"This Is the Life" is a pop song by American recording artist and actress

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...

. She is performing as

Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), a ...

– the

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

Miley Stewart Miley Ray Stewart is the fictional main character in the Disney Channel television series ''Hannah Montana'', portrayed by Miley Cyrus. She first appeared on television in the pilot episode "Lilly, Do You Want to Know a Secret?" on March 24, 2 ...

, a character she plays on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

television series ''

''. The song was written by

Matthew Gerrard Matthew Gerrard is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. Biography Gerrard grew up in Don Mills, a suburb of Toronto's north-east end. He attended George S. Henry Secondary School where he played trombone in band, later playing bass in a sc ...

Robbie Nevil Robert S. Nevil (born October 2, 1958) is an American pop singer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist who had five ''Billboard'' top 40 hits including his songs "C'est la Vie" (#2, 1986), "Dominoes" (#14, 1987), and " Wot's It to Ya" (#10, 1987 ...

, and Jay Landers and produced by Gerrard. In the United States, the song peaked at number eighty-three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and within the top seventy on the

Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles s ...

. Its appearance on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 made Cyrus the first act to have seven songs appear on the chart in the same week. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "This Is the Life" was released, taken from footage of a concert performance.

Background and composition

"This Is The Life" was composed by

with the aid of

and Jay Landers. Gerrard co-wrote a total of six songs on ''Hannah Montana'' while Nevil co-wrote four and Landers two.''

'' liner notes D

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its r ...

(2006). A

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

version appears on '' Disney's Karaoke Series: Hannah Montana'' (2007), while a remixed version appears on ''

Hits Remixed ''Hannah Montana Hits Remixed'' is the second remix album by American pop recording artist Miley Cyrus, in the role of the character Hannah Montana. It was the fifth ''Hannah Montana'' album released on August 19, 2008, exclusively at American Wal ...

'' (2008). The song first premiered on

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

on 2006 in order to promote the series. "This Is The Life" is pop song with a length of three minutes and fifteen seconds. The song incorporates various

teen pop Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers.Lamb, Bill"Teen Pop" About.com. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Teen pop incorporates different subgenres of pop music, as well as elements o ...

styles within its music, according to

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. The song is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

and has a moderate tempo of 120

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

. It is written in the key of

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

and Cyrus' vocals span two

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

s, from B₃ to C♯₅. "This Is The Life" follows the chord progression of E–A. Chris William of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' perceived the lyrics of "This Is The Life" pertained to

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...

, noting the lines "I'm individual / I'm not like anyone".

Reception

Critical reception

Chris William of ''Entertainment Weekly'' described "This Is The Life"'s style as a simultaneous mimic of the styles of Avril Lavgine,

Ashlee Simpson Ashley Nicolle Ross ( Simpson; born October 3, 1984), known professionally as Ashlee Simpson, is an American singer and actress. The younger sister of singer and actress Jessica Simpson, she began her career as a back-up dancer for her sister ...

, and

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

, which he felt contracted its lyrical theme.

Chart performance

As it was not released as a single, "This Is the Life" received exclusive

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

on Radio Disney, thus its chart appearances consisted mainly of digital downloads. On the week ending August 5, 2006, the song debuted at number ninety-two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100; succeeding the appearance, the song dropped from the chart. Following the release of the ''Hannah Montana'' soundtrack, the song entered ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Digital Songs The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally start ...

Chart at number forty-four, which led to a reappearance on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the week ending November 11, 2006. The record was later duplicated by

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

. The song also peaked at number sixty-three on the now-defunct

Chart. "This Is the Life" peaked at number sixty-five on the

Hot Canadian Digital Singles The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

Chart, but failed to enter the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

Live performances

Cyrus, costumed as Montana, first performed "This Is The Life", along with four other songs, at the concert taping for the first season of ''Hannah Montana''. The performance was later released as the song's

on April 10, 2006 on

. Cyrus also performed the song on twenty dates in the fall of 2006, when she opened for the Cheetah Girls' 2006 and 2007 concert tour

The Party's Just Begun Tour The Party's Just Begun Tour is the second tour by American girl group, The Cheetah Girls. It supported the soundtrack to their second film, '' The Cheetah Girls 2''. The tour started on September 15, 2006, in Seattle and ended on March 4, 2007, i ...

Charts

References

External links

* {{Hannah Montana singles 2006 songs Hannah Montana songs Songs written by Matthew Gerrard Songs written by Robbie Nevil Songs written by Jay Landers Song recordings produced by Matthew Gerrard es:This is the Life (canción de Hannah Montana) fr:This Is the Life (homonymie) it:This Is the Life