Album Review: Plastic Hearts – Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus in the music video for her lead single "Midnight Sky"

After a rocky relationship with the general public following backlash to her controversial album Bangerz, Miley Cyrus has slowly crept back into public favor following her appearance on Season 5 of Black Mirror in the episode “Rachel, Jack & Ashley Too” as a tortured pop singer named “Ashley O”. With the release of her latest album Plastic Hearts, it seems that Cyrus has finally found her voice. As Cyrus tweeted herself “I was… born to make the record I’ve just released!”. With a listener score of 9.6 on Metacritic, Plastic Hearts is Cyrus’ highest scored album she’s released to date. The album was preceded by the release of her lead single “Midnight Sky” as well as a recording of her live cover of Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass” at the iHeart Festival. The latter was released due to popular demand after the song took off on Tik Tok and fans demanded a recording be released on Spotify and other mediums.

Cyrus’ latest album is heavily based in the Rock genre and is an exploration of modern relationships and how Cyrus navigates her personal romantic life, as well as how she has journeyed to find herself in the years since Bangerz. Opening powerfully with “WTF Do I Know”, Cyrus makes it clear that she is fully leaning into her newly found self. The first two tracks on the album are a one-two punch of hardcore rock anthems that establish the tone of the album. While they are unabashed in their tone, they have the qualities that would make them appealing to most audiences, unlike the notoriously brash Bangerz that resulted in so much pushback. Broken hearts, on-and-off relationships, and a series of no-strings-attached encounters pepper the album throughout the album’s 13 original songs. Cyrus details her journey to finding herself in particular through the song “Never Be Me”, in addition to “Golden G String” especially. The album itself is incredibly cohesive, dipping into pop and even country but never straying from its melodic core. It stays true to itself, never wavering from what it set out to do. Among the tracks, there isn’t a single song that stands out as one of significantly lower quality than the rest. There are, however, a few standouts on the album. The opening song “WTF Do I Know”, along with “Prisoner” ft. Dua Lipa and the lead single “Midnight Sky” anchor the album’s sound and serve as a tonal compass for the album as a whole.

Miley Cyrus is an artist who has had an extremely public transformation and identity crisis. Few individuals have gone through such dramatic changes in such a short time span, essentially doing a complete 180 in their public persona. Plastic Hearts is a testament to that struggle and Cyrus’ resolve in the face of criticism and unfavorable public opinion while she sought to find herself and her voice. It isn’t a coincidence to me that the album that is truest to Cyrus’ voice and personality is the one that fans and the public have reacted most positively to. Plastic Hearts is an engaging and exciting album that feels inspired and original. Ironically, It’s almost completely devoid of the monotony that plagues industry-tailored music akin to manufactured plastic from a factory.

Rating: 9.5/10