7 Things

"7 Things" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus, released on June 18, 2008, as the lead single from her debut studio album Breakout. The track was co-written by Cyrus alongside Tim James and Antonina Armato, with production handled by Armato. Musically, it blends pop with pop-punk and country influences, driven by an angsty, guitar-heavy sound that marked a deliberate shift toward a more mature and rebellious identity compared to her earlier teen-pop work on Hannah Montana.

The song's lyrics take the form of a list of grievances directed at an ex-boyfriend, cataloguing the seven things the narrator hates about him before twisting at the end into a confession of the qualities she still loves, capturing the conflicted emotions of young heartbreak. Its release fueled widespread media speculation that the lyrics were about her then-boyfriend Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, a rumor Cyrus neither confirmed nor denied. The song peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cyrus's first top-ten hit on the chart, and reached number 10 on the ARIA Charts in Australia. It has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA.

The official music video, directed by Brett Ratner, features Cyrus performing in a warehouse intercut with shots of teenage fans lip-syncing along. As of early 2025, the video has accumulated over 370 million views on YouTube. Critical reception was mixed: Rolling Stone called it "a surprisingly effective pop-punk kiss-off," while Entertainment Weekly gave it a B rating, noting it was "catchy but not particularly deep." The song became a staple of Cyrus's early live performances, including her 2008 Best of Both Worlds Tour and the 2009 Wonder World Tour. [edit]