By ETHAN CRANE – Variety Editor
Shedding her “Disney-princess” wholesome image , Miley Cyrus released her fourth album, Bangerz.
American recording artist Miley Cyrus released her fourth studio album, Bangerz, on Oct. 8 through RCA Records. Cyrus has plastered tabloids and websites since the June release of the album’s lead single, “We Can’t Stop”, due to her new adult, in-your-face attitude.
Cyrus aimed to break away from her previous, family-friendly image, which was her role as the title character on the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana.
She certainly did just that. With sex, drug references and profanity abound, her performances in the music videos for both “We Can’t Stop” and the album’s second single, “Wrecking Ball” garnered massive amounts of attention.
Criticism has piled onto Cyrus after her controversial performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards along with feuds with more senior artists like Sinead O’Connor. Although a lot of what she may do is ridiculous, she has created a hype of publicity that pushed Bangerz to the number one spot on album charts across the globe.
Bangerz includes a wide variety of featured artists like Britney Spears, Big Sean and French Montana. The album’s production was largely characterized by American producer Mike Will Made It – his name can be heard at the beginning of almost every song. Largely, Bangerz lacks depth. Songs like “SMS” and “Love Money Party” are light-hearted and catchy despite being lyrically shallow and repetitive. Cyrus does manage to add emotion and musicality through ballads like “Adore You”, “Wrecking Ball” and “Someone Else”, which showcase more of Cyrus’ vocal ability and hint at her now-ended relationship with Australian actor Liam Hemsworth.
Cyrus has made her point clear: the old Miley is gone. Bangerz is crazy, weird and ridiculous. But the absolute outlandishness with which Cyrus has promoted her album has created intrigue and, frankly, made the record fun.
