Plastic Hearts - Miley Cyrus (2020)
It's very good
This blog has been on an indefinite hiatus for the last couple of months as my university work took over my life. It’s now been several weeks since university finished for the year, but life and being out of the habit has prolonged the hiatus. This post does not mark its return, I don’t know when that will be, rather it’s something from my imagined eventual state for this blog: intermittent reviews posted when I feel the inspiration, rather than a sense of obligation.
Miley Cyrus was never an artist I like, stretching back to having to learn her song The Climb to sing at a primary school prizegiving. The subsequent decade and a half have, however, brought her and I closer together (figuratively speaking1) and I’ve found myself listening to her music more recently, notably several songs from Cyrus’s 2020 album Plastic Hearts.
Plastic Hearts is Cyrus’s seventh album and was presented as a sort of reinvention. It certainly is a departure from her previous work. The album is influenced a lot by rock, which is one of the things that draws me towards it. I’m not sure whether I’d say it’s correct to describe it fully as a rock album, a label like 'pop-rock’ might be more appropriate. Cyrus makes the album’s different styles sound natural together.
One of the tracks that really convinced me to listen to the whole album is Night Crawling, which features Billy Idol. I like how the contrasts and similarities of their voices work together. Both have quite gravelly voices, but Cyrus’s is high and piercing, while Idol’s lower voice rumbles along. In the second pre-chorus Idol and Cyrus begin singing together and I love the two versions where in the pre-chorus they sing in a low register and Idol’s voice predominates and then in chorus where they sing higher and Cyrus’s voice predominates. The synths and rock guitar are reminiscent of the 80s, but the song doesn’t feel like an imitation of the past.
Night Crawling isn’t the album’s only collaboration with an 80s rocker. Bad Karma, which I’d never heard before listening to the album just now, features Joan Jett. It’s a cool song.
In mentioning those tracks I don’t want to imply that that album’s strength depends on its collaborations with other artists. I think it’s neat how Cyrus acknowledges directly the influences which went into the album, but it certainly stands on its own two feet. Rather than a pastiche, it’s a strong expression of Cyrus’s individuality.
Other than Night Crawling my favourite song is probably the opening track WTF Do I Know? These two are the tracks that introduced me to the album2 and at least on a first listen I haven’t discovered that Plastic Hearts is a hidden masterpiece full of my favourite music, but I do think it’s really good. 4 stars.
Though Wikipedia informs me that Cyrus now lives in California, which is closer to New Zealand than Nashville.
This is incidental but I think I actually first came across the album because on Spotify it has a live recording of Cyrus performing Heart of Glass by Blondie. It’s a decent cover, though it doesn’t stray from the original.