Noah Cyrus’ “Young & Sad” Lyrics Meaning

Similar to the track “Lonely” (which is also featured on Noah Cyrus’ “The End of Everything” EP), on this track the songstress presents herself as someone who is in a troubled mental state. Indeed the title, “young and sad”, pretty much says it all. However, in this particular case she gets specific in terms of the noting cause of her depression.  And what it all boils down to is that she had a hard time growing up in her older sister’s ‘shadow’.

For those who don’t know, Noah Cyrus is actually the younger sister of international music star Miley Cyrus. And the way she tells it, growing up she always had to deal with being compared to Miley. People constantly dissed her for not being as popular as her sister. And considering that Miley, who is eight years her elder, has been famous since childhood herself, that basically means that such criticisms are something Noah dealt with her entire life.

Primary Theme

So basically we can say that Cyrus is using this song to let it all out, in terms of how she feels about the situation. And what she is fundamentally saying is that she is seeking an escape from always being “young and sad”. Moreover the addressee is obviously someone who feels for her such as her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, as implied by the intro. And what she is telling this individual is that despite the fact he wants to see her “smile”, for the time being, due to the scenario mentioned above, she is stuck in a state of depression with no clearly-foreseeable end.

Facts about “Young & Sad”

PJ Harding both co-wrote and co-produced “Young & Sad”. On the production side, he worked with M-Phazes. And the song’s other co-writers are Rollo Spreckley and of course Noah Cyrus.

Columbia Records released this track on 15th of May 2020. The song can be found on Cyrus’ EP entitled “The End of Everything”.

Cyrus got quite-detailed in explaining history behind this song. And in summation, random people were basically telling her that she would never be as good as her sister.  Moreover in terms of how persistently she had to deal with these insults, she has stated that these types of criticisms are something she ‘heard her whole life, every day, her whole life’.