6/18/2023 0 Comments Plastic hearts album reviewThose last elements - the glossily new wave-ish, the downright spunky – is where Cyrus is nestled on “Plastic Hearts.” With her melange of Dr. With her full-length albums spotty at best, Cyrus’ finest moments have come through live YouTube clips, be it covering her godmother Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” or during her time on Netflix’s “Black Mirror” where she played the weirdly autobiographical Ashley O, a teeny-bop star only truly fulfilled as a radical, punk-rocking replicant-like version of the real thing. Miley has been like a louder Stevie Nicks stuck in a corset, too-tight and restricted by her producers’ ideas of who she could be at the height of her power. Her confidence is unsullied again and again, and that alone makes the album worth returning to.A thick-voiced mezzo-soprano possessed of power, sass and a husky twang to go with her tang, Cyrus too often has had nowhere to roam with her vocal skills, leaving so much of her studio product of the past to sound cramped and vapid. Even still, her commemorable performances serve as reminders of her status among entertainers. The unexpected tempo shifts in “Hate Me” aren’t enough to save it from its overbearing chorus, and “Golden G String” packs a message and a wonderful instrumental but loses some of its punch in its metaphors. She breathes vigorous new life into each that’s undeniably her covers have been a strong suit in her arsenal since the beginning of the last decade, and her versatility is ridiculously enviable.Įven though it’s evident Miley’s found her sound, she still doesn’t seem entirely convinced, pushed in too many directions in her already-long career. Highest highs in the track list come through in the Deluxe additions, each a different reinterpretation of a rock classic: “Edge of Midnight”, a “Midnight Sky” remix/“Edge of Seventeen” mashup with new vocals from Stevie Nicks, “Heart of Glass” performed live at the iHeart Festival, and “Zombie” live from the NIVA Save Our Stages Festival. “Bad Karma” with Joan Jett is another slick killer the understated production is a total tease courtesy of Mark Ronson, who also produced “High” and has collaborated with Miley in the past. Lead single “Midnight Sky” is possibly the most badass Miley’s ever sounded, her throttling mezzo-soprano redlining as it nearly burns out. The album roller-coasters from channeling the mid-aughts angst in an Ashlee Simpson single, to digging into Autoamerican-era Blondie, to spiraling down into the raw power of a Meat Loaf ballad - in the first three songs. It’s part lip service, part sincere commitment, and part slam-dunk. The ‘CENSORED’ t-shirt, the sexy mullet, the ultimate diva move of jewelry over black gloves they all form a grand paean to the late ‘70s by a randy, rowdy, Millennial fan. The Plastic Hearts album cover, lensed by the legendary rock ‘n roll photographer Mick Rock (famous for his spreads of Syd Barrett, Debbie Harry, and more), cements its motives with editing - the album appears as a classic vinyl you’d find in your favorite record store, somehow still wrapped loosely in cellophane after all these years). She commands a towering presence in the studio, and a genre as ball-busting and irreverent as this centers her in a lane where she can finally take the reins and run off. It conveys pangs of heartbreak, anger, or complicated love in waters much deeper than those her peers navigate. The instant takeaway from Plastic Hearts, Miley Cyrus’ toe-dip into the dark arts of Rock ‘N Roll, is that her voice has always been the key to her individuality. Miley Cyrus – ‘Plastic Hearts’ Album Review
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