Can’t be tamed --- Miley Cyrus --- 2010 (Hollywood)
So is the perhaps blind optimism of youth vanished, as the girl becomes a woman? Is she more or less into her themes, have they changed and most importantly, is she still writing her own songs? Well, as to the last, the answer is a clear yes. Not only is she writing but she is writing more: only one song on this album does not have her input, and that’s again a cover. However, is she writing well, or contributing well? Let’s have a listen and make up our minds.
“Liberty walk” opens the album and right away it’s more disco/pop oriented and it definitely sounds like there’s more autotune being used. Then she attempts a rap. Oh dear. Much more in the way of keyboards and synths than the dominant guitar on previous albums. I suppose the title could be a statement, an attempt to leave behind her the philosophy that may or may not have been forced upon her as the perceived voice of teen girls in America. Miley shaking herself free of cloying influences that try to control her? Somewhat like Kylie on “Confide in me”, although contrary to that song this is I feel something of a step backward for Cyrus, as she loses the rock sensibilities of the last two albums and succumbs to pop and r&b mores.
Sounds a bit like something Madonna or Britney or Rhianna would sing really, not much of the Miley Cyrus identity here. “Who owns my heart” doesn’t fill me with confidence either, with a trancelike disco beat and handclaps, again little in the way of guitar. Very dancefloor. I could do without the title track, with its bouncy club beat and sub-Janet Jackson vibe, then she does an okay version of Poison’s “Every rose has its thorn”. Sadly, the superb guitar solo appears to be taken by synth, which really waters the song down. Sigh. The handclaps don’t help either. Talk about emasculating a classic.
The first song that doesn’t bore me is “Two more lonely people”. Even though it retains the disco beat that has been so disappointingly prevalent through this album, it has some nice guitar for once and some strings too, plus the hook is really catchy. Best track so far by a country mile(y), though that’s not at the moment saying much. Close to the first real ballad then is “Forgiveness and love”, but it sounds quite derivative and is not really worthy of Miley, nor is “Permanent December”, another disco-oriented song with more bloody autotune -- god I hate that poxy thing! --- while the chorus is much better than the verse, almost but not quite rocky.
“Stay” is a totally different proposition, with Miley singing against a solo piano in a lovely ballad, the absolute standout on the album, with emotion, heart and passion dripping from every note and every word. Hmm. Has the album taken a late upswing? Will it end much better than it began? “Scars” is another great track, guitar-driven with punch and power, more like the stuff off her previous album and a real change of pace, and “Take me along” continues this shift in direction. It’s almost like since she ditched the production team of Rock Mafia after track six the songs got progressively better. Probably coincidence, but these last four are all written by her and John Shanks alone, and they’re miles better than what has gone before.
And as I say that we’re back to the disco europop with “Robot”, though with a title like that you would probably expect something like that. Even at that though it’s got a certain rock vibe to it and a sense of excitement I just didn’t get from the earlier tracks. There’s also a message to Disney as she shouts
”Stop trying to live my life for me!/ I’m not your robot!” The closer is “My heart beats for love” and it’s a stirring ballad with a great organ opening and sort of choir effects with a marching drumbeat, kind of sounds like something Cher might have recorded during her short-lived comeback. Good closer and a whole lot better than I had expected.
TRACKLISTING
1. Liberty walk
2. Who owns my heart
3. Can’t be tamed
4. Every rose has its thorn
5. Two more lonely people
6. Forgiveness and love
7. Permanent December
8. Stay
9. Scars
10. Take me along
11. Robot
12. My heart beats for love
After what was a disappointing start showing a serious change in direction, both musically and creatively, I feared this third album would be a total letdown, but it rallied at the end. The exuberant pop/rock of her previous albums trumped the not-quite-soulless but uninspiring disco/dance of the first half of the album and it really picked up at the end, sort of Miley returning to what she does best, and what she knows. Perhaps as I said “Robot” was a marker thrown down: maybe she had been advised, convinced, pushed to go in this more club-friendly direction and take on the likes of Rhianna and Beyonce. Or maybe it was her own decision.
