NEED TO KNOW Miley Cyrus was working on her EP, The Time of Our Lives, while working on the movie The Last Song in the summer of 2009 The singer was working on "Party in the USA" the week that the country suffered a difficult loss with the death of Michael Jackson Cyrus looked back at the history surrounding that song and more of her catalog during her appearance on Spotify's Every Single Album podcast Miley Cyrus is looking back at recording some of her greatest hits. Appearing on an episode of Spotify's Every Single Album, Cyrus took a moment to reflect on the unique circumstances around recording one of her early hits, "Party in the USA," during the summer of 2009. "I was cutting 'Party in the USA' while I was filming a movie because I was doing The Last Song, and I remember cutting 'Party in the USA' because it was the week that Michael Jackson had died," she recalls.
"So the whole was like… It was a weird feeling everywhere. It was the weirdest day," she continues.
"It was not giving 'Party in the USA' energy." Joking, Cyrus added, "Everyone's so mad at America all the time, but then again, they're like, 'Run it.'" Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Michael Jackson performing in 1996. Peter Carrette Archive/Getty The singer remembers working on the single on weekend as she was filming The Last Song, which she starred in opposite her ex Liam Hemsworth. "That was one of the times where I was thinking, 'This is a lot,' because I was really enjoying doing The Last Song.
Because that's where I met Liam, who I would go on to marry and write a ton of — most of my songs about." "So I really wanted to like, hang out with him on the weekend, and I had to go instead, hang out with Dr. Luke and sing Jessie J songs, which I also altered to fit me." Cryus admits, "I was dragging my feet a little bit [on this song]," and goes on to explain, "I was so easy to please at that time that I literally was doing it for Sonic.
There was a Sonic drive-through that was near the studio. I was like, 'Okay, I'll do a verse and a chorus and then you have to take me to Sonic.' " Miley Cyrus performing during a fall 2009 tour.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty The song was a vocal challenge for the young singer then, and she confirms it still is to this day. "I'm glad that I did it, obviously. I love it because of the life that it gives.
It was really hard to sing. It's the hardest song to sing in my entire set," she says." As hosts Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard teased her about the song's infamous Jay-Z mention, Cyrus defended herself, sharing, "Listen, I wasn't like a Jay-Z fan at the time, right?
But then I added Britney myself because I was like, 'If we're going to do Jay-Z shout-outs, we're going to do Britney Spears shout-outs.'" Princiotti recalls Cyrus subbing in "MJ" on tour, which the star had forgotten about. "That's so weird.
That actually is like very strange. I must have done that on purpose, I guess, but that's all I would have been listening to at the time because of the timing."
