Album Review: Miley Cyrus- Bangerz
So, in January, when I started this blog, had you come to me
and told me that by October, I’d be writing a review of an album titled Bangerz by Miley Cyrus, I would have
said, “Person with knowledge of the future…YOU CRAZY!”
But hey, here it is; it’s October, and I’m sitting on the
floor of my living room (where I do all of my best writing), watching my
companion rabbits do the various things they do, writing a review of an album
titled Bangerz by Miley Cyrus.
By now, at this point in 2013, Cyrus is probably less known
for her actual music, and more known for her persona. Sometime back she got a
super short haircut, started wearing less and less clothing, invented
“twerking,” and mimed butt rape with Beetlejuice Robin Thicke, and then caught a lot of flack for doing it.
Ok so the part about inventing “twerking” is a joke. Much
like the joke about Al Gore inventing the Internet. He didn’t do that. And
Miley Cyrus sure as shit did not invent the AFRICAN DERIVED dance style known
as “twerking,” which according to Gore’s invention the Internet, maybe have
risen out of New Orleans in the early 90s, and gaining some mainstream
notoriety as far back as 2000, with the song “Whistle While You Twurk” by
Atlanta’s Ying Yang Twins.
Miley Cyrus, aside from being the daughter of country music
one-hit wonder Billy Ray Cyrus, rose to fame over half a decade ago as the star
of the Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana,” a show that ended only two years
ago. Which puts quite a few things into perspective, as far as Cyrus’s meteoric
ascent into her new role as an “adult” pop star.
First thing’s first—Bangerz
should have probably been named Balladz
instead (full disclosure, I used this joke on Twitter already.) Overseen by
executive producer Mike Will Made It, of the thirteen tracks on the album, the
powerful ballads—the hot topic single “Wrecking Ball,” the surprisingly
heartfelt “My Darlin’,” and the opening track “Adore You,” are all shockingly
impressive.
“Adore You” borders on sappy—“When you say you love me, know I love you more…I adore you” she
belts out on the refrain. It’s also an interesting choice for an opening song,
considering what Bangerz is, for the
most part, bookended with—the impressive, emotional break-up song “Maybe You’re
Right,” which while a little more uptempo, is mos def not a “banger.” It’s also
probably one of the best songs on the album.
Serving as somewhat of an intro track, “Adore You” segues
(strangely) into the album’s first single, “We Can’t Stop.” Another track that
is not exactly a “banger,” it’s a mid-tempo, slow motion party jam about taking
ecstasy Molly, owning the night, not being able to stop, doing what you
want, and also twerking.
Things get kind of awful for a moment—there’s the
faux-electro-twang of “4 x 4,” a song that features a cringe worthy lyric—“Drivin’ so fast ‘bout to piss on myself.”
Prior to this, is the Britney Spears co-signed “SMS (Bangerz)” I was sure that
the SMS they were talking about was “short message service,” but I think it
actually means “strut my stuff.” It’s also horrible. Proving that Cyrus maybe
should stay away from “bangerz” and
realize her strength is in slower, more emotional ballads and jamz.
Auto-tuned into oblivion, rapper Future shows up for a duet
on the “Stand By Me”-borrowing “My Darlin’.” Beginning with “Adore You,” and
ending with “Maybe You’re Right,” there are high-concept moments on Bangerz—yes I know that comes as shock
since we’re talking about Miley Cyrus here. “My Darlin’” begins the descent of
the love that Cyrus gushed about in the opening track—it’s an amazingly somber
track, “What happened to that feeling?
Will we ever get it back?” she asks in the second verse. It’s honest and
real moments like this on Bangerz
that make the album worth your time—even if the other half of it is insipid
bullshit.
In an act of flawless sequencing, the emotionally
manipulative roller coaster ride “Wrecking Ball” arrives next. Rarely is a pop
song this heavy—and I feel like this is a fact that a lot of people are going
to miss because of the accompanying video. You know the video: the one where
Cyrus rides on top of an actual wrecking ball in the nude; the video where she
is in her all-togethers, swinging a sledge hammer at concrete walls around her;
the video where photographer/perv Terry Richardson films a close of her crying
and singing and it’s a super uncomfortable and chilling moment.
The magnitude and sheer power of a song like “Wrecking Ball”
is a triumph—and it’s arguably the most important song the album, as well as of
Cyrus’s career to date. It’s an adult song—sung by a former teen star desperately
trying to be seen as a bankable, legit adult artist.
After the halfway point, things take a bit of a turn—not a
good turn, either. The double shot of “Love, Money, Party,” and “#GETITRIGHT”
are like listening to nails on a chalkboard that’s entirely made out of nails
on a chalkboard. It’s produced by Pharrell Williams, who has seen a late-career
resurgence thanks to Daft Punk and Robin Thicke. It sounds like pretty much
everything else Pharrell has ever produced for a pop star. Its sunny sounding
guitar strums are monotonous, and lyrically, the faux-sexiness Cyrus is trying
to exude falls pretty flat.
The other missteps include the horrendous “FU,” with its
phony soul/women done wrong shtick, and yet another attempt at a light-hearted
“banger”—“Do My Thang.”
As I mentioned earlier, bookending the loose idea of the
beginning and end of a relationship, in the latter half of the record, “Drive,”
is the second to last chapter. It’s not exactly a banger, not a ballad—somewhere
in between that’s heavy on emotion, heavy on synthesizer buzz, and even heavier
on beats.
The final chapter, and the album’s second to last track, “Maybe
You’re Right” is sobering in its honesty and sheer emotion. This is where the
love story ends—it’s hard not to see the person she’s singing about as her now
former fiancé, actor Liam Hemsworth. Of any song on Bangerz, this song seriously gives me chills—ASMR, as Buzzfeed has
been kind enough to explain. “You might
think I’m crazy…maybe you’re right,” she says in the song, while
Coldplay-esq “whoa-ohs” and triumphant drumming and mournful piano swirl around
her. If the album peaks with “Wrecking Ball,” then “Maybe You’re Right,” is a
near-perfect way to end the album.
Except it doesn’t end there. “If you’re looking for love, know that love don’t live here anymore,”
is the opening line to the final song, “Someone Else.” It’s another blend of a
ballad in content and a banger in arrangement. I suppose as a pop star, closing
the album with something as real as “Maybe You’re Right” is frowned upon.
It’s not a terrible song—it’s sure a shit better than the
album’s attempt at party songs, but from a structural standpoint, it does
creates, unintentionally I’m sure, an anti-climax.
Bangerz is the
kind of album that, perhaps like the artist that created it, it doesn’t know
what it’s supposed to be. Half incredible pop ballads, half awful pop bullshit,
a deeper look at the back and forth show the conflict within the artist
formerly known as Hannah Montana, and the artist emerging as Miley Cyrus. From
start to finish, the lack of cohesion is maddening, but stripping away the five
power ballads and making a Balladz EP
shows that when she wants to be, Cyrus can be a tremendous talent.
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