The Best of Both Worlds

"The Best of Both Worlds" is a pop rock song performed by American singer–songwriter and actress Miley Cyrus, performing as Hannah Montana – the alter ego of Miley Stewart – a character she played on the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana. It was released as the lead single from the Hannah Montana soundtrack album on March 28, 2006. "The Best of Both Worlds" is the theme song for the television series; in the series' third season, the 2009 Movie Mix is used as the theme. A live version is available on Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (2008), a karaoke version is included in the soundtrack's karaoke series (2008), and the 2009 Movie Mix is featured on Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack (2009). The song has elements of bubblegum pop and pop rock. Lyrically, it is a showcase of the double life lived by the series' protagonist Miley Stewart.

"The Best of Both Worlds" is considered to be one of Cyrus' signature songs, introducing her to the music industry. The song received some critical praise, noting that the song was written well, but the concept was "weird". "The Best of Both Worlds" reached number ninety-two on the Billboard Hot 100, and achieved average commercial success internationally. The song reached its highest international chart peak position in the Irish Singles Chart, at number seventeen. A promotional music video for the song was taken from a recording of a concert performance. Cyrus promoted the song by performing it in several venues, including during the opening act for the Cheetah Girls' The Party's Just Begun Tour and as the closing number on her own first headlining concert tour of the same name. Cyrus' performances of the song on the Best of Both Worlds Tour were as herself, but when she performed the song on television, she did so in character as Hannah Montana.

Background
"The Best of Both Worlds" is a song that uses out of beat electric guitars, upbeat synths and backing vocals'. Genre influences come from dance, rock and country music. It is set in common time with a moderately fast tempo of 130 beats per minute. The song is written in the key of C major. Cyrus' vocals spans from A3 to D5. The song has the following chord progression, C5–G5–D5–F5.

The song was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. The duo wrote three other songs on the Hannah Montana soundtrack and continue writing songs for the franchise, including "Nobody's Perfect" and "Ice Cream Freeze (Let's Chill)." Lyrically, the song is one of the three ("Just Like You" and "The Other Side of Me") that explicitly allude to Stewart's double life as Montana: regular adolescent that moved from Nashville, Tennessee to Malibu, California by day and pop star by night. In the song, Cyrus sings about the privileges and advantages that are faced in leading in two lives with references to Orlando Bloom, concerts, friendship and film premieres.

Critical reception
The song received generally positive reviews from critics. Heather Phares of Allmusic described the song as having "sharper-than-average songwriting" and one of the best tracks from the Hannah Montana soundtrack. Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly compared the song to the musical styles of Avril Lavigne, Ashlee Simpson and Britney Spears. However, Willman stated that the concept of "The Best of Both Worlds" was "a nice fantasy for Brangelina, but a weird one to push on little girls."

Chart performance
The song received mediocre airplay due to it being released to Radio Disney, but not to other mainstream radio stations. The song debuted at number sixty-four on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs Chart which led to an appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending August 12, 2006. It debuted and peaked at number ninety-two on the Hot 100, and stayed on the chart for two weeks. In the same week of its entry on the Hot 100, the song charted at number seventy-one on the Pop 100 and dropped from the chart the following week.

"The Best of Both Worlds" reached higher peak chart positions in Europe. For the week ending February 22, 2007, the song debuted and peaked at number seventeen in the Irish Singles Chart, and dropped out of the chart the following week. The song debuted and peaked at number forty-three on the UK Singles Chart dated March 3, 2007, and spent one week on the chart. It became Cyrus's highest peaking single in the United Kingdom, when credited as Hannah Montana. In 2008 it charted in the German Singles Chart, debuting at number seventy-one and eventually peaking at number sixty-six.

Live performances
Cyrus often dressed as the Hannah Montana character when she performed "The Best of Both Worlds" at concerts and promotional television appearances. At the concert taping to promote the first season of Hannah Montana, Cyrus dressed in boots, jeans, a pink-sequinned blouse, khaki jacket, and blonde wig, to perform "The Best of Both Worlds" and five other songs. She also performed complex choreography and acted out several of the song's lyrics with the background dancers. This performance premiered on Disney Channel as the promotional video for the song and the television series on March 3, 2006. On June 23, 2006, Cyrus performed the song at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. Cyrus performed the song on twenty dates when she opened for the Cheetah Girls' 2006 concert tour The Party's Just Begun Tour. On October 23, 2006, she performed it on Good Morning America, and the following day, on Live with Regis and Kelly. The following month she performed it at the 2006 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

On March 28, 2007, Cyrus appeared as Hannah Montana and performed the song for Hannah Montana: Live in London at Koko. The event was televised on several international Disney Channels. On December 20, 2007, Cyrus performed the song as herself on The Oprah Winfrey Show. "The Best of Both Worlds" was later performed as the closing number on Cyrus' first headlining Best of Both Worlds Concert (soundtrack). She performed the song as herself, wearing an all-pink outfit composed of a tank top, plaid mini-skirt, sneakers, and a jacket. She most recently performed "The Best of Both Worlds: The 2009 Movie Mix", from the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack, with eight other songs, at the concert taping for the third season of Hannah Montana; the concert was held on October 10 in Irvine, California at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.

Track listings

 * US/EU Digital Single
 * 1) "The Best of Both Worlds" - 2:54


 * US/EU CD Single
 * 1) "The Best of Both Worlds" - 2:54
 * 2) "If We Were a Movie" - 3:03


 * FR CD Single
 * 1) "Le Meilleur des Deux" (French Version by Sarah) - 2:54
 * 2) "The Best of Both Worlds" (Instrumental) - 2:54
 * 3) "The Best of Both Worlds" (Original Version) - 2:54


 * UK EP Digital Download
 * 1) "The Best of Both Worlds" - 2:54
 * 2) "If We Were a Movie" - 3:03
 * 3) "The Best of Both Worlds" (Daniel Canary Remix) - 2:36