Miley Cyrus says that there are two types of artists, those who make “normal” music and those who make “rare” music, and that she – incurring in one of her typical contradictions – has the two facets. He points out that ‘Flowers’ is from his “normal” songs because he is understandable throughout the world, and his repertoire of rare songs highlights ‘Prelude’ and ‘Something Beautiful’, the first two tracks of his new album.
‘Something Beautiful’ is a rare album, although perhaps not in the sense that Cyrus poses. Production is not as psychedelic as promised, nor does the disc flow exactly as an opera or a visual album. The variety of styles does not always seem yield in the best way, nor do instrumental clues seem completely integrated into the joint experience. Isn’t it strange that ‘interlude 1’ e ‘interlude 2’ are separated by a single song?
Although Cyrus says that she is not a person of “middle terms”, ‘Something Beautiful’ is a medium -term disc. Ironically, the ninth work of former Disney star works best when you don’t wear a suit that is too big. The distorted ram of the second part of ‘Something Beautiful’ (song) is not the best of this beautiful Soul-Rock song; Neither the powerful ‘Walk of Fame’ with Brittany Howard leaves airy to last six minutes, nor the instrumental clues, for mixing styles allegedly experimentally, make the album better.
‘Something Beautiful’ is a good album when he finds a balance between the effective of his melodies and the richness of production and instrumentation. Although the length could be better mixed (some voices and instruments sound strident), the compositions build a mature and free work. ‘More to lise’ is a great example of a classic pop song written from today’s point of view (I love the phrase «My tears are streamin ‘Like Our favoritе show tonight»); ‘Easy Lover’ is a great tribute to Stevie Wonder – and a little also to Michael Kiwanuka – that Cyrus wrote in the era of ‘Plastic Hearts’ (2020) and then offered Beyoncé, with whom he later collaborated in the winner of a Grammy ‘II Most Went’ bucolic folk-pop and references to love and spirituality.
Because ‘Something Beautiful’ is a spiritual work, as demonstrated by the orchestral arrangement that travels to the electronic epic of ‘Prelude’, like many slopes of the album, designed next to Jonathan Rado, leader of the Foxygen psychedelic rock band; As the fun tribute to the dance of the 90 ‘Reborn’ points out, which precisely speaks of becoming someone new thanks to love; Or as indicated by the power of ‘End of the World’, disappeared for resembling Coldplay … when his exuberance, full -frying character and flashes of ‘Mamma Mia’ of Abba make him one of the great lost singles of Cyrus’s career. The good news is that two members of Alvvays are part of their composition and surely the check that has come to Sony is considerable.
But the panel of musicians involved in ‘Something Beautiful’ raises the question of why the album is not better. It is crazy to see members of Haim, Model/Actress, Alvvays or The War On Drugs in the same album, but the work of these artists separately is more innovative and exciting than ‘Something Beautiful’. Certain clues propose interesting sound ideas but fail to sustain due to weak melodies. For example, ‘Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved’ Samplea El Remix de Soulwax of ‘Work It’ (2018) by Marie Davidson, but the song is never as exciting as the reference. And ‘Trend You’re God’ is an intriguing Trip-Hop approach reminiscent of the lysergic trips of Yves tumor, but the composition denies it again.
The average term of ‘Something Beautiful’ is evident in the strange of the sequence, but also in the potential of certain clues that does not end up exploding. It is very difficult to maintain the interest of a song for six minutes, and ‘Walk of Fame’ – which for a while is one of the best songs from the album – shows that it does not always work. ‘Every girl you’ve Ever Loved’, on the other hand, presents an explosive production, but the melody knows little, the lyrics do not match the sophistication of the authentic ballroom (“Match my bag to my new dress / i’m still looking like to have / while my hair is a mess” is a very naif phrase) It could have been left in drafts, because neither Campbell makes you want, nor does it sound convincing in paper.
Where ‘Something Beautiful’ shines – we insist – it is in his classic pieces: ‘More to lise’, ‘Submit Beautiful’, ‘Easy Lover’ and the very Fleetwood Mac ‘Gold Burning Sun’ are good ballads or half times of Miley Cyrus that show an artist who has found a reef in the success of ‘Flowers’ prodigious vowels by this great interpreter. The dance paper feels good to Cyrus in ‘Reborn’, but the classic facet of ‘Something Beautiful’ convinces above electronics simply because compositions have better written or integrated melodies.
‘Something Beautiful’ is an album by Miley Cyrus that seeks to be at the same time beautiful, fun and inspiring, but its dispersed sequence prevents the case album as its author would have liked it. Nor have they helped the expectations overturned on the album and fed by the artist herself, Pus ‘Something Beautiful’ is not so psychedelic, nor does his film look like ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd, nor Cyrus still play in the same league of David Bowie or Björk, with which he has compared. But Cyrus’s attempt to match these artists leaves another good pop album that, perhaps, should be understood as “alone” that: a pop album. Although we know – like Miley Cyrus – that pop can be much more.
