The Life & Times of Miley Cyrus

One of the things I like a lot about "See You Again" is that it starts off seeming quite general (as in "I can't wait to see you again" means she generally loves seeing this guy) and then becomes super-specific - she embarrassed herself last time she saw him and won't make that mistake again. The line "the next time we hang out I will redeem myself" is such an excessive way to put it though - love it!

not as excessive as "my heart can't rest 'til then"!

the great thing about the "my best friend lesley said 'oh, she's just being miley'" line is that you can't tell whether lesley's helping her out or snarking at her.

this is still the only m cyrus song i've ever heard, i have a few more on the computer, i think, but i suspect i like the idea of cyrus/montana better than the actual music

Yeah I was thinking that myself (re the leslie line) - probably she's doing both!

I love how much Cracked.com hate her. I personally think she's the devil child and is about to bring on the imminent apocolypse because she's PURE evil but music wise she has some really accessible fun tunes songs that don't verge on the jail bait like Jojo did...well they do a bit because of her voice.
'See you again' (Heart that will never be tamed/redeem myself) its all a bit redemption hour imo but its got a good electro base.
'Clear' has a really irritating cod reggae vibe that I don't like plus it implies she reads 'the papers' but then the chorus kicks in and I want to cry because I love it that much.
'Good & Broken' is a really amazing power pop fist pumping song. I'm quite impressed'we are broken chains' its well deep.
She sounds like Ashlee Simpson constantly but with better vocal chops obv.
'7 Things' sounds like something I've heard before, like late 90's ish throwback shit isn't up to standard, it sounds like the crappy 'songs' you get on poor TV movies about young 'rock bands' and they always write about how much like they love/hate this guy.
So my verdict; I like her voice, she's got great production, the lyrics are excessive but good and her tunes will no doubt sell, but bring back Jojo.

New teenpop thread COOL!

"See You Again" is the only song I have heard by her, and I have to admit it's pretty good. The specificity in the lyric that Tim mentions definitely adds a lot to it. I don't know who wrote the song, but the "my best friend lesley said 'oh, she's just being miley'" line sounds very much like something a kid would say.

I love "See You Again," and "Best of Both Worlds." The former, almost entirely because of "I stu-stu-stuttered," the latter because of "little we-e-e-ird!" and cause it sounds like country. Stuff like "7 Things" is way too nasally.

Also, since this is "Life & Times," I've felt a little conflicted ever since that South Park Britney episode / the cultural consensus that Miley Cyrus is the next Britney Spears. There's really nothing in common between Britney Spears + Miley except that they were/are both young female pop singers, but PopCulture seems to now have an aura of inevitability that Miley Cyrus is going to totally destroy her life/lose her mind/have a huge horrible scandal. I'm not sure I entirely buy the South Park explanation for this inevitability (human nature to prop up a young woman and then destroy her, like some sacrificial rite), because it seems like Britney created the template here. I don't know of a pre-Britney example of this. So I just wonder if it isn't people reaching (they see popular Miley, they remember popular Britney, they make conclusions). Also, musically, Miley isn't selling herself as sexually as Britney ever did ('See Your Again' V 'Hit Me Baby One More Time,' tho Britney was 17 when she made Hit Me and Miley is only 15 now?)

Anyway, it's probably telling that I'm much more interested in how Pop Culture is reacting to Miley than to her music. (I mean, not just telling of what I'm paying attention to, but also telling in how inherently interesting her music is/isn't. )

Also, since I'll be gone for the next 2 weeks; Missing this thread's inevitable clusterfuck = classic.

Indeed. Just for cognitive dissonance I dragged out a copy of the first Runaways album last week. In the current climate, it'd be impossible to release an album like that on a major label. Kim Fowley would be jailed. I bought it in a family department store in 1976.

i love "see you again" especially because of "my best friend Leslie said "oh she's just being Miley"" which makes me smile every time

her other stuff that i've heard is a lot more power-pop than "see you again", so you wouldn't necessarily be into it... but i'll recommend "I Got Nerve" and "East Northumberland High" anyway, they're such energetic and likable songs.

Yeah "I Got Nerve" was good. I'm assuming "See You Again" is signposting a shift in style.

Mordy I think the Miley=Britney argument primarily arises from the Vanity Fair shoot that Annie Leibowitz did. In one photo Miley is lying with her head in her dad's lap; in another she's apparently naked but for a bedsheet, with mussed make-up and hair, looking faintly spooked. It's very post-coital with slight hints at rough treatment. The contrast is kinda disturbing (though not at all the sign of widespread moral failure that conservatives are painting it as being) - and Miley is, after all, 15 years old still.

