Album curation is an art of elimination. In the case of Bangerz , RCA Records and Cyrus’s management were navigating a incredibly risky marketing campaign. The album needed to shock the public, but it also needed to achieve massive commercial success.
It's easy for Bangerz -era leaks to dominate the conversation, but it's worth noting that other sessions have also generated mystery. A prime example is a track called "Violet Chemistry." In March 2023, Mike WiLL Made-It, Cyrus's key Bangerz collaborator, shared a snippet of the song on Instagram. He claimed it was a track they worked on for her much later album, Endless Summer Vacation (2023), creating a direct, decade-later sonic link between the two eras. Like "Rubber Band," "Violet Chemistry" remains officially unreleased.
While we may never get a proper "Bangerz: Reloaded" official release, the leaked demos serve as a reminder of a specific moment in time—2013—when the internet broke over a former Disney star twerking, and pop music was at its most chaotic, colorful peak. miley cyrus bangerz unreleased
When Miley Cyrus released Bangerz in October 2013, she did not just drop an album; she fundamentally shifted the landscape of 2010s pop culture. Stripping away her Disney Channel persona with a sledgehammer, a foam finger, and a sharp rap-infused sonic palette, the album became a multi-platinum milestone.
: A mid-tempo breakup ballad that fits the emotional tone of "Wrecking Ball". Down For It Album curation is an art of elimination
: A demo track floating around the internet that features Cyrus singing over a bouncy, Pharrell-produced beat. Elements of this track's production style were later repurposed for other artists under Pharrell's umbrella. Why Were These Songs Left Off the Album?
The song’s production leans heavily into industrial clangs and a distorted bass drop. While a studio version exists in Miley’s vault, she has only performed it live once—at a tiny club show in New York in 2012. The fact that this wasn't a single remains a point of frustration for fans who consider it superior to some of the album's deep cuts. It's easy for Bangerz -era leaks to dominate
: Recorded in May 2012, this was the first song Miley worked on with Pharrell Williams . It leaked in full in July 2021.
For nearly a decade, these lost demos, scrapped collaborations, and alternate versions have circulated through YouTube rabbit holes, Reddit forums (r/MileyCyrus, r/popheads), and anonymous Google Drive links. They tell the story of a chaotic, drug-tinged, genre-fluid creative explosion that almost happened. This is the definitive guide to Miley Cyrus’s greatest ghost tracks.
In the music industry, a song remaining unreleased is rarely a reflection of its quality. For Bangerz , the cuts came down to three distinct factors:
Arguably the most famous leak of this era, "Nightmare" is a dark, synth-pop banger that fans still beg for on streaming services. Featuring a haunting vocal loop and lyrics about being a misunderstood pop star ("If you wanna be with me / You gotta love my dark side"), the song was rumored to be a last-minute cut in favor of "Someone Else."