Either way, she seems to have thought better of it halfway through. Or maybe she was trying to please both camps: offer something new to the uninitiated and take a step into their world while still remaining true to her fans. I would call this a flawed album, and whether her latest pushes the envelope more towards the first half or returns to basics as here in the second half will for me define the direction Miley Cyrus is destined to take for the next few years. My fingers are crossed.
I must admit though to a sneaking feeling that this latest album, the last in her current discography, is going to reverse my view of her and confirm why so many people seem to think she’s grown out of her FMBs. This quote from her on her previous work does not bode well for me, and anyone else hoping for a return to the days of the first two albums:
"Right now, when people go to iTunes and listen to my old music, it's so irritating to me because I can't just erase that stuff and start over. My last record I feel so disconnected from – I was 16 or 17 when I made it. When you're in your 20's, you just don't really know that person anymore." (Copied direct from Wikipedia:
Bangerz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Also, the influence of rap stars wili.i.am, Circut, Pharrell Williams and guest vocals from Big Sean, Ludacris, Nelly and even Britney make this sound more and more like an album I’m going to hate. The fact that it’s described as “dirty south hip-hop” does nothing to ease my mind. This is not going to be a happy ride.
Bangerz --- Miley Cyrus --- 2013 (RCA)
Given that this is her first release since finishing the television show that made her name, Cyrus may be forgiven for referring to it as her debut album, but I think she’s doing a massive disservice to her longtime fans and also to her music. Essentially what she’s saying is that her “old” music is crap and she doesn’t like it: this is her now. That’s all very well and good --- every artiste goes through changes and develops. Kylie soon moved away from the SAW-manufactured pop hits that made her name, and Madonna changed her image more than a chameleon (Hi, DJ!)
changes colours. But few if any of these artistes ever put down their previous work and sneered at it in the way Cyrus appears to be now doing. Even Kylie still plays “I should be so lucky”, sometimes for ironic effect but mostly because she knows there are fans out there who bought that record, fell in love with her music then and while they remain fans today and follow her current career they still like to hear the older stuff. I mean, I have to wonder if Miley is even going to play the material from the first two albums? If not, she is as I say being really nasty to her fans. It’s like saying “If you liked my old music you’re an idiot: this is what you should be listening to.”
Anyway, whatever the case, the proof, or not as the case may be, is in the music so let’s just hit play and get this over with shall we? The album opens on “Adore you”, which I must admit is not what I expected, starting out as a slow ballad with some lovely piano and tripping drumkit. It’s one of admittedly few on the album into which she has no songwriting part, but even at that, she ropes in so many other songwriters --- seven, including her, on mor than one --- that again you have to wonder how much input she actually had. But it’s a nice start and I am impressed, even if that bloody autotune is everywhere again. Damn whoever invented that (thank you, NASA!)!
Nice start but of course it can’t last and the next track has that hip-hop style all over it, with a voiceover at the opening by someone who sounds like Darth Vader and seems to talk about a house party, a typical teenage rebel song transplanted to the slightly older generation. It’s mid-paced and really not that bad at all. Slow, echoey drumbeats and soft synths with a decent vocal performance from Miley. The title track is more uptempo, reminding me of Salt ‘n’ Peppa’s “Push it” (hey gimme a break! I don’t know much hip-hop ok?) but a whole lot more annoying. I think the deep, heavy vocal, returning here from the previous track, is someone called Milke Will Made It (?) --- DJ probably knows him well. It doesn’t make my ears bleed but it doesn’t float my boat either. Oddly, the track is shown as one of several labelled as “explicit”: I don’t hear (on first listen admittedly, which will probably be my only) anything terribly explicit here. Maybe I’m missing it. Maybe it’s more subtle, or they’re using that Urban Slang? Oh yeah. Britney guests on vocals here. Apparently.
“4x4” is built on a children’s nursery rhyme idea, with bouncing synth and guest performances from Nelly but to me it’s very basic and not at all memorable. “My darlin’” is a little better, featuring Future (again, ?) with syrupy autotune and a slow balladlike beat. Almost sounds like a mandolin there, but I’m pretty sure that’s just synth. Nice organ work but don’t ask me who plays it among this cast of thousands. Very good vocal performance from Miley, very passionate, probably her best on the album so far. Still, I find guest vocalists often tend to do more than guest: they take over, and this is certainly the case here as Future makes the song more his than Miley’s, to the point that it almost seems like she is singing on his song.
