Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Miley Cyrus, Sony Music 2020.
Pop princess Miley Cyrus has reinvented herself as a rock goddess with her latest album Plastic Hearts.
The album has debuted in the Billboard Top 100 at number one and she has seven singles from the album charting in the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts.
There’s little hint of her previous pop persona in this new album, no flirtations with hip-hop, no wafer-thin pop melodies and even thinner lyrical content but there is plenty of good old-fashioned rock and roll.
This isn’t the first time that Miley has tried to reinvent herself.
There was her attempt to tap into the country music scene with her 2017 release Younger Now. It wasn’t too successful and barely rated a mention in the country charts.
And of course, there has been her ongoing fascination with rap.
Her latest excursion in that genre being her 2019 EP She Is Coming. It wasn’t reviewed well and was commercially a failure.
The point is that she’s been less than convincing when she’s attempted to move away from the things she does best.
With Plastic Hearts she’s found her niche.
The success that the album has already achieved is testament to the fact that she’s hit gold with this release.
It’s not that this album was a complete surprise. Miley has been including covers of songs by mainstream rock artists such as The Smiths, The Cranberries, Blondie, and even Dylan in her live shows for some time.
With the release of Plastic Hearts we now know that Miley Cyrus has really been a rocker all along, she’s only been playing pop princess but her heart’s really been devoted to the God of Rock.
So what has happened to Miley Cyrus that would promote this change in direction?
Well, for a start her long-term relationship with Liam Hemsworth came to a messy end, and she suffered further loss when fire destroyed the recordings she had begun for the follow-up to She’s Coming.
Add COVID into the mix and you could say that it has been one of the most tumultuous times of her life.
In other words’ it was the ideal time for a fresh start.
Plastic Hearts is not perfect by any means but it’s so much better than most of the stuff she’s produced in recent years.
