4/5
Tabloids may have tweaked on all that Thicke twerking, but over the last decade, Miley Cyrus has done so much more. How about a big-three? And we aren't even talking about the 'Charlie's Angels' theme tune with fellow generational greats Ariana Grande and Lana Del Rey, so don't call her "angel", no matter how amazing that was. The 'Wrecking Ball' singer came through with a beautiful rendition of 'Silent Night' for the festive feeling of Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray's 'Lost In Translation' reunion, 'A Very Murray Christmas'. She also played the perfect pop star on an episode of 'Black Mirror', right when her fame was going nuclear. But the best thing might have been her collabo with Godmother Dolly Parton on her country album ('Younger Now') for the all-encompassing love of 'Rainbowland'. Since that reconciliation album, she gave us 'Plastic Hearts' during COVID, for one of 2020s best, and then, only two years ago, on an 'Endless Summer Vacation', and vein of form for the still only 32, former Disney star, she gave herself her own 'Flowers' after her split with actor Liam Hemsworth.
Now, on a ninth wonder of an album, she gives us 'Something Beautiful'. Something even more beautiful. Not to mention the freshest and best pop album of the year since Selena Gomez and engaged producing partner Benny Blanco told each other 'I Said I Love You First'. Gaudy and glorious, like the diamond portrait of the album artwork, this is cinematic and classic. With inspired interludes across the board, big collaborations with Brittany Howard (the Hollywood 'Walk Of Fame') and supermodel Naomi Campbell (for 'Every Girl You've Ever Loved'), not to mention a showstopping single in the 'End Of The World'. If Miley wasn't as big as contemporaries like Lady Gaga and such, you'd be crazy to think she wasn't now. From a perfect 'Prelude' to these ends after the title-track, and a 'Give Me Love' demand in devotion to curtain counter, this beautiful body of work really is something. Why 'Pretend To Be God' when she is HER?
Fresh neon soundscapes accompany this Tennessee kid to the LA studios of Bandrika and Subtle McNugget (any fries with that?) on an album released this New Music Friday, on May 30th (Happy Birthday, Sis!). With a musical film of the same name to come, June 6th, this visual, existential album, scores as the perfect soundtrack like a 'Purple Rain'. As long as the movie isn't meant to make you suffer (and that's a Lake Minnetonka reference, not diss). Healing from trauma and finding beauty in all the darkness, Miley is 'Reborn', sampling Davidson's 'Work It' and giving us music videos for 'More To Lose' and 'Easy Lover'. This classic Colombia record even features Kid Harpoon, The War On Drugs and Danielle Haim on electric guitar, after her Bon Iver duet, and before she says 'I Quit' with her sisters next month for the new Haim album. Just like when they both came out in 2020, these women in music are giving it to the wimps again, as I put my hand up.
Epic escapism in psychedelia is bright like a 'Golden Burning Sun'. Inspiring through the impermanence of life with 'More To Lose'. On the title track of this Shawn Everett produced engrossing work Cyrus sings, "Oh, flash, bang, spark/Send home the guards and lay down your arms/And da-da-da-da-da-da/The great golden bomb, bomb, bomb/Boy, I'm losing my breath, yes/Boy, you're marking up my necklace/Boy, I'm losing my breath/I'm undressing, I'm confessing that I'm so obsessed, yes." Just like on the closer, when she writes, "I imagine a place at the dawn of creation/A cityscape we paint in the dark/There's a castle between this obscene blue horizon/Where golden apples hang in the trees and a bare lady sings/Behind the curtain, heaven awaits." The words of these lasting, legacy making lyrics carry so much weight, but the intonation carries even more influence. This sweet style of experimental, homage music is the boldest and best since Halsey's last great pretender. Pop is still in that pure place with this popera. At her most beautiful. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'End Of The World', 'Walk Of Fame (Feat. Brittany Howard)', 'Every Girl You've Ever Loved (Feat Naomi Campbell)'.
Spin This: Miley Cyrus - 'Endless Summer Vacation'.
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