Hannah Montana: The Movie is the soundtrack to the 2009 film of the same name that was released on March 23, 2009.
Tracklisting[]
- Hannah Montana You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home 3:44
- Hannah Montana Let's Get Crazy 2:35
- Hannah Montana The Good Life 2:58
- Steve Rushton Everything I Want 3:51
- Miley Cyrus Don't Walk Away 2:47
- Miley Cyrus Hoedown Throwdown 3:01
- Miley Cyrus Dream 3:21
- Miley Cyrus The Climb 3:55
- Miley Cyrus And Billy Ray Cyrus Butterfly Fly Away 3:09
- Rascal Flatts Backwards (Acoustic) 3:24
- Billy Ray Cyrus Back To Tennessee 4:15
- Taylor Swift Crazier 3:12
- Rascal Flatts Bless The Broken Road (Acoustic) 3:58
- Hannah Montana Let's Do This 3:32
- Hannah Montana Spotlight 3:06
- Steve Rushton Game Over 3:52
- Hannah Montana What's Not To Like 3:12
- Hannah Montana The Best Of Both Worlds (The 2009 Movie Mix) 3:07
Album Background[]
Most of the songs on the soundtrack were offered to Peter Chelsom, the film's director, for inclusion on the film.
Producer Alfred Gough said, "Peter Chelsom describes the Stewart family [Cyrus' character's family in the film] as a bilingual family whose second language is music, and that's very true in this movie."
Chelsom says the film's numerous songs are tightly woven into the fabric of the story and the characters, which is why he believes the film will feel like a musical without being one.
"We continuously dance very close to the convention of a musical but are more integrated. Songs are going to sit within the film, not apart from the film. At times, you won't notice the music is happening; it'll just move the story along."
In regards to Cyrus' songs, Chelsom said, "We realized this was an opportunity to move forward with the music, to update it and make it more sophisticated, to move with Miley’s age. I’ve never had a better musical experience on any film."
Cyrus noted that most of the songs included on the soundtrack were inspired by the return of Cyrus' character, Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana, to her Nashville roots.
She explained, "The soundtrack is all about Nashville, and that's where I'm from, that's my roots. I think that's a lot of the reason I am who I am."
Cyrus co-wrote "Don't Walk Away" because it was to be included on her own studio album "Breakout."
"Hoedown Throwdown", a song in which Cyrus calls dance steps, took much time to write. It became an ongoing collaboration between Chelsom, Cyrus, choreographer Jamal Sims, and the song's writers, Adam Anders and Nikki Hasman.
"Dream" is a cover of the Diana DeGarmo song "Dream, Dream, Dream" from her debut album, "Blue Skies."
Jessi Alexander said she was inspired to write "The Climb" while driving to the home of her songwriting partner, Jon Mabe.
Once she arrived, they decided to write a song about overcoming obstacles. Alexander referred to the process as a form of "therapy".
The song had initially been passed over by several artists until Chelsom chose it and offered it to Cyrus.
Under the name Hannah Montana, Cyrus performs the song "Let's Do This", which was originally written and recorded by American country singer Adam Tefteller. The last track is a remixed version of Cyrus' hit "The Best of Both Worlds".
The song is used as the theme song of the Disney Channel television show Hannah Montana, the basis of the film, and was originally released on the television series' first soundtrack.
Several other artists appear on the soundtrack. Billy Ray Cyrus' song on the album, "Back to Tennessee", is the title track of his eleventh studio album. Written by Cyrus, Tamara Dunn and Matthew Wilder, the song reflects the desire of both Cyrus and his character in the film, Robbie Ray Stewart, to return to their roots.
Disney artist Steve Rushton sings "Everything I Want" and "Game Over".
Rascal Flatts perform acoustic versions of previous songs that were originally released on their albums: "Feels Like Today" and "Me and My Gang."
When approached about participating in the soundtrack, Taylor Swift sent her ballad "Crazier" because it "was perfect to fall in love to". She also shares a writing credit with Martin Johnson of Boys Like Girls on the opening track "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home".
Chart Performance[]
"Hannah Montana: The Movie" debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 with 139,000 copies. After four weeks of ascending and descending on the chart, it topped the Billboard 200, becoming the first soundtrack of 2009 to top the chart.
The album also topped Billboard's Top Country Albums chart for nine consecutive weeks and Billboard's Top Soundtracks album for 19 non-consecutive weeks. It was certified platinum by the RIAA for shipments of 1 million copies.
As of April 2014, "Hannah Montana: The Movie" has sold 2,085,000 copies in the United States and 3 million worldwide.
Critical Reception[]
"Hannah Montana: The Movie" received generally positive reviews from critics.
Warren Truitt of About.com described the album as Cyrus' attempt to gradually capture a more mature audience by sharing the album with artists like the Rascal Flatts and Swift.
Truitt also made musical comparisons to Shania Twain in "Dream", Kelly Clarkson in "Don't Walk Away", Avril Lavigne in "The Good Life", and Gwen Stefani in "Spotlight" and "Let's Get Crazy".
Heather Phares of Allmusic noted the presence of many drastically different genres makes the album "a little weird". She stated that Cyrus' songs which were performed as herself were "the best songs", and also compared Cyrus to Twain. She also noted that Swift's "Crazier" was "the best song on Hannah Montana: The Movie".
Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly stated, "the distance between tween and twang isn't actually all that far; think of this [...] as a sort of country-lite starter kit for her legion of young Disney-fed fans".
In the end, she said, "Hannah Montana: The Movie" was "the Miley show — whether it broadcasts from Nashville or Hollywood", despite appearances by other artists.