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7 Things

"7 Things" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus. The song was co-written by Cyrus, Antonina Armato and Tim James, and produced by John Fields. It was released on June 17, 2008, by Hollywood Records as the lead single from Cyrus' second studio album Breakout (2008), with no ties to her character Hannah Montana from the Disney Channel comedy series of the same name. Also registered as "Seven Things I Hate About You", Cyrus developed the song during the Best of Both Worlds Tour while feeling numerous emotions for an ex-boyfriend, mainly anger. The song's release prompted allegations that it was about Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, which Cyrus neither confirmed nor denied. Musically, "7 Things" bears aspects of both country and pop punk, while the lyrics in the song's refrain list seven traits Cyrus hates about an ex-boyfriend.

"7 Things" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics and enjoyed worldwide commercial success, becoming a top ten hit on charts in Australia, Japan, Norway, and the United States. The single was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), while its appearance on the Japan Hot 100 made "7 Things" Cyrus' first song to chart in an Asian country. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Brett Ratner and features Cyrus performing the song with a backup band as many teenage girls lip-sync along. The girls clutch a variety of props, such as love letters and snow globes, inspired by personal items Cyrus' ex had given her. The video was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award at both the 2008 and 2009 award shows. Cyrus promoted the song through several venues including her world tours, the Wonder World Tour and the Gypsy Heart Tour. The song premiered before its official release as a single on May 13, 2008, at the Elvis Duran Show.

"7 Things" is also under the legal title of "Seven Things I Hate About You", as registered by Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). Like most of the songs on Breakout, Cyrus conceived "7 Things" while traveling on the Best of Both Worlds Tour from October 2007 to January 2008.

"I was locked up in the bus the entire time. And it was, like, such a great time for me to have a minute for myself, which I never get. So it was awesome to get to do that and just kinda go through all the different stages of what's been going on the last couple of years. And I just thought it'd be fun to just kinda. I didn't even mean for it to be for, you know, the record or for anything. It was just like 'just start writing this'. I got into it and I played some of it for my sister and she was like, 'dude, that's awesome'. And it was just so much fun to have, like, a good, little therapy moment for me, just to be able to go through everything. It was awesome. It was so much fun to write."

Cyrus says "7 Things" was inspired by an ex-boyfriend. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Cyrus said that she was "going through [...] nine-hundred different emotions while trying to write the song" and that her use of the word "hate" demonstrated how furious she was. When Seacrest asked if she was worried the song's subject would hear it and be upset, Cyrus responded that while she was slightly worried, "I want him to be upset. That was my point." She showed her draft to co-songwriters and producers Tim James and Antonina Armato, who suggested adding it to Breakout. Originally, "7 Things" was more "soft and nice" but Cyrus says she "went nuts" during the recording process and gave the song a harder sound. Cyrus had initially chosen "Fly on the Wall" as the lead single from Breakout, but replaced it with "7 Things" because she felt it was a "better introduction" to the album.

Allegations that "7 Things" was about Nick Jonas, lead singer of the Jonas Brothers, arose soon after the song's premiere on the May 13, 2008, broadcast of the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. Cyrus and Jonas had dated for a year and a half before breaking up in late 2007. Cyrus claimed, "Nick and I loved each other" and that after the breakup she "bawled for a month straight" while trying to rebel "against everything Nick wanted [her] to be".

Henry Freeland of Paste described "7 Things" as "the list of reasons she hates an ex-boyfriend (who just might be lead Jonas Brother, Nick)" and her "concern [...] that all of this hatred only leads them to love Maybe-Nick [...] all the more". Blogger Molly Lambert, quoted in The New York Times said, "[Cyrus] had recently broken up with her first serious boyfriend — a fellow Disney celebrity, Nick Jonas, of the Jonas Brothers, who was also her arena-concert tour mate during their secret two-year affair. In the video for '7 Things' she wears Nick's diabetes dog tags while singing about how his vanity and insecurity undermined their relationship." Jessica Herndon of People similarly points out the necklace and the fact that Jonas, "who split with Cyrus in late 2008 after two-and a half years of dating – has Type 1 diabetes and is a spokesperson for awareness of the disease." When asked if the allegations were true, Cyrus said,

"[W]ith '7 Things,' I think a lot of people do, you know, think it's about Nick Jonas, and if they think it is, that's fine, or whoever they think it's about. But mostly that song is about who, um, they want it to be to. Like mostly, it's if a girl hates her current, or ex-boyfriend—for me it's an ex-boyfriend—so I think, you know, like, Nick is someone that was really important in my life, but I don't hate him. It's a good song and it's fun."

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