Whereas, as you say, Britney was already 17 when "Baby, One More Time" came out.

The implication is: if Miley's going there now, how far will she have gone when she is 17?

Also it's not just a Britney thing - she may have set the trend, but you've also got to look at Lindsay Lohan, who combines the film childstar angle (which leads back to earlier examples like Drew Barrymore) with a pop career - and of course Miley has her TV show and has done film appearances.

Also the Olsen twins are another reference point, esp. with regard to the very public transition from children to teenage sex objects (while the ultimate ancestral figure is of course Judy Garland).

I like the st-st-stutter bit because I like to think she's referencing Joe.

while the ultimate ancestral figure is of course Judy Garland

Head-to-head tie with Shirley Temple there I think but then again Judy's celebrity career lasted longer.

There are Hanna Montana posters all over the buses here (Rome)! I'll post some pictures after I get internet on my laptop. (I'm in an internet cafe right now.)

I'm not sure I entirely buy the South Park explanation for this inevitability (human nature to prop up a young woman and then destroy her, like some sacrificial rite), because it seems like Britney created the template here. I don't know of a pre-Britney example of this.

Arguably*, this is what happened to Marilyn Monroe.

*massively, contentiously arguable, I know

wow are the posters like in ITALIAN and everything?

He's in Rome so they're probably in Urdu.

Still my favorite single of 2008 (thanks in part to Colette, who tipped me off to its brilliance). This is probably my favorite thing I've read about it.

Album is out. Opinions?

From Rolling Country:

Miley album's now leaked, and the one track on it that feels country to me is "These Four Walls," though I can't say why I feel it's country. Reminds me a bit of Tiffany's "Could've Been," which I always thought could've been covered by a country singer (in fact was, by Carrie Underwood on American Idol) - anyway, the sort of pop ballad that a passionate country belle would sing.

Only four songs on the album stand out for me so far: this one and "Fly On The Wall" and "Full Circle" (the blaring pop rock she tended to do as Hannah Montana), and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," which is blarey too, with some girl groupishness in the background. I like the noncuteness of her voice; the album is consistently OK; I'm disappointed there aren't more great songs. Don't think I like anything as much as my four faves from Meet Miley Cyrus: "See You Again," "GNO (Girls Night Out)," "Start All Over," and "East Northumberland High."

Some memorable lyrics to "Wake Up America." They're not good - just Save The Earth platitudes - but one line made me perk up: "I know that you don't want to hear it/Especially coming from someone so young," which reminds me of Dylan's "How much do I know/To talk out of turn/You might say that I'm young/You might say I'm unlearned." But Miley doesn't then follow with, "But there's one thing I know/Though I'm younger than you/That even Jesus would never/Forgive what you do."

-- Frank Kogan, Sunday, July 20, 2008 1:26 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Link

Turns out that the Miley somewhat countryish (and good) track "These Four Walls" that I mentioned upthread is a cover of Cheyenne Kimball's "Four Walls" (first up on Cheyenne's MySpace), though Miley's "Full Circle" is not a cover of Cheyenne Kimball's "Full Circle." But Miley's "Full Circle" was co-written with Scott Cutler and Anne Preven, who co-wrote Cheyenne's "Four Walls," so everything comes full circle.

(And the other songs on Cheyenne's MySpace are even better, though further from country and folk; maybe I need to go back and get that old Cheyenne album.)

-- Frank Kogan, Thursday, July 24, 2008 4:36 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Link

Playing Miley today; definitely like a few tracks. Not sure if I love any. (Beyond "See You Again," if that counts.) Frank was wondering what old song "Fly on the Wall" sounded like; can't think of anything, overall, though there's a little synth part that reminds me of "Tainted Love" in there a couple times (popular in teen-pop ever since Rihanna revived it.)

-- xhuxk, Thursday, July 24, 2008 5:31 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Link

I'm not loving much on the Miley album. I guess "Four Walls" is my non-"See You Again" favorite, then probably "Fly On The Wall" and "Simple Song." (And "See You Again" is better in its non-remixed version, which isn't on this album.)

-- xhuxk, Saturday, July 26, 2008 10:04 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

I haven't heard much of the new album yet, but what I've heard hasn't impressed me. I think "7 Things" is pretty horrible. I love that Miley's a teen star whose voice isn't at all nymphet-like. I think she's pushing this as an adult album a bit too hard--she did an interview intimating that she has listeners in their '30s and '40s, which outside of this forum, I pretty much doubt. She is still so young; she doesn't have to rush so much to grow up--except for the fact that in reality she's not a kid in any way. She seems really tired and not so charming in interviews lately. Previous faves:

Hannah Montana: Nobody's Perfect, Rock Star, You and Me Together.

