It is also what led them to get married. “What Liam and I went through together changed us. I’m not sure without losing Malibu, we would’ve been ready to take this step or ever even gotten married, who can say?” she said. “But the timing felt right and I go with my heart. No one is promised the next day, or the next, so I try to be ‘in the now’ as much as possible.”
And even when I can’t stay, even when I run away
You love me the most
So why do I hurt you so? Is it ’cause I know?
Why do I hurt you so? Is it ’cause you love me the most?
Cyrus could be reflecting here on the two-plus years the couple spent apart (“even when I can’t stay, even when I run away”) and their process of rebuilding their relationship and trust when they got back together. Cyrus and Hemsworth both previously spoke about why their breakup was necessary.
Cyrus told Billboard in 2017 that after their 2013 breakup, “I needed to change so much [for us to be together],” she said. “And changing with someone else not changing like that is too hard. Suddenly you’re like, ‘I don’t recognize you anymore.’ We had to refall for each other.”
Hemsworth made the same point in his GQ Australia May 2016 interview. “At the time [of our breakup] we were going in different directions and it’s just what needed to happen,” he said. “We were both super young and it was a good decision at the time—we both needed that.”
Post-Chorus
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the most
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Is it ’cause I know? Is it ’cause you love me the most?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the most
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Is it ’cause I know? Yeah
Verse 2
Your tender touch is the healing that I seek
I come to you when my judgement becomes weak
All that you are is all I ever need
I don’t know why you still believe in me
Cyrus has written about how much of a difference Hemsworth has made in her life. She shared a heartfelt birthday tribute to him, listing all the reasons she loves him. Among them, she explained how she looks to him as a source of strength: “The look on your face when you receive good news and how you look AT the bad news. I love how you always try things your way, but are never to[o] proud to ask for help. (Yes, I’ve noticed and taken note, I’m a work in progress).” And she also highlighted how he is a support system to her: “I love the way you always listen & the way that you care… (Even when it’s about RuPaul’s Drag Race.)”
Chorus
Oh, and even in my darkest days, even in my lowest place
You love me the most
And even when I can’t stay, even when I run away
You love me the most
So why do I hurt you so? Is it ’cause I know?
Why do I hurt you so? Is it ’cause you love me the most?
Post-Chorus
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the most
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Is it ’cause I know? Is it ’cause you love me the most?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the most
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Is it ’cause I know? Yeah
Outro
How many times have I left you in the deep?
I don’t know why you still believe in me