“Wrecking ball” was one of her singles, but I haven’t heard it till now. Built around a peppy piano melody that reminds me in certain ways of Miss Bush then kicks up with a very Bon Jovi/Heart pop/rock chorus with dramatic heavy slow drumming, and I must admit this is pretty damn good! This is, interestingly and rather disappointingly, the other of the two songs into which she had no writing input. Not so great is “Love money party”, into which she did: a hip-hop/dance tune with a fast beat and a rapid vocal delivery from Miley, it’s a bit throwaway with squealing synths and a rap guest performance from Big Sean. Hold me back. “Get it right” has a better more interesting rhythm, sort of funk with a great guitar line and some whistling, which I haven’t heard since, well, Whistle on “Just buggin’”. Very bright and breezy, quite pleasant.
More in tune with new-wave bands like Visage or Human League is “Drive”, with a deep buzzing synth backing, then a slow heavy drumbeat with a moody, dark vocal from Miley, showcasing her considerable talent. It’s good to see that even among all these hip-hop stars and producers she can still maintain her own persona, even if it is being obviously slanted towards the world these people inhabit. “FU” (wonder what that means!) has an almost French chanson quality about it: you could almost envisage her onstage at some twenties nightclub singing her heart out for the patrons, or maybe at the early Eurovisions. Impressive. Another rapper, French Montana, guests here but this time Miley keeps the song her own and he really does guest.
Samply, jumpy synths introduce “Do my thang”, probably the most dancy/trancy song on the album so far, with the first really explicit lyric I’ve heard (which is some feat considering the subject matter of the previous track) and, you know, I don’t hate it. Even with Miley rapping, which she does well, though I think Brit does it better. “Maybe you’re right” has rippling piano and hollow, metal-sounding drums with a sort of mid-paced beat and something of a refrain to the melody of “Wrecking ball”, while the closer “Someone else” references Rose Royce’s classic soul hit “Love don’t live here anymore” before ramping up into an uptempo hip-hop/dance track with some restrained and quite passionate sections and a lot of emotion in the lyric. A good closer to an album that was a lot better than I had expected it would be.
TRACKLISTING
1. Adore you
2. We can’t stop
3. SMS (Bangerz)
4. 4x4
5. My darlin’
6. Wrecking ball
7. Love money party
8. Get it right
9. Drive
10. FU
11. Do my thang
12. Maybe you’re right
13. Someone else
Quite surprised. I really expected to hate this album, to be talking about how Cyrus had turned her back on her fans and changed her image to appear grown up, and was walking in places she had no business being. But I find that I actually applaud her for taking her music to what was perhaps not the next logical step, but definitely the next step in the road along the evolution of Miley Cyrus. Not my favourite album but I couldn’t swear I wouldn’t listen to it again, and that’s a big thing for me.
So, the verdict then. When I began this study of the girl who rose from obscurity to stardom perhaps too fast, moved through media like quicksilver and might have burned out too quickly, I warned that the decision as to whether or not she was just trying out music as a diversion or a way to make more money might not be as cut and dried as it may have appeared at first. Certainly you have to take into account the two biggest musical influences in her life, her father Billy Ray and her godmother Dolly Parton. With people like this in your life it’s hard to say you wouldn’t be attracted into the world of music, or at least showbusiness.
So was Miley Cyrus’s move from TV teen heroine to teen pop star a calculated move intended only to wring as much moolah as possible from her fanbase? You know, I have to say that I don’t think it was. This looks like a woman who was certainly controlled and directed for much of her early life --- but when you work for Disney you have to expect that --- but who eventually, like many of her contemporaries, broke free and decided to ditch the image she had been painted with by the megacorporation and try to find her own identity.
She seems to have a genuine love of music, as evidenced both in her songwriting (though she has yet to write one solo) and in her recognition of how dated and irrelevant to her current image her older material is, notwithstanding the rather harsh comments I aimed at her earlier for just this reason. She may not have reached the top of her potential yet, and her antics onstage at the likes of the VMAs have certainly not helped that, but musically I think she is growing, and will continue to grow. She hasn’t found completelly her own voice yet, but she’s working on it and I have no doubt will in time get there.
As for being a jumper on bandwagons?
