Records
Country Soul, 2022
When it comes to exposure in the media, poor Noah Cyrus is always mentioned in the same articles detailing the incessant soap opera of the family. Her older sister Miley Cyrus isn’t left unscathed by all this, but she has a solid career and fanbase, along with a Grammy, while Noah Cyrus is still trying to gain a foothold in the music business.
It’s hard when most people only know of her for making some rather unfortunate decisions when it comes to plastic surgery as well as, the cringe of all cringes, her mother allegedly stealing her boyfriend and marrying that boyfriend without her knowledge. That and the other times people read about her is which one of their constantly feuding hot mess-ass parents that the Cyrus kids are siding with that particular week. Sigh.
I admit that I never really give much thought about this Cyrus sister until I was bored and stuck in the ward, randomly clicking on YouTube recommendations until I came across her live performance of Don’t Put It All on Me, which was written by another sibling, Braison, whom I believe is also trying to be a country singer. It is a beautiful, haunting song, but I was taken aback by how strong and evocative her live vocals are. Checking out the recorded version of the song, I find that she actually sounds much better live.
That song comes after Noah Cyrus’s debut full-length album The Hardest Part, and so isn’t included here, sadly there aren’t any songs here that match Don’t Put It All on Me in terms of being an instant earworm.
Still, the songs that are present here are stripped down, raw, and emotional songs. When you’re from a family prone to messy very public soap opera, there is no shortage of angst and blues to make into songs, and that’s what happened here.
It’s hard to single out the songs separately, as there seems to be a cohesive melodic theme holding them together. While the songs aren’t too same-y, they have a similar undercurrent — melancholy, bitterness, perhaps some hopefulness and optimism now and then amidst all the emotional turbulence — that seems to tell a story when the album is listened in a single sitting.
However, I do like I Burned LA Down a lot, because it’s a beautiful concoction made of bitterness and a chorus so catchy that I can’t get it out of my head. Loretta’s Song is a worthy country ballad as many, with Ms Cyrus’s voice bringing on the heartbreak in a song about resignation and despair. Mr. Percocet is another catchy song, the closest to Ms Cyrus being playful and even cheeky, although the song is another bleak one, about a toxic relationship in which she only feels loved when drugs are involved.
I have to ask, though: what is that album cover supposed to be? It’s a… ghost? A badly taken photo? Some kind of surreal photography? It just looks like post-production mistake.
All in all, this is not the sunniest album to listen to, in spite of the boppy tunes of some of these songs, because Ms Cyrus is unflinching when it comes to sharing her personal demons with listeners. Nonetheless, the listening experience is draining yet cathartic, driving home that this young lady can actually put on a good vocal performance and share the angst in a way that is actually beautiful.
Now I really want that next album with Don’t Put It All on Me in it.
