Pop stars are prone to hyperbole. Artists at every level of fame, in fact, are prompted to promote their new material by at least slightly depreciating their older music. But it still felt like a vulnerable admission when Miley Cyrus, a pop star known for flitting between genres in ways that often scan as identity-shaking more than just exploratory, described “the last 20 years of my career” as “white noise” in an interview with Zane Lowe: “essentially everything happening all at the same time.” On ‘More to Lose’, the one true ballad on her grandiose and courageous new album, which she executive-produced with Shawn Everett, she sings, “I throw away my pride/ It happens all the time.” Actual white noise might be a component of the “extremely experimental” record she’s already promised fans, but Something Beautiful is lushly orchestrated and satisfyingly varied, building to a narrative rebirth even if it doesn’t get to the heart of her shattered eo. It’s not a roaring return or a career-defining effort; more like clearing the path forward in glorious fashion.
1. Prelude
A spoken-word intro that drags a little too long but saves its best, most succinctly poetic lines for last: “Aching to be seen, aching to become real/ But the beauty one finds alone/ Is a prayer that longs to be shared.“ The track was co-written with Model/Actriz’s Cole Haden, who you wish had a bigger role in any of the other songs. Still, it’s an entrancing introduction that not only signals the kind of journey we’re headed towads, but frames the loneliness leading up to it.
2. Something Beautiful
It’s thrilling to hear Cyrus juxtapose Something Beautiful’s luxurious aesthetic with its more explosive, experimental tendencies; the allure and messiness of desire. The thunderous power chords, sax, and drums that blast through the chorus, over Cyrus’ distorted voice, sound more like something out of the UK’s thriving post-punk scene than the entirety of Black Country, New Road’s latest album, but it does’t scan as a purely stylistic choice; it cuts through the appearance of beauty, plunging into obsession.
3. End of the World
More jarring than how heavy ‘Something Beautiful’ gets is the transition to a track more musically aligned with the breezy ‘80s pop of Endless Summer Vacation. It might have felt like a step back were it not for tasteful writing and production contributions from Shawn Everett, Michael Pollack, Jonathan Rado, and Alvvays’ Molly Rankin and Alec O’Hanley, with both Alvvays members providing lyrics and playing on the song. If only it were a little punchier to match the apocalyptic stakes.
4. More to Lose
Here were get a more traditional ballad that’s a showcase for Cyrus’ vocal chops more so than her vulnerability; what stands out is her indignation and fatigue over an ex that’s “looking like a movie star in a worn-out coat.” She stays when the ecstasy’s long gone, she declares, but retains enough of the emotion to make her performance feel like more than a knowing sigh. Jonathan Rado’s saxophone solo is a treat, too.
5. Interlude 1
A compelling interlude that would fare better as a fleshed-out song. It obviously ties to the cinematic vision of the record, but imagine more of that seeping into the album’s accessible songs, as in the title track.
6. Easy Lover
Cyrus wrote the song during the Plastic Hearts era, then revisited it with Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter in mind, though they ended up going with ‘II MOST WANTED’. It’s got a strong enough hook that you get why Cyrus wanted the track to land somewhere, but even sandwiched between two interludes, it does feel a little out of place. The “Tell ’em, B” ad-lib now nods to Brittany Howard, who plays electric guitar on the track, which is cool.
7. Interlude 2
Another flashy orchestrated interlude, this time serving as a bridge to the second part of the album, which boasts its most radiant songs.
8. Golden Burning Sun
Again, this mid-tempo song might have fallen flat were it not for the swirling textures in the production, stitched together by Everett, Rado, Michael Pollack, and BJ Burton. It underlines the sentiment Cyrus delivers when the music clears: “I’m just so lost in this moment.” So close to the longing being fulfilled, if only the other heeds her call to surrender to it, too.
9. Walk of Fame
Something Beautiful reaches its peak with ‘Walk of Fame’: glorious, confident, and absolutely earning its 6-minute runtime. Britanny Howard is featured more prominently, her magnetic voice lending the song an otherworldly flair as it soars in the space between timelessness and self-delusion. “You’ll live forever in our hearts and minds,” Howard declares in the outro. But it’s far from the end of the story.
10. Pretend You’re God
Despite lush, layered production and a weirdly post-punky bass line reminiscent of Editors, the songwriting falls flat – and, more importantly, short of the kind of derangement Cyrus’ performance hints at. “Do you still love me?” she wonders, “I gotta know/ Never mind, just keep it quiet if you don’t.” She sings about being haunted like she’s already way past it.
11. Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved
Naomi Campbell delivering spoken word on the same song with writing credits from members of Alvvays – that’s quite something. Pollack, Everett, and Rado all previously worked on the Miley Cyrus collab that appeared on Cowboy Carter, but ‘Pose’ leans way closer to the Renaissance universe, especially in its outro. There’s some overlap here with the song ‘End of the World’, but it’s got way more pazzaz. Cyrus’ lyrics are less hesitant, too, though not as powerful as Campbell’s one-word instruction: “Pose.”
12. Reborn
Perhaps by this point, the central question of the song, and much of the album – “Would you promise that I’m enough if I give you all of my love?” – is starting to cloy. But ‘Reborn’ makes up for it by continuing to dive into hypnotic, rave-ready territory, rounding out the album’s stylistic trajectory, and housing one of its catchiest choruses. “If heaven exists, I’ve been there before/ Kill my ego, let’s be reborn,” she sings – to her every self, of course, as well as everybody looking up to an illusory, idealized image of it.
13. Give Me Love
An idyllic, downright angelic conclusion that rests on the imagination but feels true nevertheless. “While lovers lay with boundaries erased once you get past the gray,” she sings, “Behind the curtain, terror awaits.” You get a glimpse of that ego death on Something Beautiful, those boundaries erasing, but hardly any terror. Maybe she’s saving some of that for her “extremely experimental” next album. Beautiful as it surely is, it leaves you wanting more.
