Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful

[PatrickMonster 6,378]

Everything is so amazing after Interlude 2 omggggg why did she release all the duds?

[Original Diva 4,958]

Reborn is my favourite non-single so far!!!

I think i need some time growing with a couple of the others, but I'm already enjoying it! Excited to see the film for the fashion and to just watch miley be gorgeous for an hour lol

[Teletubby 146,137]

partial day streams are worse than 143 

 

[chromaticangel 108]

It's her best album for me. Golden Burning Sun reminded me of Vanish Into You for some reason

[nodandsmile 10,199]

haven't listened to whole thing yet, only watched the "Easy Lover" video and that alone CLEARS all the songs she released previously wtf?

[Plastic Flower 4,547]

I've listened to the album 2 times now and this I have to say:

I was a bit bored during the first listen. I liked the production but the songs themselves not as much. Easy Lover was definitely the highlight of the album and went straight to my downloads.

The second time was miles better. I was shocked that I was enjoying it so much.  This one is definitely a grower. It might even be her best album. My top 3 at the moment is Easy Lover, Reborn and Pretend You're God. I'm still not crazy about Every Girl You've Ever Loved.

[andy232000 11,105]

5 minutes ago, Plastic Flower said:

I've listened to the album 2 times now and this I have to say:

I was a bit bored during the first listen. I liked the production but the songs themselves not as much. Easy Lover was definitely the highlight of the album and went straight to my downloads.

The second time was miles better. I was shocked that I was enjoying it so much.  This one is definitely a grower. It might even be her best album. My top 3 at the moment is Easy Lover, Reborn and Pretend You're God. I'm still not crazy about Every Girl You've Ever Loved.

I don’t think these songs are designed to be digested on first, second, not even fifth or sixth listen. They play too much (sometimes to a fault) with song structure and experimental to the point you just can’t connect with the act song right away. Ultimately, this is where the album fails for me, and think It could fail with many others. But if you can push through and digest the tracks, they are pretty good. I also found myself enjoying it more after each play (although there are a few songs that will definitely stay un absorbed) 

Edited Friday at 09:50 PM by andy232000

[Ladle Ghoulash 21,468]

I remember seeing some gæ on TikTok comparing it to ROL and saying it was a competitor with MAYHEM for AOTY and after listening to it, girl…

[Plastic Flower 4,547]

2 minutes ago, andy232000 said:

I don’t think these songs are designed to be digested on first, second, not even fifth or sixth listen. They play too much (sometimes to a fault) with song structure and experimental to the point you just can’t connect with the act song right away. Ultimately, this is where the album fails for me, and think It could fail with many others. But if you can push through and digest the tracks, they are pretty good. I also found myself enjoying it more after each play (although there are a few songs that will definitely stay un absorbed) 

I absolutely get your point and that's exactly why critics are giving her a hard time rn. I still can't get into More To Lose and the last track (and the interludes are a bit pointless tbh).

[andy232000 11,105]

25 minutes ago, Plastic Flower said:

I absolutely get your point and that's exactly why critics are giving her a hard time rn. I still can't get into More To Lose and the last track (and the interludes are a bit pointless tbh).

I couldn’t get into More To Lose either. I think some neuromusic thing goes on where our brains try to anticipate the next part of a song, and Miley is dead serious avoiding giving us that satisfaction. Whenever I think I know we’re a song is gonna go, it goes in a different direction, often in a “not natural” progression. I liked End of The World up until the bridge where it drags on for too long. Walk of Fame was great until the last 2 minutes where it switches too much and never reaches that final chorus. Very interesting album, but it definitely is not for everybody. Specially if you are used to a verse-pre-chorus-chorus structure

[Morphine Prince 104,991]

It’s a pretty solid album. No bad song.

Won’t be on replay like some of her other stuff but this is good. 

[jimmytimestep 2,669]

It's my first listen through and I think the album is awesome so idk wth y'all are hearing

The album really picks up from Easy Lover on.

[lastpopicon 26,974]

 

[BloodyM 1,255]

22 hours ago, BLACKOUTbritney said:

Easy Lover and Pretend your God are massive highlights for me 

Pretend Your God gives me Plastic Hearts meets Mileys Dead Pets  

same!! Pretend Your God is my fav for sure, followed by Easy Lover! I like the album however I feel like some tracks lack something, not sure what it is.

