Miley Cyrus has been quite the industry enigma. Running from pop as Hannah Montana to hip hop on Bangerz to a contemporary country album Younger Now, Miley has covered a diverse set of musical genres. She’s been a little all over the place, but has been good as a chameleon — always finding a way to blend in with various genres, but never quite finding a home. She has definitely found a home in the rock sound of her new album. Even as a teen starlet, Miley has always dipped her toes in the rock genre. On the podcast Call Her Daddy, Miley confessed that she would often play Nirvana on The Hannah Montana Tour to a crowd of children who couldn’t really appreciate the music (their parents, however, loved it).
Music aside, she’s always found a way to remain in headlines, both good and bad — cutting off all of her hair, murdering Hannah Montana, twerking on Robin Thicke in nude latex on live TV, getting into altercations with Nicki Minaj on live TV, expressing her love for marijuana also on live TV, supporting the #freethenipple movement, openly advocating for LGBT+ people as a bisexual woman, breaking up with Liam Hemsworth, marrying Liam Hemsworth, divorcing Liam Hemsworth, and dating Kaitlynn Carter and Cody Simpson. Whether you like her or not, everyone can appreciate her ‘no fucks given’ attitude.
The ‘80s and ‘90s were saturated with chaotic, sex-driven, anti establishment rockers, which fits in perfectly with Miley’s very grungy, edgy, punk aesthetic. For years Miley has shown us that she was capable of becoming the modern day rock star that has been missing from music and she just chose not to be. Miley has teased us with what she could be for years — she has done covers of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, Tom Petty’s Wildflowers, Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, Landslide by Fleetwood Mac, Nothing Else Matters by Metallica, Blondie’s Heart Of Glass, and even a rock cover of Gimme More by Britney Spears.
There’s no denying that the daughter of country rock star Billy Ray Cyrus has got a voice with SOUL. Now she’s ushering in her new era with a badass mullet and a plastic achy breaky heart to match her dad. All of this manifests in her new album Plastic Hearts, where she sings about being an independent woman, feminism, sex, being unable to live up to what people want from her, the shallow nature of California, not being good enough for someone, and being trapped in a toxic relationship.
She collaborated with famed pop music hitmaker Max Martin who has worked with Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, The Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez and basically ever other artist that’s created a smash hit. Max’s influence has led to the crossover genre between pop and rock on Plastic Hearts, something we haven’t really seen since the late 2000s from Paramore, Panic! At The Disco or All Time Low. The album features collaborations from pop girly of the year Dua Lipa along with two heavyweights in the rock industry from the last century, Billy Idol and Joan Jett.
With debut of lead single Midnight Sky over the summer and a cover of Heart of Glass at the iHeart Festival this past September in Las Vegas, people were literally BEGGING Miley to release a rock album. The people asked and Miley delivered. She reportedly had been working on a rock album within the last few years, but lost some of her previous work to a house fire. The tragic incident compounded by the change in events in her life resulted in a delay of the album, but it couldn’t have come at a better time … save for the fact that I so very desperately need to hear this album live immediately.
The album starts with what I would consider to be the ‘strongest’ three-song run on the album. The first song starts off HOT with WTF Do I Know, a banger about her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth and her unapologetic attitude. Next is the title track Plastic Hearts, which dives into Miley’s longing for something real and meaningful amidst the shallow nature of a Californian region dominated by plastic surgery. The third song rounding out the three-song run is a song titled Angels Like You where Miley sends regrets to a past love and accepts blame for the end to a relationship. This strong three-song run is not to diminish or take away from the excellence on the rest of the album. From her hardcore rock anthems like Night Crawling to her softer rock ballads like High and Golden G String.
Tai chi practicing, snowboard champion, could fix a flat on your car … she might even be a rock star.