Critics divided over Miley Cyrus' 'Plastic Hearts' album: 'Truckload of fun' or 'compromise?'
Miley Cyrus' latest album is here – and the reviews are (rock and) rolling in.
The singer's seventh album, "Plastic Hearts" (out Friday), is a rock-filled project with star-studded collaborations including Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett and Billy Idol.
In addition to the music legends, she also had a younger musical collaborator in Dua Lipa on track "Prisoner."
In an interview with USA TODAY earlier this month, Lipa, a pop artist, talked about the experience with Cyrus.
"It's always fun to collaborate with someone who's so fun and charismatic and knows exactly what she wants... I think we allow space for ourselves to really bloom, and then when we come together, it makes magic," she said. "Especially with something like "Prisoner," which feels like such a perfect combination of both our styles and where we are stylistically at the moment. It all felt like it just fitted like a jigsaw puzzle."
She continued, "And she's just so down to earth and chill, so we get on really well in just everyday setting."
Critical reviews of the album have been a bit more divided.
Here are some excerpts from noteworthy reviews, starting off with those praising "Plastic Hearts."
The Independent
"From start to finish, Plastic Hearts dresses catchy, Eighties-indebted pop melodies in rock’s studded leather, lets them spin a few wheelies and max out the speedo. It’s basically a truckload of fun with added blood and guts, driven by Cyrus’s reckless, open-throated, soul-bearing charisma."
Us Weekly
"'Plastic Hearts' is Miley Cyrus at her best. Sure, 2013’s 'Bangerz' was a cultural reset. Yes, it gave us hit ('We Can’t Stop') after hit 'Wrecking Ball') after hit ('Adore You'). But this is the record that she was born to make. Across 15 tracks, the singer, 28, embraces being utterly unapologetic and secures her place among rock royalty thanks to collaborations with the legendary Billy Idol, Joan Jett and Stevie Nicks."
NME
"With album seven, Miley Cyrus attempts to meld together her innate knack for truly enormous pop bangers (see: 'Wrecking Ball’, Party in the U.S.A’, ‘We Can’t Stop’) together with a love of rock’n’roll and country music, which has thus far not been hugely evident on her previous releases. While 2017 album ‘Younger Now’ found her heading out with a similar mission in mind, the brief didn’t quite come to fruition; there was newfound maturity on show, but not as much country-and-Western swagger. Fortunately, ‘Plastic Hearts’ possesses infinitely more grit – and, crucially, a freewheeling sense of fun."
Others thought the album fell short.
The Guardian
"Listening to 'Plastic Heart,' it’s hard not to suspect a sense of compromise: attempting to corral Cyrus’s diverse interests into something with obvious commercial appeal to avoid the muted sales of 2017’s 'Younger Now,' which failed to convince pop fans or lure in the traditional country crowd. It isn’t a bad album but it’s far less interesting and more straightforward than the artist who made it."
The Times (of London)
"On the face of it, Miley Cyrus is the perfect rocker. She has a fantastically throaty, weathered vocal style. She has a glamorous but tough look, with a blond mullet and multiple tattoos that could have her fitting in at biker bars as much as awards ceremonies... Yet this journey into classic rock never quite gets there."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Miley Cyrus 'Plastic Hearts' reviews: Rock album divides critics