This Is The Classical Music in the New Miley Cyrus Song

"Every Girl You've Ever Loved" features a famous piece of Italian Baroque music. Here are the details. 

As a classic music grad, I need no source to bring you today's fact. It relates to Miley Cyrus's latest single, "Every Girl You've Ever Loved," a decent enough bit of tuneful pop that features Naomi Campbell for some reason, a few sax solos (it's no "Baker Street") and a descending chorus that reminded me of "Wicked Game." It also has a dance-y interlude around the three-quarter mark with one of those most controversial of concepts: a classical sample.

Pop Meets Classical

The classical music sampled in "Every Girl I've Ever Loved" is Tomaso Albinoni's "Adagio in G minor." Of course, adagio in music means "slow," so you'd think it's an odd choice for a dance remix, but this isn't the first. Back when trance was dominating the clubs of Ibiza in the late 90s and 2000s, Samuel Barber's "Agnus Dei," better known as "Adagio for Strings," was widely sampled. You'd know it if you heard it. 

Albinoni's (?) Adagio

Albinoni's "Adagio" predates Barber's by several hundred years, but is just as beautiful. It's also pretty well known, although the only use of it that springs to mind for me as I write this is a funny but vile scene involving a water slide in The Inbetweeners 2. The attribution of that music to Albinoni is just a guess, however. Whether he was really the composer is unknown, but it will likely always be known as the Albinoni Adagio now.

Check out both pieces below.

 

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