[salty like sodium 1,508]

Ok, I have been listening to this a few times. Here are my thoughts ( @Broncofeel free to coopt or dispute!) :

0) Overall, the melodies are amazing, the lyrics are decent, and I could easily dance along to the whole album in a club. Well done Miley! The production/mixing sadly is very miss and miss due to too many sounds competing for your attention and not enough dynamism to the tracks, resulting in everything sounding 'flat'. The album likely should've been recorded live, and it's even more of a shame the film isn't just a live concert film she would've done, especially since it's designed to replace a tour. This is perhaps Miley's most cohesive album ever imo, and really stands on its own as a body of work. (ESV was quite cohesive too tbh, but this one feels just a bit more cohesive with a stronger thematic thread between all the songs).

1) Prelude – 7/10. Some really interesting instrumentation and concepts here, I like the call-back to end of the world but with strings and other instruments that aren't actually part of the track. The "climax" and outro of this track are really great too, and the concept of having spoken word for the intro was great. The words aren't perfect, but they work and I think it's a great album intro.

2) Something Beautiful – 9/10. Absolutely gorgeous melody, really creative mixture of lounge jazz and psychedelic rock, and Miley's voice seals the deal. Fantastic first "real" track.

3) End of the World – 7.5/10. Extremely catching song with great lyrics that feel very relevant and current. I get why it's the first single. The mixing/production unfortunately makes it fall flat at times (the ante never really feels to get "upped" and there is too much similarity between the different choruses to feel like the song builds up to anything). With some better production and variations to the different sections this could've been a smash and I really hope someone properly mixes this someday.

4) More to Lose – 6.5/10. Sounds much better live, it's a gorgeous ballad but the production is sadly a bit messy, her voice gets lost in it. 

5) Interlude 1 – 5/10. It's ok but it's not really adding much to the album especially given there's an Interlude 2 literally one track later. Could live without it.

6) Easy Lover – 6.5/10. Fun, vintage-feeling song that really compliments her voice. Kind of matches the jazz feel of track 2. Not sure of the placement in the track list, and also not as experimental as some of the other tracks, which makes it less interesting to me.

7) Interlude 2 – 5/10. Same as track 5, and having a second interlude literally after 1 song is just pointless. Also the album is 13 tracks and in the first half we have 2 interludes and a prelude. These should have been spaced out better.

8) Golden Burning Sun – 7.5/10. This is a nice song, the mix is a bit muffled sadly but I love the summer vibes. It feels like it should've been on Endless Summer Vacation though. But I still really like this song. Also not one of the most original ones.

9) Walk of Fame – 10/10. A really freakin' awesome song! The scream at the beginning might sound Eurovisiony, but it also works really well and is really unexpected, and gives the track the punk flair she was aiming for imo. I also loveee the disco beat here, it's one of the catchiest ones on the entire album. The prechorus and chorus are also really catchy! The bridge is also super original and works well with the track, while still breaking the flow. The change in the scream towards the end is also pretty awesome. Like everywhere else, the mixing isn't amazing but the song is so great that I honestly don't care.

10) Pretend You're God — 8/10. I like this track, I think it fits well after track 9. The vibe of this song is real good. And the outro is fittingly haunting (I'm haunted, I'm haunted...)

11) Every Girl You've Ever Loved — 10/10. I was a bit thrown by the brass type thing at the beginning sounding so similar to Walk of Fame, but it still works with the track. Just a bit weird in the context of the album. The song has a catchy beat, a great (and sensual!!) chorus, a really random Naomi Campbell cameo, two Madonna references (Frozen and Vogue), a really catchy outro. And unlike EOTV, the Chorus does have enough variation in production that makes the track feel more dynamic! Of all the tracks, this feels the most "Madonna", in a good way.

12) Reborn — 7/10. A harmless track. It works well after track 11 and helps slow down the pace after such an awesome track. I don't mind it. Probably would never purposefully look for it to listen to it, but also don't feel the need to skip it. The bridge/outro is nice too, it kind of reminds me of "I was Made for Loving you Baby, You Were Made for Loving Me", but less cheesy.

13) Give Me Love — 4/10. Probably the weakest track in the whole set imo. It feels like a "Younger Now" leftover and doesn't really fit in with everything else. I'd have preferred "Used to Be Young" here instead. I get why it's positioned here as an album closer but it's the most generic one (even the title). However, the production is quite good for a change.

FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10. Solid effort, and possibly my favorite Miley album as a body of work (even though I might prefer individual tracks on past releases, like Midnight Sky and You).