Monday, October 9, 2017

Album Review: Younger Now by Miley Cyrus




Miley Cyrus is 24 years old at the release of this album. This is her sixth studio album since age 14. Except for the song "Wrecking Ball" off of her 2013 Bangerz album, I've never heard any of her music. I never saw the show Hannah Montana and so all I know of Cyrus is her portrayal in the media over the past decade.

In my mind Miley Cyrus is a media sensation, but I've never really thought of her as a musician or as an artist. I came to listen to this album not really sure what to expect. There were two things though that gave me hope. One is that Cyrus is 24 years old. As I've often commented 24 seems to be the magic age for musicians. Second she co-wrote every song with and was produced by Oren Yoel. As I've also stated on here it helps a lot to make a solid album if you can work with a single collaborator. I have to say for me it works.

Lyrically and musically it works. Cyrus is a solid vocalist and has an interesting voice. More than anything it sounds like an album by a 24 year old who is mature enough to address her feelings and emotions, but still young enough to feel them in her gut. Maybe I'm starting to understand why 24 is such a crucial age for rock and pop music.

With her voice and the odd blend of musical influences this album feels very unique to me. I'm not sure that Cyrus and Yoel can improve on this and maybe this is her peak as an artist and I just happened to stumble upon it, but that would be OK.

The hard part for me is to decide what to rate this album. For me to rate an album three stars it has to have at least one song that really grabs me and this album doesn't really have that. Still I'm so intrigued by the album as a whole that I want to remember it as being something I found fresh and different when I look back on 2017. Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good.

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