When Miley Cyrus blessed us with her latest album Endless Summer Vacation on 10 March 2023, fans and music critics alike were surprised to receive self-love bangers and catchy diss tracks instead of the gruelling heartbreak songs that were expected following her divorce from Australian actor Liam Hemsworth.

But what we didn’t know at the time, was that perhaps Cyrus had kept all the grief and sadness for Down With Me, a 12-track album of songs featuring the singer’s highly recognisable vocals which was released on the same day, under the pseudonym Clara Pierce.

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Miley Cyrus secret album “Hands of Time” released under name Clara Pierce. What do we think, folks?? #mileycyrus #clarapierce #handsoftime #hannahmontana #ashleyo

♬ Flowers - Miley Cyrus

Although it should be noted that since the mysterious artist was first discovered by eagle-eyed fans, the album along with any trace of Pierce has been scrapped from Spotify, we managed to have a sneaky listen beforehand just to make sure we could bring you all the juicy details.

As seen in the TikTok video above, the album cover features the title scribbled across a mountain landscape in what can only be described as an OG Pinterest font. Meanwhile, the Spotify profile’s photo featured an image of a woman who looks nothing like Cyrus.

That being said, once fans stumbled across the account, there was no question about whose voice it was. And, unlike countless artists who have recently had music released under their likeness that they had nothing to do with, no AI algorithm “could have nailed down both Cyrus’ vocal patterns and songwriting style this efficiently,” Rolling Stone noted.

One song is titled ‘Sagittarius’, probably after the singer’s star sign, while a number of songs on the album seem to draw direct parallels to her career. On ‘Sagittarius’ for example, the artist references a single from SHE IS COMING, singing: “I told you once before, I’m my Mother’s Daughter.”

SHE IS COMING was meant to be followed by SHE IS MILEY CYRUS, an album the singer never released. “Just when I thought the body of work was finished… it was all erased. Including most of the music’s relevance. Because everything had changed,” she said in an Instagram post before releasing Plastic Hearts, referring to the loss of the material in a 2018 house fire. “Nature did what I now see as a favour and destroyed what I couldn’t let go of for myself. I lost my house in a fire but found myself in its ashes.”

The other possibility behind this puzzling project is that the songs are high-quality leaks from Cyrus’ past albums, including Bangerz, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, and SHE IS COMING. Either way, even though Down With Me isn’t available on Spotify anymore, it can still be found on YouTube. So, if you’re dying of curiosity, head on over and make up your own mind.