Miley Cyrus: Start All Over, See You Again (of course), As I Am.

Yeah, I definitely don't hear this as an adult album. And I thought the Aly & AJ album had appeal to adults (and when I listened to it, I listened to it as music that I enjoy). But when I listen to the Miley album, I feel very conscious that she is a child writing for other children. There's nothing really sophisticated about her lyrics (or even potentially sophisticated).

i figure anyone who will open up this thread cares enough about jonas brothers

here is their new single "burnin up" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScXLHgPcZuc

which i really like a lot. super slickly produced and reminds me like maroon 5 (though not as good). if they played stuff like this on rock radio id listen to rock radio, it reminds me of blink-182 era stuff that i loved in terms of production mostly (also it has a great hook!)

didn't you hate them like a week ago

i was probably challopsing and/or letting my teenage-like immediate resentment of radio disney stuff creep in

this is the first song ive ever heard by them

teenage-like immediate resentment of radio disney stuff

16 year old indie teen and not 13 year old girl teen

"pushin me away" on the other hand sounds like some really turgid sub-metro station stuff to me

btw what
the
fuck

at the rap in the middle of "burnin up"? maybe its only the video version?

My initial impression is A Little Bit Longer isn't as good as Jonas Brothers. The guitars are souped up a bit more but the songs aren't as good. Chris Lord-Alge is on hand again for the mix and he's been doing these kinds of records for years. Makes 'em all sound the same -- great right out of the box. But they fall down when the mix is the only thing holding up the tunes.

"Got Me Going Crazy" has a great fuzz-toned garage-rock style verse. Over and out in two and half a minutes, it's the Jonas Brothers or their producer having 'em mimic the Music Machine or Count 5, or someone's idea of the latter.

"BB Good" has big crunch chords. Reminded me briefly of BTO-style rock with kids instead of big fat men on vocals. "Burnin' Up" is distant the play list. Dumb and pointless rap stuck into the end. "Shelf" -- chugga-chugga palm-muted guitar pop isn't bad because Jonas Brothers aren't as pitiful as the slew of poverty-case festival emo bands (I went through a couple of years go for xhuxk) doing this kind of stuff.

"Lovebug" has dumbass ska at the beginning. "Video Girl" -- annoying in a minor way but not enough to make you hit eject. "Pushin' Me Away" -- skip. "Sorry" -- Cheap Trick and a lot of other bands have done a lot of this type of thing on their last couple albums. Def Leppard, on their new one for example, which isn't any good. "Sorry" is a bit better, somewhere closer to Cheap Trick.

Nothing on the new album seems as as good as "That's Just the Way We Roll," "Year 3000," the duet the Miley Cyrus and the remake of "Kids in America" as "Kids of the Future" or whatever.

But there are at least three keepers on it.

I dragged out some Chris Lord-Alge produced stuff in this vein, plats that never made it. And they're functionally indistinguishable. In fact, I'd dig for The Donnas' Spend the Night from a few years back used. It's on Atlantic, does the same style except with more lascivious lyrics pointed the other way. And the songs and attack smoke the Jonas Brothers.

btw what
the
fuck

at the rap in the middle of "burnin up"?

it's by their bodyguard Big Rob, who is not the bodyguard guy on Rob & Big, but was Britney Spears' old bodyguard. don't ask me why i know this. or why he's on their song.

ya it seriously gave me some like, aaron carter flashbacks or something

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/hahaxxno/Cyd%20and%20Happiness/hannahmontanners.png

a fine sentiment well expressed
a controversial thrust effectively delivered
a piece of shrewd common sense simply and plainly set out

That's pretty gross.

I'm just glad my Dad only showed a passing interest in "Blossom".

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00724/Miley_Cyrus_724884a.jpg

I wonder what they were think... no, I s'pose they don't think much.

lol actual Asian guy. "Can you BELIEVE this shit?"

The new single, "Party in the U.S.A." is like so many songs rolled into one.

even rolled some pole dancing into it

http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20090810/293.cyrus.miley2.081009.jpg

New single. This is absolutely fucking BRILLIANT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkX-xrhmF2g

My favourite part of this song is "I'm nodding my head like 'Yeah....', I'm moving my hips like 'Yeah....'"

I think my favourite part is ALL OF IT. Just listened five times on the trot.

Plus, it's already a parlour game in my head to replace Jay-Z/Britney with someone else: "And a Megadeth song was on, and an ATR song was on..."

