Miley had just come off the massive success of Wrecking Ball, a song that proved that weaponized ballads—stripped-down, emotionally raw anthems—could still dominate the charts. She had successfully balanced shock value with genuine artistic depth, making the world take her seriously in a way they hadn't before.

 

So when she followed it up with Adore You, it seemed like the perfect move. A dignified, heartfelt ballad showcasing her artistry and restrained vocals, Adore You had all the makings of a hit. It was released around winter, positioned as a grand romantic gesture, and was even hyped by fans as our generation's Take a Bow—the kind of pivot that had once helped Madonna stay in the public's good graces after her own era of provocative reinvention. Miley, too, was dialing back the shock factor in favor of something more sincere.

 

And yet… Adore You didn't become the smash hit it was expected to be. Instead of cementing the Bangerz era, it quietly marked its end. So what happened? Why didn't it land the way Wrecking Ball did?
 

 

People were starting to get tired of her antics. When she released trailers for the MV of her f*ngering herself

 

Releasing another ballad as a single right after going number #1 around the world with a power ballad was an awful idea. The video is also to blame here, it was the first time during the Bangerz era that the GP had a "Yeah, of course Miley did that" reaction instead of "Can't believe Miley did this!". It was boring and didn't elevate the song.

 

That said, AY is a gorgeous song and l love it to this day, but there were much better choices from a commercial pov. It could've worked as a cute 5th final single though.

 

 

They just thought because the song was doing amazing on iTunes it would work but they took too long and the MV didn't help tbh

 

Also the only promo they did was that Cedric Gervais remix that also had a lot of potential but also didn't do anything to promote it.

 

 

My theory is that they got tired of the controversy and gave up on the era because the image was getting tiring and they wanted a quick follow up but Miley said "no" and that's how things got shitty between Miley and RCA

If I remember correctly, she had done the VMAs incident with Robin Thicke in August and released Adore You in December. So people might have started to go sour on her by then. Whether it be due to her antics or just the intense competition in pop during that time (Katy, Gaga, Bey, etc. were all doing relatively well at the time too), the song stalled on radio and failed to gain traction because of that.

8 minutes ago, TalkThatRihanna said:

People were starting to get tired of her antics. When she released trailers for the MV of her f*ngering herself

 

is adore you about fingering?

back to back ballads as singles was a horrible idea adore you was a great song but she needed something uptempo if she wanted the era to sustain momentum   

Miley was already moving on from the Bangerz era. It felt like this was released just out of obligation.

It was a hit in my household.

FU was right there 

Two ballads as singles for an era of being sexy and rebellious did not hit the mark. It's a great song, but it doesn't give me as much of a desire to check out the record like the first two singles. She needed another bop before Adore You imo. 

I never thought it was a strong single choice....Wrecking Ball had a killer chorus and sounded like a smash, but Adore You is just kinda meh.  It was also just not what people wanted from her at the time.

Poorly reheated "Wrecking Ball" nachos

 

She should've released something like "Drive" instead.

this song is soooo gorgeous and has aged like fine wine! in reality, they waited just a little bit too long to release a third single, and all the features she was doing between Wrecking Ball and Adore You weren't quite cutting it in terms of being era honoring hits. they should've released #GetItRight or Do My Thang or Drive as a single in like October, and then Adore You as a perfect final single in January or February! We Can't Stop and Wrecking Ball were such ginormous tandem smashes that they almost would've been fine as the whole era just themselves, but Adore You is my second favorite song on the album after #GetItRight so I'm honestly glad it got a single release  I've never minded the music video, I think it's quite cute! but yeah they missed the mark by not making one of the aforementioned three bops a single before Adore You tbh

Adore You, though it's a ballad, still feels like a soft banger somehow 

It's one of her best songs but releasing a ballad right after another ballad was a bad choice. She should've put out #GETITRIGHT or SMS (Bangerz).

The video killed the hype and then her dog died going into tour. I'm guessing she was just tired of promo at that point and was prepping for tour.

They heard FU and couldn't believe she released AY

The GP was tired of her gimmicks, and the fanbase wanted other songs instead 

I LOVE this song and it deserve to be a smash.

Christmas freeze, terrible video, overexposure, Wrecking Ball overshadowing it, no promo outside MTV Unplugged as she was getting ready to tour, there's just about a million reasons.

It's a bit of a bland song

really great example of why you shouldn't listen to what your fanbase says should be the next single. it's a cute song at best, but it was meant to/should've functioned as an good album track. it's placement at the very beginning of the album was a good way to sell the album to new listeners, subverting prior expectations of the record based on the other singles and her image during that era.

 

it should have been Get It Right. Do My Thang could have functioned as a single too but if she wanted something different from the overall vibe of the record Get It Right could have done well on radio i think

I think people wanted another we can't stop or 23 from her, the public persona she was portraying at the time didn't match the music and adore you just seemed boring 

She killed that era with this single