The Road to Happiness
After listening to the song “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus, I felt a different set of emotions now that I am older and understand the lyrics, compared to when I was younger, before entering my teenage years, and just liked the song because it was connected to that singer, but now I see it has a meaning behind it. I believe she held a purpose when writing this song, because when she Miley Cyrus wrote the song, she was around 19–20 years old, around my age now. Although this song approaches a large audience, because many can relate to the lyrics, it seems to me, she wrote this song in hopes of helping other girls her age who looked up to her, and who might be going through the same phase in life. The main point of her song, and message she tries to prove is that no matter how hard life may be at one point, it will always get better. Cyrus expresses this message to her audience through her song lyrics and through imagery in her music video.
Throughout the whole song, Cyrus appeals to a variety of emotions to her audience. Using emotion in her lyrics allows her audience to get a deeper sense of how great life is despite the challenges that comes with it. For example, the beginning of the song starts off very melancholy, when she says, “Every step I’m taking, every move I make feels lost with no direction, my faith is shaking.” Just by the introduction of this song, her audience is intrigued if they are currently fighting something difficult in their lives with the loss of hope. Cyrus shows this point in her music video, as she is walking alone, down a road, with a background of a mountain far ahead of her. Both the tone and imagery shows she is looking for a sense of faith or hope, to allow her to keep going, and reach her destination, where in this example, her destination is the mountain. But, that is not all Cyrus tries to say. She also says, “Keep on moving, keep climbing, keep the faith baby, it’s all about the climb.” As the video continues, Cyrus changes her tone as she gets closer and closer to the mountain. Though her tone started off very melancholy, when she first realized how far her destination was to reach the mountain, her tone begins to sound much more upbeat and motivated when she reaches her halfway point. She shows us that she’s not giving up her goal of reaching the mountain because at this point in the video, the sky was gloomy to begin with, but it began to pour raining on her. The rain was an example on an obstacle she had to face during her walk. The imagery and tone here allows the audience to understand how she is comparing these examples to how life can seem like a rough road, but as long as you keep walking and not give up you will get closer and closer to your goal. Cyrus proved this after her rain, because she got up, and kept on walking toward the mountain. It’s clear to see the point of this song, is to persuade her audience that no matter how tough things get, it is always going to be an adventure to reach it, and it is most definitely not going to be easy.
The music video to this song also has a few visuals to prove her point. Cyrus is walking alone through a long path with her guitar. Her being alone comes to shows her audience that you she will have to overcome some obstacles by yourselfherself, without the help of others. I believe she chose to be alone to show her audience that most of the things you will conquer in your lifetime will be alone and not with the helping hand of others. I also believe I feel thethe guitar symbolizes her happiness in her life, which would be her music. Sometimes having something you enjoy, can make life a little easier. I believe that’s the point she tried to get across by including her guitar and playing it while she’s walking down the road. To Cyrus, her music and guitar is what was helping her get to her destination.
In the video, along the path she’s walking on, you the viewer can see the mountains she is walking towards through the distance. This is the main part where she uses a lot of symbolism. The mountains in the back, at the end of the road, is her goal. Another obstacle she faces in the video is the distance from point a (where she is) and point b (the mountain). “Ain’t about how fast I get there, ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side, it’s the climb, yeah!” At this point into her song, when she is just a couple feet away from the mountain, her tone went from completely melancholy to super cheerful. With that being said, she shows her audience no matter how tough the road may seem, you will eventually reach your goal.
Along with the imagery in the music video. I noticed Cyrus finds a lot of beauty during her walk to the mountain. For example, when she first began walking, the sky was very gloomy, but as she continues to walk, she comes across a lot of things you can find in nature. She first came across a bright red rose, which to me symbolized the beauty of the obstacles she had just encountered. She slowly looks up to the sky after picking up the rose, and it suddenly becomes filled with stars, after it being gloomy and rainy. Along with the rose, this was also a beauty factor, because after the storm cleared up, the stars became clear in the dark night sky. This proves to the audience that life can work the same way. If you ever come across an obstacle, you have to keep pushing to see the beauty that comes out of it. Cyrus uses this point clearly through her imagery. Continuing with the scenery in the video, a shooting star comes through the sky, and at this point you can see the motivation in her smile and eyes, that allows her to keep moving and walking towards her end goal. The imagery throughout her whole walk tells her audience that life is beautiful despite the challenges you have to encounter.
The final imagery and lyric to her song to prove her point was a ray of sunshine when she reaches the top of the mountain. Cyrus says, “It’s all about, it’s all about the climb. Keep your faith, keep your faith, baby.” The lyrics here are short, clear, and simple, because they say life is all about the journey (the climb) not the race to the finish. If Cyrus would’ve raced to the mountain after getting rained on, she would’ve missed out on the nature she witnessed, such as the rose, the shooting star, and the stars. The final wrap to this proves to her audience that she was able to reach her goal and although she faced a few obstacles, she was still able to get to the top of the mountain. This message seemed to be targeted to her younger audience because she was aware she had millions of girls who looked up to her as a role model, and conveying this message was important to get across to them through her music. I believe this was targeted especially to the younger female generation, who is barely getting a sense of what life is like. Females, and younger females specifically, tend to be more sensitive than men, so Cyrus being able to use her fame, talent and music to get this message across is very inspirational.
Though Miley Cyrus is not a teenager anymore, she continues to influence many people through her music and talents. Her effective uses of imagery and emotions, through her music and song “The Climb” allows the public to praise her even more. Overall the point of “The Climb” is to inform others that life is a beautiful adventure, and in order to achieve your goals, you have to encounter some obstacles, but that’s the beauty of the adventure. It is not how long it takes you to get up there, just as long as you don’t give up, and get there anyway.