Wow! Really quite good. Pleasant surprise of the day.

i keep almost liking this song and then that "yeah" before she sings the title is so shrill and horiffic it makes me hate the whole thing

O my, she's a saucy one.

It's . . . okay. The best part are the lyric's sly reference to other pop-culture artists and their songs, but it's not enough to save an otherwise unremarkable, merely competent song.

To be fair, I'm more of a noncommercial rock fan than a pop fan. But I do like a lot of pop.

i hate how she says "tummy"

this is the kind of song that only gets improved by mass pop culture ubiquity, but if it doesn't get there i'll happily forget about it

ringer finger

"Miley Cyrus gay marriage tattoo Twitter war" is an entrancing phrase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAgh03R1fJA

LOL

http://gawker.com/5879171/this-is-a-picture-of-miley-cyrus-eating-a-penis-cake

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/7/2012/01/b570c8888b7ae92725155fe88cd0f8e1.jpg

lol sry hueg

Miley Cyrus is on Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International. In an exclusive, Miley Cyrus will perform "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" next Monday, February 6. It will be the first in a series of performances by artists from Chimes of Freedom, as Ellen pays tribute to the work of Amnesty International.

Cyrus' video for the track been added by MTV, VH1, MTV Hits, MTV.com, GAC, CMT, CMT Pure, CMT.com, Music Choice-Video on Demand and Palladia. "Miley covers 'You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go' with all of the mournfulness and dusty sentiment that the classic Dylan song requires, pouring her heart into the track and giving the legend his due," said MTV Buzzworthy, while NPR's Ann Powersobserved that Cyrus' "excellent outing recalls her godmother Dolly Parton."Using her social media sites, Miley has parlayed the video - which has received more than 2,000,000 views since premiering last week - into an opportunity to engage her fans in the human rights cause.

record company pr

How many cake-related scandals can Miley Cyrus weather?

http://i.imgur.com/pgBZh.jpg

It's hard to believe that just 40 years ago she was a teenager

Is it weird that I've heard See You Again five times in a row because of the "st-st-stuttered" bit

you know what, this is the best Miley single since the Bangerz era (which I maintain is a great album despite the controversies around it)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS1no1myeTM

yeah this is pretty good

bangerz being good despite the controversy is pretty commonly acknowledged i think

it might be her best single ever to be honest. “edge of seventeen” is a good look on her.

New album has deep karaoke vibes, don’t know if for better or worse, leaning towards the latter

I take it back, this album is mostly good, esp the second half

It feels to the 80s what Lenny Kravitz is to the 70s, and I mean this in a good way: it sounds more of that era than an imitation of it. In 20 years, maybe some of these songs will be interchangeable with, like, Shannon’s “Let The Music Play.”

This is good! Not a fan of "Gimme What I Want," but I like everything else, esp. "High" and "Golden G String." There might be a few more songs on the theme of "I am a wild rebel spirit who will cheat on you, fuck the haters" than one album really needs, but overall I think it all works.

Fucking great album. She sounds like Christina Amphlett in places.

Really love the Midnight Sky -> High -> Hate Me run

Good live version of "Midnight Sky":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxZl2cFvjRs

Also, I'm ready to make the "Midnight Sky" opening my ringtone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is0hVNZJTOU my favorite song of hers was when she did the vocals on this butthole surfers song!

I refuse to click on this link but thought you might want to:

https://pitchfork.com/news/watch-miley-cyrus-cover-mazzy-star-fade-into-you/

it's not even surprising that she does a really good job on this: she isn't trying to be Hope Sandoval but she manages to be faithful to the original while serving her own interpretation of it. I haven't really enjoyed this album cycle apart from the covers she's been doing in performances.

you know what, I wouldn't even do this for karaoke as a joke bc I still don't know what they are so kudos for the effort

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2he5Q2Tsn4

Listening to Bangerz and what a wacky album between the solid hits.

MILEY DID THIS TONIGHT AT LOLLAPALOOZA WHEN SHE PERFORMED SMS (bangerz)#FreeBritney pic.twitter.com/ynRyB6tKXx

— stormie ♡ (@babylongcf) July 30, 2021

new single is decent

forgot how I got there, but I had a small Miley kick earlier this week - some findings:

“Wrecking Ball” is a great song. I think it was overshadowed by all the video hoopla back then, but I think it holds up better than “We Can’t Stop”, which I greatly preferred at the time.

confirmed: I still love “Rooting For My Baby”.

