I was inspired to write this post after a recent click on Miley’s iHeartRadio festival 2020 performance, and quite frankly I was blown away. A highly successful tribute to Blondie’s 2004 ‘Heart of Glass’, Miley truly outdid herself. Her voice, singing style and image has gone from Disney pop queen to husky full time rockstar.
Pop-Rock is my guilty pleasure without a doubt. A mild headbang, guitar solos and amazing vocals are always a winner. Wouldn’t you agree?
Miley grew up in the public eye at a very young age, having Billy Ray Cyrus as your dad does that. Her debut role was in her father’s television series Doc. She was soon sought after for many roles including being an audition finalist alongside Taylor Lautner for ‘The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl’ but she turned this down to create one of America’s most popular Disney TV shows Hannah Montana.
Her first album was created for her TV show Hannah Montana, in which it consists of endless teen pop songs lyrically based around teen romance, girl power and the double life in which Hannah Montana led. This album remains to be the best seller of Miley’s collection with just under 5 million copies sold.
To be honest I was never a fan during this phase of her life, my teenage years consisted of me thinking I was a middle aged drug addict blaring Eminem tracks. But without a doubt, Miley has always had a uniquely identifiable, edgy rock worthy voice. Check out one of her earlier popular tracks ‘See you again’. A look into the past greets us with bad early 2000’s special effects, girl next door hair and boy band dance moves. A clear sign of her vocal evolution is her singing that song VS a number of years later at BBC Live lounge. The tempo has slowed, the voice has got deeper and her attitude/image is at the beginning of her rebellious revolution.
The leap from 2012 Miley to 2013 Miley introduced us mere mortals to the highly controversial and media gasping song and video of wrecking ball. She cut off her luscious dyed blonde locks and did a Britney on our asses cutting all her hair. And Guess what? Everyone had something to say about it. This was her turning point in her career where she turned around to her huge fanbase and was like “YOU KNOW WHAT? F*%K YOU! I’ve had enough of this princess fairytale TALE that you have created, I want to be me”.
2015 – 2017 Miley albums were the most questionable albums that she has released to date. Miley Cyrus and her dead Petz sounds like she took a hollow room and ran around banging tins whilst singing slowly. Her ‘Younger Now’ album is definitely an improvement, the songs generally portray that she was in a better headspace when she wrote these songs. Oh and Dolly Parton Features in it, who doesn’t love a bit of Dolly?
Which brings us to today, and where my obsessive online clicking led me to; Miley’s iHeartRadio Performance. This is where my young pop-rock loving teen jumps out of my body and screams “Miley, Miley!”. I have finally become a fan. Absolutely love the 80’s style composition of her 2020 single ‘Midnight Sky’. The lyrics are catchy and dark; the music video has an elegance with its simplicity and neon colours (and lack of clothing); lastly the husky vocals, they don’t need an explanation. The only thing that’s been bought to my attention is that she may have been lip syncing according to this vocal coach. But I am willing to let this opinion slide, pretend I didn’t watch it and finally admit I have become a Miley fan.
Peace out!
LadyMusicBiz101 
What an amazing write up. I really appreciate the approach to mental health awareness, and it’s a clever way to…