“Midnight Sky” is a bona fide bangerⓏ, and the mashup-remix with “Edge of Seventeen” is great too.

oh, she also does a mash-up of “Wrecking Ball” and “Nothing Compares 2 U” that works extremely well. it’s on the live album (!) she released last year (!).

yeah, that new song is decent, but not nearly as special as I would have hoped after my little Miley moment

“Flowers” is the biggest song in the world right now and has single(!)-handedly pushed Miley up to second-most streamed artist on Spotify. quite surreal.

I really like Flowers, shades of...later period George Michael? Among other things anyways good for Miley and good for the world very encouraging

don’t know what’s more surprising, how “tasteful” the album is (I mean, Brandi Carlisle and Sia are the features) or that it’s actually good bc of or despite its tastefulness (haven’t decided)

Good album. I prefer the last one.

Probably same

Glad she deleted Wayne Coyne from her contacts

31 today.

I don't follow the Top 40 but I just heard "Flowers" and thought, that's a pretty nice song.

top 40 is now geared toward ppl who only tune in once every several months for 10 mins, hence why they're still hammering that stale song

Yes, it was a surprise to me to notice that they still play songs from 2022 in heavy rotation. Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” is another one… they play that just as frequently as her two current singles. But then I looked at the Billboard Hot 100 and was very surprised to see that it’s now common for songs to remain high in the charts for six months… some even for close to a year.

Yeah, we had a discussion here about all the white folks in the top 40 a few months ago. Most of the top ten songs from back are still in the top 40, some still in the top 10.

What thread was that discussion in?

Itunes, Billboard, and the marginalization of black music and black audiences in America

Thanks. I dipped into that and yeah it is crazy, the same rereleased Taylor Swift song that people were complaining about three months ago when it was at #4 is now at #1, and it’s spent over six months on the chart. So the Hot 100 really is a whole different planet now.

Internet music nerds are going nuts over the new Miley album. Anyone here listen to it yet?

Walk Of Fame is completely perfunctory, bloodless disco so I'm surprised ILM isn't all over it

Didn't she just release an album? When did that "Flowers" song come out? Feels like last week. Anyway:

Cyrus executively produced the album with Shawn Everett and worked on it alongside various notable musicians, including Molly Rankin and Alec O'Henley of Alvvays, Cole Haden of Model/Actriz, Danielle Haim, Flea, Pino Palladino, and Adam Granduciel of the War on Drugs. Naomi Campbell and Brittany Howard appear as guest artists.

What does it even mean to executively produce your own album in this context? I thought that was a title made up for people who give financial support but don't otherwise contribute

these days it often means some high-level creative director role that isn't necessarily very hands-on - i'd assume it means she had the high-level vision and chose the producers & songwriters she wanted to work with & was the one giving them feedback to achieve the vision she had etc.

the album didn't really leave much of an impression on me, the arrangements are generally lovely (as i'd expect given who's involved) but the songs didn't capture my attention

Maybe it's because she wrote and directed an accompanying/corresponding film? (Along with Panos Cosmatos!) So, like, an overseer of the entire multi-media project? Who knows, but I bet she got paid for it. If I were a big star, the more credits the merrier.

Doubt it, I agree it's likely just a signal that it's her creative vision. I'll have to check it out because of Shawn Everett, but I'll probably be mad it took up so much of his time when he could have been engineering a more interesting record.

I found everything she did past "See you again" and "party in the USA" to be actively irritating, but this thing is a big goddamn swing, and it sails outta the park as far as I'm concerned… this record isn't looking to do things a record must to be a 4 quadrant 2025 pop juggernaut… like, Tate McRae or Sabrina Carpenter wouldn't dare to present some shit like she does on this record… like Chappelle Roan is sposed to make big statements, or Olivia Rodrigo is sposed to bring back rock music catharsis, but this thing outpaces anyone trying to do shit like that without breaking a sweat.

I dunno, maybe it's too solicitous of the predilections of a 54 year white guy who was listening to Joan Armatrading prior to this record? But this thing has four or five four on the floor bangers that are far far more than a rewrite of "I will survive." She did interviews variously when she said she didn't really know Jay Z or pop music, and she was into like basic rock… a few years ago, there was this live clip of her singing "Heaven or Las Vegas" and she sounded glorious but for her constant lapses into onstage schtick…So my guess is that this reflects her interests beyond what her career would demand she do…

I didn't fuck with the Wayne Coyne record cuz I strongly disliked the single, but this thing is really really good, not at all arch as that single was.

ok what's a really good song from the album then? i tried with "walk of fame" (because if imago dislikes it i'm interested) but it was pretty nothing-y imo. like, no lyrics at all?? 'flowers' was a great song with great lyrics, deceptively simple but convincingly rousing.